WineXpert Sangiovese review

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wood1954

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I thought I'd share the numbers on the World vineyard Italian Sangiovese kit. It was about $70 for the kit. After i opened it up and poured it in the fermenter, added water to 6 gallons, i tested for sg and ph. The SG was 1096 and the PH was 3.8. The juice tasted very good, with good body, not much tannin or acid. I added enough acid blend to get to 3.6 ph. I also added enough sugar to get to 14% alcohol. And then because the tannins were so low i added 1.5 tsp of tannin and maybe about a 1/4 cup of french oak chips as well as the two packets of oak that came with the kit. Well that was a mistake, after two days of fermenting i went and stirred it up and tasted the must, the tannins are very noticeable now, hopefully when the wine clears some of the tannins will settle out with the lees. I think this will be a fine inexpensive wine after a couple years.
 
Unlike wine from fresh/frozen grapes, before fermentation one should not attempt to adjust the TA or pH of any wine kit. These are already well balanced for the specific kit with consideration of what all is included in the kit.

After the kit wine is clear, there is nothing wrong with adjusting TA or pH for "taste", just never before fermentation.

Adding tannins for taste, or sugar for increasing the ABV are something many do. Just understand the upped ABV can change the balance of the finished wine.

The tannins and oak will back off in time.
 
As Robie pointed out, kits are already acid balanced, and the pH and TA values of the must are chemically misleading. You should never have to make those sorts of adjustments with a kit.

One should be careful when tasting the must. The high sugar content among other things can affect your perception of things like tannins, body, and acidity. Those characteristics will become more noticeable after fermentation is complete and the yeast have finished reworking their environment. That's probably a better time to make any adjustments.

Not to say the wine is ruined or anything. It might take more aging time than it would otherwise in your case.
 

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