Started seven kits today

[crushday]

Curious to hear your thoughts on the master vintner sommelier select. I've only done one (Nebbiolo) and so far it's seemed really boring. Not what I hoped for out of a big Italian red.

Honestly, all of mine are still aging. I recently started wondering if the Sommelier kits were re-engineered RJS Cru kits as there is a surprising similarity in names, selection and juice quantity. However, I haven’t done any RJS kits of that size. As soon as I have an opinion on the taste of the sommelier kits, I’ll let you know.

 

[crushday]

Count me as impressed too.

Good luck with your wine making and please post up when you do real grapes this fall. I'm interested to know how it does with those conical fermenters.

I will for sure. And, I’ll be hitting everyone up for info!

 

[Swedeman]

George, it looks from your pics that you have more than 6 gallons in your fermentors?

 

[Ignoble Grape]

I love the idea of starting lots of kits at once! You have a busy day or two, yes, but everything's condensed. I know that I need to start a few new kits if I want to keep my production line going, but I have a hard time getting around to it when I consider I have 25 gl in various stages of production and am waiting for fall grapes... Love the variety! What a great way to get wide experience!

 

[crushday]

George, it looks from your pics that you have more than 6 gallons in your fermentors?

Good eye... On the reds, the ones that are over the mark have the "jammy" grape pack. Instructions are to fill to 23 liters, then add the grape pack. That addition makes the level rise above the preferred mark. The 6 and 12 gallon fermentors on the far end had two (four for 12 gallon) packages of dried grapes that provide virtually no impact on the level.

As for the Fume Blanc, since this is my second kit of this iteration (first one made to specs with exception to sorbate and clearing agents), I added about a 1/2 gallon of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice yesterday late morning and after I originally posted. Having thought about it, I figured I could experiment a little bit. Not sure that was the right decision but seemed worth a try.

 

[bstnh1]

1. RJS Chile Merlot started June 1, 2019 with RC 212, OG 1.084
2. RJS Super Tuscan, started June 1, 2019 with RC 212, OG 1.100
3. RJS RQ4 Spanish started June 1, 2019 with RC 212, OG 1.096
4. RJS Hightail Merlot started June 1, 2019 with RC 212, OG 1.102
5. RJS Hightail Merlot started June 1, 2019 with RC 212, OG 1.103
6. RJS Italian Zin started June 1, 2019 with RC 212, OG 1.093
7. WE Fume Blanc started June 1, 2019 with D47, OG 1.089

I substituted most reds with RC212. With exception to the Chilean Merlot, which already came with 212, the other reds had 1118. The white kit also had 1118, but I substituted D47 and changed out the medium American chips for heavy French chips in primary.

WOW! Are these all 6 gallon kits? You're gonna be a busy man!! lol

 

[Swedeman]

Good eye... On the reds, the ones that are over the mark have the "jammy" grape pack. Instructions are to fill to 23 liters, then add the grape pack. That addition makes the level rise above the preferred mark.

About the grape skins, free floating or in a muslin bag? And, do you transfer the wine to carboy for ageing or do you leave it in the fast fermentor?

 

[crushday]

About the grape skins, free floating or in a muslin bag? And, do you transfer the wine to carboy for ageing or do you leave it in the fast fermentor?

Definitely a muslin bag - otherwise it clogs the 1” opening to the collection ball. Lesson learned... Primary and secondary are in the fermenters and 8 week extended maceration. As long as you leave it alone, I feel there’s enough CO2 for a couple of months.

As you can tell, there’s a ton of head space so I transfer to carboys for 12 months of bulk aging.

 

[rustbucket]

I made the WE Fume Blanc also using Lalvin D47. According to my notes, my SG started out at 1.090, effectively the same as yours, and finished at a SG of 0.996; the oak included with the kit was used. It's been aging in the carboy for 3 months and will be bottled next weekend. I need the carboy for a WE Mezza Luna Red that I'm starting this week.

Boy! That is an incredible amount of wine that you've made since January 1st of this year. What you've started in one day is more than I make in a year.

 

[cmason1957]

Those are good yeast suggestions. A bad experience? Please tell more...

