Mosti Mondiale Very First Attempt

[gdaustin]

Well I broke down and finallyordered theDeluxe Kit from George Sunday and ordered the Vinifera Noble White Zinfandel as the wife likes Zin. Everything should be here Wednesday or Thursday so I will get to try this winemaking hobby out this weekend . I have never done this before so any advice on making my first kit is soooo appreciated. By the way I am not much of a wine drinker(wife loves all types of wine)but I am hoping to adapt . Also living in S.E. Georgia we have decided to try and grow some Muscadine and Florida Bunch grapes and give them a try after we learn to do kits. Not able to grow the california grapes here. Thanks for all the advice in advance.

 

[vcasey]

Read the instructions and watch George's videos BEFORE you start. Be patient. Have fun. And check out this site for grape vineshttp://www.isons.com/
Welcome to the forum!

 

[Wade E]

Follow the instructions but use your hydrometer more then what they write as far as days cause wine can ferment faster or slower depending on many things(usually faster. Always let it sit a little longer when clearing so that the lees(sediment) get more compacted so when transferring(racking) off of them into a clean carboy they wont be so easily disturbed. Once racked off of the lees give it some time to bulk age(storing of bigger batches instead of bottle aging) so that the rest of the fine lees can fall out and they will. Make sure you degas your wine good and keep the temp up around low to mid 70's until your wine is all clear and ready to age. Welcome to this site and the wonderful hobby!

 

[uavwmn]

gdaustin, enjoy the process!!! Follow the directions and sit back and enjoy those yeastie smells of fermentation!!

 

[ibglowin]

Welcome to the forums!

 

[gdaustin]

Well I started the process today. Watched George's videos and everything seems to have gone ok. I should have gotten a little of my Reverse Osmosis water earlier as I had to wait a little to get enough water to fill the busket. Also the bentonite did not dissolve very well. Lots of clumps. I let it sit for a while and when I stirred it just before I put it in it was very clumpy. Dumped it in anyways. SG was 1.090 at 74 Degrees F. Since I do have a dog and cat I sealed the lid on primary and put the airlock into the hole. No instructions came for the airlock so I filled it about half way with water. 3 piece design. The instructions say to stir daily so we will see tomorrow what it looks like. Ordered another carboy from George tonight so I will have another for the second rack and also got some stoppers for wine bottles so I can bleed off a bottle for the next step after yeast nutrient. Hope it gets here in time. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

 

[ibglowin]

First off, take the airlock off (pets or no pets) and unseal the lid and just lay it on top. You need lots of air for a few days until things slow down around 1.03 or so SG. Get a paper towel and fold it 4X into a square and place it on top of the airlock hole. Keep it at 72-74 degrees.

Don't transfer to a carboy at 1.035. Just leave it in primary, add nutrient and stir and then snap the lid and add the airlock with some K-Meta, not water inside. Let it go to .999 in primary and then transfer it all to secondary (and I do mean it all!) and let it go for another 12 days or so. Then check your SG and if its 998 or lower for 2 days in a row you can go on and stabilize and clarify.

Make sense?

 

[gdaustin]

OK I took the airlock off and covered the hole and loosened the lid. What is the K-Med and what strength do I need for the airlock.

 

[ibglowin]

K-Meta (Potassium Meta Bisulfite) is your sanitizing solution. Just poor some of it (that you should have already made up) into the airlock.

 

[Wade E]

I agree with IBG on using k-meta or even a very cheap vodka in the airlock. As far as the airlock goes if you are stirring it occasionally then airlock on primary is fine, Ive been using that method for many years with no problems at all. I have a cat to and mine will actually try hard to get in there, I think he wants my wine bad! Im not sure reverse osmosis water is good for wine making at this point in the game, it would be fine for topping off later which I never like to do cause it dilute wine but people do do it. Water with lots of 02 and minerals are actually better in the beginning as they aid a fermentation. I also agree not to rack your wine that early unless you split it up into 2 vessels with plenty of room in each but I truly dont understand the benefits of their instructions here. The only thing that makes sense is that doing it this early is that all yeast will be in suspension due to it being a violent fermentation at this stage which can be mirrored by just stirring up the batch at a later stage to make sure when you rack you get all the viable yeast racked over.

