Other Tweeking Cheap Kits

[DIYer]

Losing a half gallon during racking is not the same as leaving out a half gallon of water when you start out. The wine you lose during racking has no affect other than to reduce the volume of wine you end up with. Leaving water out when you first mix it with the juice alters the balance of the whole batch - higher SG; change in potential ABV, possible residual sweetness, etc.

Yes, I'm aware of all that. Yet, it seems to be a very common practice, which is why I asked about it in relation the type of wine I'm making. As I said, losing a small amount is not my concern--the fact that I have only a 5-gal carboy for secondary is.

jpwatkins9, thanks for the up vote on the Cote des Blancs. That is what I ended up ordering, since Amazon had for next day delivery, and I read comments that it does well with cider too, which I like almost as much as wine, so the extra packets are more likely to get used.

 

[joeswine]

J9,,,,like your thinking on yeast and you are correct.
B1,,, balance is something what a wine maker can craft with the right tools and know how.

 

[DIYer]

Thanks to everyone for their input and advice. It's a done deal now. I used the 10L juice bag and 3 gallons of water, so it ended up about 5.6 gallons. Also used 1/2 of the f-pack (put the rest in a sanitized glass bottle in the fridge for later), and the yeast is Red Star Cote des Blancs. It's now in my ferment fridge, set at 65F. (Pitching temperature was about 70F.) Fingers crossed!

 

[joeswine]

this one was for Kate....

 

[joeswine]

phase #2 kates wine ..............................

 

[Farmside]

I’m just going to throw this out there. I just finished a Winexpert Moscato Kit (only tweak was added dextrose), instead of bottling I racked into smaller carboys and blended different fruit flavors, even blended a peach wine from last year (corked 4 bottles of that), and thinking about blending some BlackBerry brandy with some. Wife and I ended up with quite a nice variety of wines for the summer. Strawberry, cherry, peach, orange, have some mandarin orange infusing, and maybe BlackBerry, all from the one kit. Any input on blending brandy with it? I’m thinking it would end up being an after dinner type sweet wine, but then again maybe not .......

 

[Farmside]

And 2 bottles of blueberry I just finished ..... wait ..... am I suppose to be corking or drinking ???

 

[jpwatkins9]

I would say both

 

[bkisel]

I’m just going to throw this out there. I just finished a Winexpert Moscato Kit (only tweak was added dextrose), instead of bottling I racked into smaller carboys and blended different fruit flavors, even blended a peach wine from last year (corked 4 bottles of that), and thinking about blending some BlackBerry brandy with some. Wife and I ended up with quite a nice variety of wines for the summer. Strawberry, cherry, peach, orange, have some mandarin orange infusing, and maybe BlackBerry, all from the one kit. Any input on blending brandy with it? I’m thinking it would end up being an after dinner type sweet wine, but then again maybe not .......

Wish I had some suggestions but blending is yet another area of wine making that I've not explored. Closest I come is doing kits that are themselves blends.

 

[joeswine]

Don't get to carried away with blending your muscato, you'll lose the original profile, unless your just using it as a basee then there's limits.
Expand you thinking strawberry muscato, black berry cad grapefruit pino grigio ,, blue berry pino nior,
Read about the base wines profile and then ( think outside the box).

 

[Lwrightjs]

What should I do to tweak my rose? I put strawberries in primary. Yeast was pitched two months ago but it still tastes like it's missing something.
It was a middle of the road kit. Just not sure where to take it next.

 

[jpwatkins9]

I used some advice from Joe and put in some Grapefruit zest (1/4 of a small grapefruit) and 1 1/4 tablespoon of white wine/Rose’ Tannin. That was the first batch. 2nd had a bit of Lemon zest added. Third just the Added tannin. All have received a thumbs up from all that have tried them. We also made one batch as per kit directions, was also very good, but not as much body or citrus of course.

 

[joeswine]

Rose' is a hybrid wine not to the left or right of the taste buds, the strawberries should have helped ,if young let it sit a while longer.
Tanni s and all that other stuff won't be able to over come poor structure.
Did you increase the ABV.? That helps
Is the mouthfeel thin, if so glycerin will help, time in a bottle will also.
I don't put my h stou. In Rose's. I've made 2 the latest one is the pink Mos to so far so go time will Tell

 

[mhopkins]

joeswine - "Is the mouthfeel thin, if so glycerin will help,"
How much glycerin? Per bottle? Per gallon?

Have you every tried Gum Arabic? I have been reading up on this and am prepping to do some experimentation. It is supposed to have "positive impacts on color stability, mouthfeel and iron turbidity in young wines."

 

[Johnd]

joeswine - "Is the mouthfeel thin, if so glycerin will help,"
How much glycerin? Per bottle? Per gallon?

Have you every tried Gum Arabic? I have been reading up on this and am prepping to do some experimentation. It is supposed to have "positive impacts on color stability, mouthfeel and iron turbidity in young wines."

If you use the "@" symbol in front of his nickname, it'll alert him to the fact that you are attempting to get his attention / response, like this : @joeswine

 

[mhopkins]

@Johnd Thanks!
Hoping to hear back from @joeswine.
Mark

 

[joeswine]

The best measuring device is your taste buds.
When I adjust a six gallon or what ever volume I'm dealing with I do it by the batch.
I know that's not the norm, but neither is the way I tweak kits.
Less is more is the rule, bench trials to me are for those who are out of our league or didn't have a plan to start with.
It doesn't matter the volume your working with, let's say it's six gallons in a mixing bucket add the wine and 1 cup of glycerin, stir well let settled out and taste it not for taste but mouthfeel.Got it, if good place it directly back into the carboy,reseal and let it sit don't bother it for a few days.walk away.
If at that time you want more oak addit then, liguid oak is good

 

[joeswine]

To add then if flavor is needed you can wait till your in the secondary to be effective.
This sounds off the wall ? It's thinking outside the box, you must be ready to move quickly through the process.

 

[Kantuckid]

Glycerin and yer bowels... just sayin

 

[joeswine]

Yet bowels..?????