Thinking outside the box

[LoneStarLori]

Hey, do they tell you anywhere in the literature with the kit what the Shiraz vs. Viognier percentages are? I did not see this online anywhere. In the Rhone region, they generally use ~15% of the white grape.

No, they don't list it anywhere in the instructions or on the box. Given it is really dark purple, I'm sure it's not more than 15%. If that at all.

 

[kryptonitewine]

Nice job Lori!

Might I suggest that you post this again but in a new post in the Newbie forum. I think it would be a lot of help to beginning wine makers.

 

[LoneStarLori]

Woo hoo! new thread name! Way to go Joe, i LIKE it.

 

[sour_grapes]

You can change the title of the thread????? Who knew!?!?!

 

[LoneStarLori]

You can change the title of the thread????? Who knew!?!?!

The thread had evolved into something more than just Almond wine. It's not something we can do ourselves. I think there was a fair amount of jumping through hoops and bribery involved on Joe's part

 

[RCGoodin]

Lori, Great post. You are going to become the next Joe...

Are you going to tweak this? Maybe 3/4 lbs of red grapes and 1/4 lb of white? Then add some tannins and additional oak in secondary.

Just trying to think out of the box.

 

[LoneStarLori]

Lori, Great post. You are going to become the next Joe...

Are you going to tweak this? Maybe 3/4 lbs of red grapes and 1/4 lb of white? Then add some tannins and additional oak in secondary.

Just trying to think out of the box.

Um, no.. I'll never be a Joe. I don't think I will live long enough to gain the experience he has.

I wasn't going to tweak this at first other than maybe tannin, but now that it's in secondary and I'm not in love, I will.
Joe in his knowledge of varietals suggests a few fresh, over ripe plums since the Shiraz has plum characteristics. He hasn't steered me wrong yet so I'm going for that. I am also going to get some finishing tannins and try those instead of just the generic tannin I have been using.
I'll keep y'all posted on how this plays out.

 

[LoneStarLori]

On to phase 2 of the RQ-Australia Shiraz Viognier

It's now been 10 days since the wine was started. The must has leveled out at .997. I stirred the must daily recording the SG every couple of days to see where it was. Here are the stats:
1-9-14 starting SG 1.10
1-11-14 SG 1.084
1-13-14 SG 1.029
1-14-14 SG 1.01
1-17-14 SG 1.00
1-18-14 SG .998
1-19-14 SG .997
1-19-14 SG .997

Now that it has remained the same for a few days, it's time to rack to secondary.

Since the kit had 2 bags of oak chips, I knew it might be a problem with getting the particles caught in the racking tube. So after taking out the bag of dried skins, I cut off a portion off of the bag and tied it on the bottom of the racking tube to prevent any chips from entering the tube an clogging it.

Next I hooked up my All-in-One wine pump to rack with. This can also be done with any syphon hose.

When I reached the bottom of the primary there was only about 1/2 of lees but plenty of oak. Note how well the mesh bag remnants filters out the oak. The syphon didn't stop once. Yay!

I did not add any of the chems at this time because I don't feel it's quite done. (maybe I just don't want it to be) I also was not 100% sure I was in love with the flavor. It seemed to be lacking body and was pretty dry. This may improve with age, but then again...it may not.
I let it sit a few days and the SG stayed the same at .997. After thinking a while on the taste and mouth feel, I decided it might be time to do a tweak to try and see of I could bring the body up a bit and maybe the sweetness. I have to admit, I was a little reluctant to mess with a limited edition kit, but in the end, I will be drinking this wine so if I can improve it to MY taste, I will give it my best.
I chose to use cherries to play off the characteristics of the Shiraz. Plums would have worked well but they are not in season and I wanted something fresh. I bought a pound of sweet dark cherries. I only bought 1 pound because although I am trying to improve the dryness and body, I am not trying to completely change the wines profile. I pitted then froze them overnight to help break them down before I added them to the carboy. I had to make a funnel out of a Solo cup since they were too big to use my normal one. Crude but it worked.

Prior to adding the cherries, I checked the SG once again to see if there would be any changes after the cherries do their thing. It is still .997

I'll let this sit a few days and see how things are going. I have ordered some finishing tannins which I haven't used before. I'm hoping that will take care of the lack of mouthfeel. That will be added a little later. I'll keep you posted. For now, let the cherries do what they will.

 

[geek]

Nice Lori..and good work..!!

 

[RCGoodin]

Lori,

Great post. Please let me know the manufacturer of the tannins you are using. I know there are tannins for red wines and different tannins for white wines.

I think you need to add at least 6 more weeks of fermentation for the tannins to release all they give.

Sorry, I didn't mean to compare you to Joe, or take anything away from Joe. I'm admiring your ability to take what Joe has taught you and use it toward your new creations.

I'm also glad to see you using that All-In-One......are you filtering also?

 

[LoneStarLori]

Lori,

Great post. Please let me know the manufacturer of the tannins you are using. I know there are tannins for red wines and different tannins for white wines.

I think you need to add at least 6 more weeks of fermentation for the tannins to release all they give.

Sorry, I didn't mean to compare you to Joe, or take anything away from Joe. I'm admiring your ability to take what Joe has taught you and use it toward your new creations.

I'm also glad to see you using that All-In-One......are you filtering also?

I ordered Tannin Riche from Scott labs. I did some reading and that looked like it went well with reds. Or even whites. I'm hoping it will add some body because it's kind of flimsy right now.
I love my AIO. I used it once to filter a white, some Dragon blood and some Muscadine I made last summer. I ran the Muscadine twice and it really did strip the color so I've been kind of hesitant to use it on my other reds. Do you have one and do you filter everything with it?

