Other Tweeking Cheap Kits

[joeswine]

Question, how long were you in primary, what kit is this,what was your starting SG. Don't do anything until we talk .you can always pm me also.

 

[jdwebb]

Joe,

Fontana Pinot Noir
1 pound mixed blackberries & raspberries
Mixed to 5 1/2 gallons
BM4x4
SG 1.100
Fermented for 10 days in primary until 1.000 (my bad, I think I posted 1.100 before)

 

[joeswine]

Let it sit longer, walk away, it's in a carboy with a air lock just let it sit, two weeks. Then do racking and add chems, go slow ,stay the course.

 

[jdwebb]

OK, thanks Joe.

 

[Tnuscan]

Joe I came in this evening and thieved me a couple more thimbles full. I wanted to compare the Fontana Merlot( tweeked)kit to the more expensive Merlot kit I made a week earlier. Tweeked kit at 8 days after stabilizing is far better than the other at 15 or 16 days after stabilizing. So right now your my new hero So I am confident that it will fall right into place in the following months, still in the lead. This means More Wine For Me.
Thanks Joe

 

[joeswine]

Cheap kits

this week I went up to Delran to help Tom bottle a few kits ,this is what we did, a black berry pino noir and a pino grigio..

 

[Mismost]

Piddled around with my tweaked kits today....

Added the clarifying packages to the Malbec...seemed very still, no gas...tasted good. Added a cup of medium toast cubes

Racked the Wildberry Shiraz , not crazy about that one...it can with a fruit pack, I only used 1/2 the pack in the primary. Glad I did because it is very berry flavored. While I was ehhhh so so, my wife loved the taste. It still needs to come down a few points to dry

Now, the Pinot Grigo with apricots.....racked it off the fruit and into a secondary...it's cloudy yet and needs to keep cooking, but that fruit is special, this is going to real good...maybe not a classic PG, but it's gonna make a real nice bottle.

Jacked with a really dry Apple cider, will bottle that tomorrow. Brewed a 5'er of a brown ale just to keep my finger in the beer garden.

One of these days, I gotta learn how to drink like a fish!

 

[wineforfun]

@joeswine How long are you aging these cheap kits in the carboy? My malbec just got racked this weekend off some lees from the clearing stage and is going to age for 2-3 months, or so that was the plan. Or do you bottle up sooner?
Grabbed a glass of it and it isn't too bad. Had just got home from the gym so the 14% ABV started working quick.
Just as you say, comparable to a $7-$8 bottle of wine. I may add some more oak to it as it is light on oak flavor for me. Definitely fun to mess with these as you aren't out a ton of money if you screw it up and it is still very drinkable.

 

[joeswine]

In the mix

When the wine is still and you do not need to make any corrections, let it sit for two or three weeks then bottle and enjoy after all this is supposed to be a HOBBY, correct!.....enjoy your creation, don't think about it to much.

 

[jdwebb]

OK Joe, here we are

Fontana Pinot Noir
1 pound mixed blackberries & raspberries in fruit bag
Mixed to 5 1/2 gallons
BM4x4 rehydro'd with Go-ferm
SG 1.100
Pitched on 2-23-16
Fermented for 10 days in primary until 1.000
Racked to carboy on 3-4-16

Currently on 3-20-16
SG 0.998
PH 2.9
Quite tart
Topped carboy off with a bit of Pinot Noir we had laying around!

 

[joeswine]

in the mix

what do you think so far,how are the rest of you cheap kit maker's coming along ,pro's and Con's

 

[Tom]

With Joeswine I bottled a Malbec and a Shiraz. Both were tweeked to 1.100 for 5 gallon. My "taster" (wife) said it was great.

2 weeks ago I bottled a Blackberry Pino Noir. 1.5 # of blackberry in secondary. This 2 was "tweeked" to 5 gal and 1.100

 

[Tom]

OK Joe, here we are

Fontana Pinot Noir
1 pound mixed blackberries & raspberries in fruit bag
Mixed to 5 1/2 gallons
BM4x4 rehydro'd with Go-ferm
SG 1.100
Pitched on 2-23-16
Fermented for 10 days in primary until 1.000
Racked to carboy on 3-4-16

Currently on 3-20-16
SG 0.998
PH 2.9
Quite tart
Topped carboy off with a bit of Pinot Noir we had laying around!

When did you add the fruit?

 

[joeswine]

in the mix

JD what do you think so far ? Take it slow on the process there's. Plenty of time.Tomhow did the BlackBerry pino turn Out? Fill us in okay.

 

[jdwebb]

When did you add the fruit?

Fruit was added with the juice right at the start.

 

[jdwebb]

JD what do you think so far ? Take it slow on the process there's. Plenty of time.Tomhow did the BlackBerry pino turn Out? Fill us in okay.

I think its a bit tart, not sure what the blackberry might have added, but was hoping for more blackberry on the back end. Not much mouthfeel, all I get is tart. Ferment went well, I held it at 68º.

 

[joeswine]

I am I correct you added mixed berry mix,did you start with a 5 gallon batch?

 

[wineforfun]

@joeswine Have you done the Fontana Premium Reisling? Looking at it next for my wife as she is a sweet wine drinker.

