RJ Spagnols RQ 2018 Riesling F-pac

[tjgaul]

I just picked up one of the leftover RJS 2018 RQ kits - Virtue German Riesling. It's an 18L kit with 2 smallish F-pacs included, along with QA 23 yeast. The F-pacs are very jelly like which tells me that they are heavy on sugar. I'm leaning toward including part or all of one F-pac in primary to boost the ABV slightly and avoid having too sweet of a wine on the back end. My plan is to ferment slow and cool (about 60-63) in a 6.5 gal carboy rather than in a plastic fermenter. Shooting for a 30-45 day ferment with minor nutrient additions to keep the ferment healthy.

Wondering if anyone has this kit done or bulk aging and what the sweetness level is like. Any other suggestions on enhancing this kit?

 

[pillswoj]

I used one fpack in primary one in finishing, slow ferment at ~50F (24 hrs at 70 to get it rolling). The end sweetness was about perfect for my taste in Riesling, using both fpacks to backsweeten would have been way to much.

primary fermentation in carboy @ 50C 2 months to get to 0.998.
Rack, cleared bulk aged 3 months, filtered and bottled.

It has been about 3 months since I bottled and test bottle a couple of weeks ago was excellent the rest I will wait until it is about a year old.

 

[tjgaul]

I used one fpack in primary one in finishing, slow ferment at ~50F (24 hrs at 70 to get it rolling). The end sweetness was about perfect for my taste in Riesling, using both fpacks to backsweeten would have been way to much.

primary fermentation in carboy @ 50C 2 months to get to 0.998.
Rack, cleared bulk aged 3 months, filtered and bottled.

It has been about 3 months since I bottled and test bottle a couple of weeks ago was excellent the rest I will wait until it is about a year old.

Perfect info . . . I was thinking of a cooler ferment, but was concerned that it might slow the yeast down too much. Based on this post I won't worry too much about the temps being a little lower. Appreciate the post!

 

[tjgaul]

After adding one of the F-pacs to the must and filling to about 6 gal the S.G. still only came up to 1.080. Not necessarily a bad thing as I prefer Riesling around 11-12% ABV and this should come in close. I'm just wondering how low the S.G. would have been without the F-pac.

Anyhow, the starting temp came in right at 70 (as hoped for - got lucky here) so I pitched the QA23 last night. I am attempting to hold the temp for a day or two before allowing things to cool down to the ambient temperature in my basement which should be just about 60 for the fermentation period. Thanks for the tips. We're off and running. Can't wait to hear the siren's call of bubbles through the airlock.

 

[CrownedBee]

I'm starting this kit today. Definitely going to add one F-pack to the must to give it a boost, but I'm debating what to do with the other one. I want to keep this riesling on the dry side, but am worried that it'll turn too boozy if I add the second F-pack up front. And then there's the concern it'll be too light on flavor if I make it a truly dry wine and skip the F-pack at the end.
Decisions!!

Update:
Starting SG: 1.072
SG after one F-pack: 1.076
SG after two F-packs: 1.080
1.080 is where we usually start our Island Mist kits, so thinking it won't be boozy. Looking forward to this one!