 

[gdaustin]

Well It has been about 24 hours and I decided to stir it up a little as the instructions suggest. I took a picturebefore I mixed things up so you folks can see what is going on. It looks a little dark for a White Zin but this is my very first attempt at wine making so we will see. Let me know if this looks right. Thanks for all the advice. By the way I used RO water cause I am on well water and it has a bit of sulfur in it so I was thinking it might affect things negatively.

 

[ibglowin]

Looks great!

The water will be just fine. I use bottled water myself and I have great tasting Rocky Mountain Water!

 

[gdaustin]

OK second day it went to 1.060 and today 1.030. I added the nutrient and snapped the lid with airlock and k-med. Do I ned to do anymore daily stirring or just leave it alone for a few days then check the SG? I would assume I let things settle to the bottom while I wait for .999 then rack. Once I get it to stabilize out around .996 I put the Potassium Sorbate in and stirr and degass. Then I would let sit for a few months then put the stabilizer and clarifiers in then bottle?

 

[grapeman]

I would stir it for a couple days then leave it to go by itself. Follow the directions as you go. Each manufacturer has their own instruction set and you should follow that fairly closely especially if you are a beginner to them. As you gain more experience, you can deviate a bit to get the results you like. One thing I can say is that the sorbate IS the stabilizer along with the k-meta. Don't bottle immediately after adding clarifiers and stabilizers- it will need time to clear before bottling

 

[ibglowin]

You should be out at around 20 days from the start when you first pitched the yeast. Make sure your SG is stable and reads the same for 2 days straight (.998 or less). Add the K-Meta and the Sorbate and stir with a drill for 2-3 minutes to get it dissolved and mixed in as well as start your degassing. Add your clarifying agents. This is a two step process so make sure you add the right one first and stir for 2-3 min with a drill (more degassing as well) then add the second one and stir for another 2-3 minutes. Some kits want you to wait an hour between them so make sure you read the directions!

When your done adding all your stabilizing and clarifying agents and stirred well for each step you can start the process of really degassing. Probably the easiest for a beginner is by using a Vacuvin (wine saver) Watch the video on George's site.

This is a VERY important step to do properly as if you don't your wine will have residual CO2 in it and will not taste like it should and even worse you could have some corks pop out over time due to the gas pressure build up.

One last thing, all of these steps should be completed with your wine at a very WARM temp of around 74 degrees. If your wine is 65 it will take longer to degas and clear. Keep it warm for a week after you do this and your wine should have cleared almost completely with a little more clearing happening over the next few weeks or so.


Your in the home stretch!

 

[gdaustin]

OK so far so good. Things appear to be going way faster than the instructions suggest. Day 1-3 went as expected and SG was down to 1.030. Put in Yeast nutrient sealed Primary and put airlock in. Instructions say leave for 6-7 days so I left it for 3 days and the airlock stopped bubbling. Checked the SG tonight and it is at .996. I am thinking I should do a rack from the primary and add the K-Med and start bulk aging but this would be 3 days earlier than the 6-7 days in the instructions. My first attempt at wine so I am a little nervous.

 

[vcasey]

Go for it.
Lots of things will cause fermentations to go faster and the instructions are just a guide.

 

[grapeman]

You can certainly rack it over at this point. It might not be quite done fermenting though so I would wait a few days to put the k-meta in. That is just too soon to assume it is totally done. Either way won't hurt it, but if it isn't quite done, it could form some gas later on if it starts to ferment again. This is usually how beginning winemakers end up with gassy wine. One of the biggest hurdles is to learn patience and don't rush anything along the way.

 

[gdaustin]

OK I took some advice and waited two more days. I racked it to a carboy just now. WhenI got all the good stuff out I asked the wife to get the bottle of white zin we bought to top this sucker off. She smiled and said she drank it so she is running to the store to get another bottle . I am going to let it sit in the carboy one more day then put the K-Med in and then forget about it for a few months. How long should I bulk age this to get the best results? Also I got a bottle of amarone the other day to have the wife try it. She loves it and wants me to hurry up and get an amarone going. I was looking at doing the masters edition amarone or maybe the ren amarone. The ME is more but is it really that much better? Thanks in advance.

 

[vcasey]

Really no need to bulk age this kit - it's an early drinker!
I have made the Ren. Amarone - it is outstanding.