BTW, I don't mind being compared to Joe, that's a compliment. .

 

[RCGoodin]

I ordered Tannin Riche from Scott labs. I did some reading and that looked like it went well with reds. Or even whites. I'm hoping it will add some body because it's kind of flimsy right now.
I love my AIO. I used it once to filter a white, some Dragon blood and some Muscadine I made last summer. I ran the Muscadine twice and it really did strip the color so I've been kind of hesitant to use it on my other reds. Do you have one and do you filter everything with it?

BTW, I don't mind being compared to Joe, that's a compliment. .

Yes, I filter every batch, but just once. I use the Buon mini-jet filtering system, however when it wears out I will build the in-line system that works with the AIO.

I did purchase some tannins for white wine. I can't recall it's name right now. I don't think it was Tannin Riche. I'll let you know once I visit the lab again. I also bought a scale to measure the right amount. I think it's supposed to be 6 grams per 6 gallons. It was easier buying the scale versus trying to convert grams to teaspoons.

I'm pretty sure they suggest adding about 6 more weeks to the secondary fermentation.

 

[joeswine]

Review the process

go back and review lori's process .................................

 

[kryptonitewine]

Well I did it. I picked up the meza luna white and a Sangiovese. Need to stock up on tannin and raisins.

 

[LoneStarLori]

Well I did it. I picked up the meza luna white and a Sangiovese. Need to stock up on tannin and raisins.

Good call! I think you will like them both. Keep us posted on the progress. I am probably going to buy another Sangiovese kit next month. I have very little left and I can't imagine another $80 kit working out as well as that tweak did.

I bought an Angel Blanco today and will be tweaking it similar to the Mezza Luna.

 

[kryptonitewine]

I'm gonna do the Sangiovese as you and Joe did.

The Mezza Luna will be the same with the additional zest of a grapefruit or two.

 

[LoneStarLori]

I'm gonna do the Sangiovese as you and Joe did.

The Mezza Luna will be the same with the additional zest of a grapefruit or two.

That sounds really good. I think the Luna could benefit from the grapefruit. Please let me know what you think about the process. Not only do you get a better wine, you get to play with it more. lol

 

[kryptonitewine]

Will do. My wine making is on hold for awhile until my water situation gets fixed. But I'll post the process and results once I'm back in the game.


Jim

 

[LoneStarLori]

Update time on the Shiraz/Viognier.

On my last picture story, I decided I was not loving the way the wine was after the initial fermentation. The wine was very dry for my taste and was lacking body. I decided to tweak the kit by using some fresh fruit. In the past, I have added raisins but this kit came with dried grape skins and raisins didn't seem like a good choice. I only wanted to bump the flavor and body a little so I added a pound of fresh, dark sweet cherries. They have been sitting in the wine a little over a week.

First thing is check the SG. .997. Same as it has been so as far as I can tell, the cherries didn't wake up the yeasties. I think they have given up all they can. The wine is still, no signs of re-fermentation so I'm going to rack them out. I'm seeing a trend in my additions. Once they start floating, they should be ready to come out in about a week.

I covered the racking cane with a small piece of cheesecloth to keep the cherries at bay. Worked great, once again.

Look at the beautiful color!

Getting the cherries out of the carboy can be tricky. Be sure to hold onto the handle when shaking it upside down.

Since I'm done with the any big tweak and the wine is stabie, I'll start the clearing process using the additives provided in the kit. First will be the sulphite. I prefer to mix the packet with a little water to dissolve the crystals before it goes into the wine. When working with red wine, you can't tell if they didn't dissolve properly.

After mixing the Sulpite in, i add part 1 of the cleaning agents, Kiesosol. (Don't add part 2 yet)

Then stir it REALLY good to get everything mixed.

While waiting on the Kiesosol to do it's thing in the wine, it's a good time to do some clean up. I use original Oxyclean to clean the carboys after such a sludgefest. It has an active cleaning action that a standard dish soap doesn't have which helps release the grime. Although it is safe to use around food, be sure to rinse VERY well. After it's rinsed, I rinse it again with Star-san or kmeta.

After about 30- 45 mins, I can add the second part of the fining agents, Chitosan. This should be mixed with a 1/4 cup of luke warm water. It is a pretty thick solution and this helps it dissolve more thoroughly in the wine.

Finally, I rack one more time into a 5 gal carboy and a 1500 ML bottle. Topped both with fresh airlocks.

You might have noticed I did not use the included Sorbate to stabilize as the instructions say. This is a personal choice. I am trying to use as little chemicals in my wine as possible. I plan to bulk age this for at least 6 weeks so as long as I'm not back going to back sweeten and as long as the fermentation is complete and doesn't show any signs of re-starting, I don't see a need. Again, this is just a personal choice.

At this time, I am really happy with what the cherries have added to the flavor. It gave the wine just a little bit of dark fruit which I think it needed and also some dimension.
I can tell the oak is starting to come out and it is shaping up nicely. I will wait a couple of weeks for it to clear and after I rack it one more time, I will decide if I want to add any finishing tannins. As of right now, I don't think it needs it because the mouth feel is much better than it was before adding cherries. But it's a little early to tell. I'll let time do it's job for now.

To see the first two installments of this kit follow these links;

Part one: Starting the kit

Part two: 1st racking and adding cherries

 

[LoneStarLori]

Will do. My wine making is on hold for awhile until my water situation gets fixed. But I'll post the process and results once I'm back in the game.


Jim

Oh thats right, you have no water. YIKES!
I hope you thaw out soon, that is a real PITA to deal with.