Sorry, I am slow answering, the internet didn't exist for me much this weekend. RC-212 bad experience, bought Chambourcin grapes from a different source one year. My (at the time) normal grape grower didn't get any Chambourcin grapes for some unknown reason. These came from over in Illinois, instead of from rocky, bad soil Missouri. I am guessing the grower didn't add, didn't need to add enough nutrients and the gapes were very low in YAN (maybe, who knows). I made the wine following my normal procedure and all was well, until the last two or three days of fermentation, when four rabid skunks with very bad intestinal issues invaded the wine. Almost dumped the entire 12 gallons. I added Reduless twice, which is the maximum, to try to get rid of the smell. It mostly went away, but never completely. In addition, I was never able to get MLF to kick off, so the wine was a bit tart. I also had another experience with RC-212 starting to give off bad odors, but much sooner and rescued it with nutrients.

Since those two times I have vowed to never use RC-212 and haven't ever had issues. I would really like to try some of the unable to produce H2S yeasts, but I haven't been able to find them in homewinemaking friendly sizes.

 

[crushday]

Sorry, I am slow answering, the internet didn't exist for me much this weekend. RC-212 bad experience, bought Chambourcin grapes from a different source one year. My (at the time) normal grape grower didn't get any Chambourcin grapes for some unknown reason. These came from over in Illinois, instead of from rocky, bad soil Missouri. I am guessing the grower didn't add, didn't need to add enough nutrients and the gapes were very low in YAN (maybe, who knows). I made the wine following my normal procedure and all was well, until the last two or three days of fermentation, when four rabid skunks with very bad intestinal issues invaded the wine. Almost dumped the entire 12 gallons. I added Reduless twice, which is the maximum, to try to get rid of the smell. It mostly went away, but never completely. In addition, I was never able to get MLF to kick off, so the wine was a bit tart. I also had another experience with RC-212 starting to give off bad odors, but much sooner and rescued it with nutrients.

Since those two times I have vowed to never use RC-212 and haven't ever had issues. I would really like to try some of the unable to produce H2S yeasts, but I haven't been able to find them in homewinemaking friendly sizes.

PM me your address and I’ll send some Avante your way!

 

[Swedeman]

Petite cab (WE17) - Started 3/20/2019, grape skin pack,

@George Burgin I read this post again, you said grape skin pack for this kit. Mine didn't have any? Likewise, you write skin pack for the Hawke’s Bay Merlot (WE17), which doesn't come with skins?

 

[crushday]

Great question. I typically add the All Grape Pack to every red kit that doesn’t come with it included.

Here’s a link: http://www.juicegrape.com/Mosti-Mondiale-All-Grape-Pack/

 

[mainshipfred]

Are you still planning on doing the real all grape pack this fall? LOL!

 

[crushday]

Are you still planning on doing the real all grape pack this fall? LOL!

@mainshipfred, as you know, I'm planning on giving my first go at crushing grapes and making wine that way. By then I'll have all my conicals empty and ready to go!

 

[jgmann67]

Great question. I typically add the All Grape Pack to every red kit that doesn’t come with it included.

Here’s a link: http://www.juicegrape.com/Mosti-Mondiale-All-Grape-Pack/

So any idea what grapes are in the All Grape Pack? I really like the idea for kits without skins. Just wondering about compatible flavors between the Pack and the juice.

 

[FunkedOut]

https://mostimondiale.com/allgrape-pack/
Not much help but it’s the horse’s mouth.
Reaching out to them might be the only way to get more info.

 

[Johnd]

So any idea what grapes are in the All Grape Pack? I really like the idea for kits without skins. Just wondering about compatible flavors between the Pack and the juice.

FWIW, I emailed and asked MM that very question, it was a few years back. Their response indicated that the varietal content was matched with the wine (when included with a kit), otherwise mostly Merlot.

 

[Rocky]

Something I have always wanted to try but never have is to destem and crush a couple lugs of grapes and then cook them downn (i.e. removing most of the water), bag them in freezer bags and keep for use in wine from juice bucket or kits without grape packs. Has anyone tried this?

What I have been doing when I buy juice buckets is to also buy a lug of the same variety of grape, destem and crush them and add all of the product to the wine. I am wondering if cooking down the grapes to remove the water would both concentrate the flavor and increase the sugar.

 

[Chuck E]

Something I have always wanted to try but never have is to destem and crush a couple lugs of grapes and then cook them downn (i.e. removing most of the water), bag them in freezer bags and keep for use in wine from juice bucket or kits without grape packs. Has anyone tried this?

What I have been doing when I buy juice buckets is to also buy a lug of the same variety of grape, destem and crush them and add all of the product to the wine. I am wondering if cooking down the grapes to remove the water would both concentrate the flavor and increase the sugar.

I think cooking them down loses the aromatics of the grapes. I often put crushed grapes into juice buckets, never cooked them.