Too much sugar??

[sour_grapes]

I agree with grapeman that ordinary bottles are designed to exclude oxygen, and thus are not really suitable for long-term storage of wine. However, I think you will get less oxidation before you bottle this if you put it in two 5 L plastic containers than if you put it in one 23 L container.

Another option is finding larger glass bottles. You could use six 1.5L bottles, for example, although you would need 6 airlocks, etc. Any chance of finding 4 L or 5 L glass in your part of the world?

 

[DavidvBrady]

My plan is to clear in the two 5 litre bottles for a few weeks then bottle into wine bottles. My kit suggests with the finings it should take ten days to clear in the primary, I thought I'd just move off the lees into plastic. Then bottle


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[DavidvBrady]

Due to how watery it was as well I was thinking of adding oak. Is this a bad idea?


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[DavidvBrady]

Hey all,

So from two days ago my wine hasn't dropped higher than .999

Is the wine ready to be stabilised and finings added?

I know it should be higher than this bit isn't it too late to restart the yeast


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[sour_grapes]

0.999 seems a bit high; usually can get to 0.995 or so. However, if it doesn't drop any lower in a day or two, I would go ahead and stabilize and fine. How does it taste? The wine may turn out a little sweeter than otherwise, which is not necessarily a bad thing. (Sweetness covers some of the "greenness" of a young wine.)

 

[DavidvBrady]

It tasted quite dry and acidic. Nice. Do I need to do any calibration for the temperature?

It's currently 24c (75•2f)


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[sour_grapes]

Not really: http://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/

 

[DavidvBrady]

Hey all, so my wine is now cleared. It's quite light for a red and pretty acidic. Is this something that gets better with aging


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[sour_grapes]

I am new enough that I cannot tell you from experience, but it will probably improve over time. However, if I recall correctly, the kit you made was a highly concentrated one. This will likely never get to be as good as a nice bottle of wine. Take a look at this article and see what you think:

https://winemakermag.com/90-big-kits-wine-kits