The kit is assembled into the primary fermenter and bunged up with an
airlock. This is my first kit that came with oak "chips." More like sawdust
they are. Four packets came with the kit with instructions to mix in all
four at this initial stage. Two were labeled as "toasted oak." Hmmm, looks
more like grinding off the inside of a barrel to collect the nearly charred
stuff and then digging deeper to get to the chips.
Else that sounds like grousing, I'm happy to follow the instructions to
the end -- I really intended that to be tongue-in-cheek.
Let's see, I slapped the lid on 30 minutes ago... time to go check and
see if it started bubbling yet.

--
Regards,

Casey Wilson
Freelance Writer
and Photographer

Dude we're doing almost the same kit at the same time. I think I'm a week or
ten days ahead of you, I just racked mine into the carboy tonight. I'm doing
the Selection "Limited Edition" South African Shiraz kit. What was your
starting SG? I was at 1.092. The oak chips will sink to the bottom of the
pail soon. By day three or four it will be really fizzing up a storm.

"Casey Wilson" > wrote in message
news:%4tBh.51$4J4.50@trnddc01...
>
> The kit is assembled into the primary fermenter and bunged up with an
> airlock. This is my first kit that came with oak "chips." More like
sawdust
> they are. Four packets came with the kit with instructions to mix in all
> four at this initial stage. Two were labeled as "toasted oak." Hmmm, looks
> more like grinding off the inside of a barrel to collect the nearly
charred
> stuff and then digging deeper to get to the chips.
> Else that sounds like grousing, I'm happy to follow the instructions
to
> the end -- I really intended that to be tongue-in-cheek.
> Let's see, I slapped the lid on 30 minutes ago... time to go check and
> see if it started bubbling yet.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Casey Wilson
> Freelance Writer
> and Photographer
>
>

"Alan Smithee" > wrote in message
news:YwtBh.1012153$1T2.407281@pd7urf2no...
> Dude we're doing almost the same kit at the same time. I think I'm a week
> or
> ten days ahead of you, I just racked mine into the carboy tonight. I'm
> doing
> the Selection "Limited Edition" South African Shiraz kit. What was your
> starting SG? I was at 1.092. The oak chips will sink to the bottom of the
> pail soon. By day three or four it will be really fizzing up a storm.


The SG was 1.086 at 77 degrees(F). Can't find my temperature
correction chart so I'm not sure what the exact number is.

Cheers,

Casey

> Two were labeled as "toasted oak." Hmmm, looks
> more like grinding off the inside of a barrel to collect the nearly charred
> stuff and then digging deeper to get to the chips.

As a point of reference, toasted oak should be darker looking, heavy
toast borders on black where medium looks a reddish brown. I like my
chips to be close in size and color of the toast. I really don't care
for the 'sawdust' style chips, I think they give the wine too woody a
taste. I never use untoasted, it's awful.

That said, Syrah loves oak. I am making my first kit, it came with
some pretty mediocre looking chips but I used them anyway. (I make
most of my wine from juice or grapes, this is an experiement.)
Joe

On Feb 16, 7:55 pm, "Casey Wilson" > wrote:
> "Alan Smithee" > wrote in message
>
>
> The SG was 1.086 at 77 degrees(F). Can't find my temperature
> correction chart so I'm not sure what the exact number is.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Casey

That's pretty low for an Australian Shiraz... curious how it'll turn
out.

Pp

"pp" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> On Feb 16, 7:55 pm, "Casey Wilson" > wrote:
>> "Alan Smithee" > wrote in message
>>
>>
>> The SG was 1.086 at 77 degrees(F). Can't find my temperature
>> correction chart so I'm not sure what the exact number is.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Casey
>
> That's pretty low for an Australian Shiraz... curious how it'll turn
> out.
>
> Pp

Correcting the specific gravity reading for the temperature of the must,
the reading is 1.090. According to the generic instructions provided with
the kit, the target range is 1.080 to 1.1.
At the moment the fermentation seems to be going quite well. This day
three and the two-part airlock is constantly active. The fermenter is,
unfortunately, opaque but from the looks of the debris collecting in the
airlock tube where it is plugged into the bung, and considering 2-gallon
ullage over the must, them yeasty critters have been having a wild party in
there.
For what it's worth, I'm glad I used the two-part airlock this time. It
think the foaming might well have blown the liquid out of the S-shaped one
piece gadget. It did just that on my first kit, a batch of Golden Zinfandel.

Cheers,

Casey

"Casey Wilson" > wrote in message
news:f4mCh.467$5F5.185@trnddc02...
>
> "pp" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> > On Feb 16, 7:55 pm, "Casey Wilson" > wrote:
> >> "Alan Smithee" > wrote in message
> >>
> >>
> >> The SG was 1.086 at 77 degrees(F). Can't find my temperature
> >> correction chart so I'm not sure what the exact number is.
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >>
> >> Casey
> >
> > That's pretty low for an Australian Shiraz... curious how it'll turn
> > out.
> >
> > Pp
>
> Correcting the specific gravity reading for the temperature of the
must,
> the reading is 1.090. According to the generic instructions provided with
> the kit, the target range is 1.080 to 1.1.
> At the moment the fermentation seems to be going quite well. This day
> three and the two-part airlock is constantly active. The fermenter is,
> unfortunately, opaque but from the looks of the debris collecting in the
> airlock tube where it is plugged into the bung, and considering 2-gallon
> ullage over the must, them yeasty critters have been having a wild party
in
> there.
> For what it's worth, I'm glad I used the two-part airlock this time.
It
> think the foaming might well have blown the liquid out of the S-shaped one
> piece gadget. It did just that on my first kit, a batch of Golden
Zinfandel.
>
I just throw mine in a (sterile) pail with a clear plastic bag (sealed with
an elastic) over it for the first cycle (7-10 days). It puffs the bag right
up. My was SG 1.092, couldn't tell you what the temp was probably about 20
or 21 C. After the SG was below 1.010 I racked it into the carboy, now it
blubs about every 15 seconds.