WineXpert Sauvignon Blanc kit

[AAASTINKIE]

clear caps are under AAA's photo's (picture)

 

[RAMROD]

Thanks there Triple A they look good!

 

[AAASTINKIE]

It will be time to bottle the s blanc soon, I'm thinking it might be time to test the wine filter I bought, I am trying to get setup to test sulfite at home, I can get the chemicals no problem, just need a special dropper bottle and can't find one but I'm working on it. Does anyone know how much sulfite you lose filtering and exposing your wine to air whilebottling? If I do a sulfite test at work the day before where would I have to be to cover using the pressure filter? If I was at 35ppm add a few campden tabs for 5 gallons? I have the 5 gallon carboy full and put up 3 750 bottles cause now I'm "air parinoid", I think I'll just drink the 3 bottles they have a little dust on the bottom, I'd like to use the filter to insure there is no fallout in my clear bottles later on. If they have wine contests at the fair this summer I'll put some of this in and some blueberry.

 

[Hippie]

Stinkie, if you slow down a tad, you will have less chance of sediment in the bottles later. Don't rush it.

 

[AAASTINKIE]

I made the mistake of opening one of the bottles of s blanc tonight to
see how it tastes, it was aufull full of CO2 had to dump the glass down
the sink, put the vacucap on the bottle and put in the fridge. This
topping up isn't working so well for me. looks like I'm gona have to
rack again and try out my fizz-x. I got to get this sulfite test going
I can see that.

 

[Hippie]

You are in too big of a hurry to get wine into bottles, Stinkie. Before you bottle, fill a bottle abouthalf full and hold your hand over the top and shake like there is no tomorrow for 15 seconds. If you get alot of bubbles, too gassy to bottle! Take your time, or better yet, take time for the wine.

 

[AAASTINKIE]

I have 3 bottles cause you said don't put it in the gallon jug if it wasn't full, now I have to get it back out of the bottles (2 of them ) to get the co2 out. The topping up is the problem, I'm thinking of buying a co2 tank and regulator so I can top my carboy with co2 instead of water....any thoughts on this?

 

[masta]

You are making this way more complicated than it needs to be and a using C02 to top off a carboy might be difficult to make sure you have removed all the air.


Not sure how much of the free S02 you will lose if you stir it now to get the dissolved C02 out. I have made well over 100 kits and never measured free S02 until just recently and you will be fine with the amount of sulfites you have already if you just bottle.


If you have the vacu-vin just use this on the bottles to remove the gas from them. Stir the wine in the carboy and degas then test before just throwing in more campden tabs. From some testing I have done there is a big difference in the amount of sulfite you will be adding to your wine depending on which campden tabs you use....they are not all the same!!!!


If you need to spend some money on something buy yourself a good quality milligram scale and use K-meta powder to adjust your sulfite level.

 

[PolishWineP]

Stinkie, Lay off the coffee, Mnt Dew and Red Bull! Bert also suffered from impatience while making wine.(He's learned patience after some errors.

) When it doubt, let it sit. It's not going to run away and it's not going to go bad if you don't get it in the bottle right away.


We avoid having to do the top up by using glassmarbles to bring the level of wine up to where we want it in the carboy. We have worked up a nice collection of them and they are a valuable tool. We handle them like all other wine equipment, be sure to sanitize. Wal-Mart, Target's dollar aisle and craft stores are good places to get them for rather cheap. Just be sure to have a strainer in your sink to catch them when you're washing them out of your carboy. They can really be a hassle to get back out of the garbage disposal! Good luck to you.

 

[AAASTINKIE]

Marbles, now thats a good idea, can you just drop them in or do you have a system to get them to the bottom? I didn't mean to be impaitient I just didn't expect my wine to taste like hazardous waste..lol

 

[PolishWineP]

You can just drop them into the carboy after you've done all your chemistry. If we need a lot added it's a 2 person job. One to form a funnel with her hands and the other to slowly pour the marbles in. Be sure the funnel hands are sanitized! Hope this helps.

 

[AAASTINKIE]

To get my leftover white back into a CO2 removing environment, I put
the 3 bottles in a gallon jug, the vacucap would not fit the jug so I
used an airlock bottom and it's working fine.

 

[Maui Joe]

Stinkie,


Looks like you should use a 1/2 half gallon jug if you have, you need to close the gap on the air space. Or, either top up with another similiar wine or water.

 

[Hippie]

This is what I meantfor youto use on the top of the 3 individual bottles is remove the CO2. Joe is right, you are about to oxidize some wine. Can you get most of it into a 1500ml bottle? I wish I had some half gallon bottles also.

 

[PolishWineP]

Stinkie,


If you don't have a smaller bottle this is where you can use the marbles to bring the wine level up to the neck of the bottle. You don't want all that air space in there.

 

[AAASTINKIE]

I hear ya all, but I have to find the right bottle and then probably go get a cork for it, if I remember I'll get a bottle of juice on the way home and see if I have a cork that fits it, you understand thats a vacuum cap on top of the airlock drawing a vacuum on the jug.

 

[Hippie]

Oh yes, we understand.

 

[AAASTINKIE]

Went all the way to the store to get a bottle of juice for the glass
bottle, but juice doesn't come in glass bottles anymore!! Hows this
plastic one? Won't be in it for too long.

 

[PolishWineP]

Stinkie,


I'll bet no one ever accuses you of doing things just like everyone else does them! Got your own drummer, don't you!

 

[PolishWineP]

Went all the way to the store to get a bottle of juice for the glass bottle, but juice doesn't come in glass bottles anymore!! Hows this plastic one? Won't be in it for too long.

How long do you think you'll have that in there?