On 9/14/2008 6:27 PM, alphajerk wrote:
> Hi guys, thanks so much for the replies. I haven't touched, it but
> most of the stuff has fallen away now. I was just following the
> directions and timeline of when to add stuff, as this is my very first
> try at making wine and i don't know any better! There was nothing
> floating in it when I added the extra stuff. I really whipped the crap
> out of it with the drill mounted spoon, I'm thinking a little too
> forcefully. The directions just made me paranoid about "if I don't
> stir it enough at this stage it won't clear properly." I think I'll be
> a little more gentle next time. It's almost like I made a meringue out
> of the yeast and it puffed up and floated to the top or something.
> Hopefully, I'm still on track here. Thanks for the responses, they
> made me feel better.

Yeah, wine kits have to deal with the lowest common denominator as far
as their instructions go, and they also don't want to scare off the
beginning wine maker by recommending a nice long bulk aging period (i.e.
New wine maker: "What!?! I have to wait 9 months for this kit to
finish? Forget it, I'm buying a few bottles right now.") So the kit
instructions get you through the process at the speed of what they
figure is their new customer's attention span, rather than at the speed
of what's happening in the carboy. As you make more wine and learn more
about the process you'll find ways to modify the instructions which will
make a better wine from the same kit.

I think that their directions about stirring thoroughly come in part
from their need to have you degas the wine, since it's being made to
such an aggressive schedule. If you let it bulk age a bit this will
happen naturally. It'll also happen if you rack to a bottling bucket
and bottle from there, rather than bottling from your fermenter.


Cheers,
Ken Taborek