 

[joeswine]

In the mix

Jd Webb.........did you use the mixed berries? the tartness is do to the acidity of the berries, did you start with a 5 gallon batch and was this a Fontana kit?


Wineforfun....no I haven't made the Riesling but I did do a chardonnay with oak and zest. The Riesling has a clean crisp finish and will do well with a little grapefruit zest to bring up the fruits acidity, are you making it with a 5 or 6 gallon volume?

Katie’s Chardonnay Kit​

It’s been a while since I’ve created a post of my own; I’ve been primarily helping Joeswine with the upkeep of his posts. I wanted to share this kit with everyone because I’ve tried it before and know that it turns out pretty awesome.
This is a Fontana Wine kit I recently purchased off-line. This traditionally is a 6-gallon kit but I are not making it like so. I am making this a 5-gallon kit as to keep the flavor and better balance between alcohol and wine with the contribution of the one cup of oak (which is traditional to a Chardonnay).
Ingredients:
These are all the basic ingredients that came with the kit. Please see the pictures attached.

What additional changes I’ve made:
-Changing the end volume of the wine from 6 gallons to 5 gallons
-adding the cup of oak
-At the end, by reducing the volume of concentrate, we increased the ABV without even trying.
-Personal preference: I will be adding zest of 1 grapefruit before racking. This will pick up the PH and give it a clean, crisp finish.
See the pictures for the process. J
WERE NEARRING THE FINIS WE LEFT OUR WINE IN THE COLD SINK FOR 14 DAYS AND IT CLEARED QUIT NICELY, WE KNEW RACKING BACK TO A ONE MIX CONTAINER WOULD CAUSE US TO HAVE TO RECLEAR ONE MORE TIME; THE WORK IS NOT A BIG DEAL WHAT IS, THE FINISH.

BEFORE I RACKED I TASTED THIS WINE AND LIKE I THOUGHT, THE WHITES SHOULD GO INTO A 5 GALLONS PROCESS ALSO.JUST LIKE THE REDS, THE WHITES EVEN WITH ALL THE SOLIDS WOULD HAVE NOT (IMOP) HAVE HAD MUCH TASTE, BRINGING THEM DOWN TO 5 GALLONS GAVES THESE KITS LIFE AND WITH THE SMALL AMOUNT OF TWEAKS THAT WE DID, WAS JUSTFIDE .SO WHAT WAS THE RESULTS??
SMOOTH UP FRONT WITH DECIENT FRUIT NOT OVER WHELMING BUT STILL THERE, CRISP ACIDITY WITH A CLEAN FINISH, WILL LET YOU KNOW WHAT OUR YIELD WAS WHEN WE BOTTLE AND OUR COST PER BOTTLE.

Katie’s Chardonnay Kit​

It’s been a while since I’ve created a post of my own; I’ve been primarily helping Joeswine with the upkeep of his posts. I wanted to share this kit with everyone because I’ve tried it before and know that it turns out pretty awesome.
This is a Fontana Wine kit I recently purchased off-line. This traditionally is a 6-gallon kit but I are not making it like so. I am making this a 5-gallon kit as to keep the flavor and better balance between alcohol and wine with the contribution of the one cup of oak (which is traditional to a Chardonnay).
Ingredients:
These are all the basic ingredients that came with the kit. Please see the pictures attached.

What additional changes I’ve made:
-Changing the end volume of the wine from 6 gallons to 5 gallons
-adding the cup of oak
-At the end, by reducing the volume of concentrate, we increased the ABV without even trying.
-Personal preference: I will be adding zest of 1 grapefruit before racking. This will pick up the PH and give it a clean, crisp finish.
See the pictures for the process. J
WERE NEARRING THE FINIS WE LEFT OUR WINE IN THE COLD SINK FOR 14 DAYS AND IT CLEARED QUIT NICELY, WE KNEW RACKING BACK TO A ONE MIX CONTAINER WOULD CAUSE US TO HAVE TO RECLEAR ONE MORE TIME; THE WORK IS NOT A BIG DEAL WHAT IS, THE FINISH.

BEFORE I RACKED I TASTED THIS WINE AND LIKE I THOUGHT, THE WHITES SHOULD GO INTO A 5 GALLONS PROCESS ALSO.JUST LIKE THE REDS, THE WHITES EVEN WITH ALL THE SOLIDS WOULD HAVE NOT (IMOP) HAVE HAD MUCH TASTE, BRINGING THEM DOWN TO 5 GALLONS GAVES THESE KITS LIFE AND WITH THE SMALL AMOUNT OF TWEAKS THAT WE DID, WAS JUSTFIDE .SO WHAT WAS THE RESULTS??
SMOOTH UP FRONT WITH DECIENT FRUIT NOT OVER WHELMING BUT STILL THERE, CRISP ACIDITY WITH A CLEAN FINISH, WILL LET YOU KNOW WHAT OUR YIELD WAS WHEN WE BOTTLE AND OUR COST PER BOTTLE.

Katie’s Chardonnay Kit​

 

[wineforfun]

My plan would be to drop it to the 5 gal. mark. I thought you had said that was best with these lower end kits.
I just need it to end up sweet for her.