Thin Chardonnay

[jabrooks]

Using a Vino Del Vida Kit, racked to secondary on day 6 at .995 SG, stabalized, added clearing chems per instructions. Racked again last night which was around day 10, forgot to take another SG reading.

Here it goes: when I tasted the wine last night, it was good, but very thin. Almost like watery wine. Is this to be expected at this point? Will it build up more body after this point? Suggestions? Would raisins help?

Also, what is the "banana soup" I keep reading about on these forums? What is it used for, and what is it made of?

Thanks!

 

[Malkore]

What was the OG?
How much juice comes in the kit? (2gallons? 3? 4? non-concentrate kit?)

the way it feels will still change...it won't necessarily gain body, but the perception will change, especially since its not degassed yet.

I haven't done the banana soup but as I understand it, I think its for building body/balance in kit wines, similar to raisins (but maybe has more specific uses...like fruit wines maybe??)

 

[Wade E]

The bigger a wine should be the worse off you are with these cheaper kits. If you areb looking forn a Cab Sauv a chep kit just wont cut it as compared to say Pinot Noir will fare much better with one of these kits. A Chard is to be one of the biggest white wines so yes ut will be lacking in a 10 liter kit. The banana soup which I have never made is used to add body to a wine and is primarily used in wine kits that are lacking in this area but I say just buy the better wine kits and skip this myself.

 

[Russ Stewart]

Last week I bottled 5 gal of Pinot Grigio that I started from raw juice. It tasted a little thin, so I added 8 oz of glycerin to it before I bottled it. This really helped improved the body of the wine and also the smoothness. I then back sweetened a little more with simple sugar syrup and then bottled. It turned out really nice.
Russ

 

[jabrooks]

Russ,

Did you let the wine sit after adding the syrup and glycerin? When making the syrup, did you use corn sugar or table sugar?

Thanks!

 

[Russ Stewart]

I used plain white sugar and mixed it in a 2:1 ratio of sugar to water. I brought it to a boil to allow it to clear up and then let it cool down. I transferred my wine to my bottling bucket, added the glycerin and then began adding the sugar water to my wine until I was pleased with the taste. Right after this I began to bottle. Don't forget to add pot sorbate at some point to stabilize the wine. This process seems to work for me. Good luck! By the way, I purchased my glycerin from Midwest Supply.

Russ