I've made a lot of country wines from scratch before, but
am doing my first kit wine now - an Australian Semillon
that my local homebrew shop gave me because it was a bit
too old to sell (great guy).

The instructions list bottling after about 35 days, but
I'll probably want to age it in the carboy a bit longer.
Since I've never done a kit wine, or a grape wine before,
should I:

1) Follow the kit instructions and timing for everything,
including the potassium sorbate and isinglass and stirring
to drive off CO2, then just leave it in the carboy for a
few more months, or

2) Just make my own schedule for rackings like I do with
other wines, but leave the final stabilizing,
clarification and degassing until the last racking before
bottling maybe a few months from now.

Or does it really matter?

--
Joe
http://www.joekaz.net/
http://www.cafeshops.com/joekaz

> 1) Follow the kit instructions and timing for everything,
> including the potassium sorbate and isinglass and stirring
> to drive off CO2, then just leave it in the carboy for a
> few more months, or
>
> 2) Just make my own schedule for rackings like I do with
> other wines, but leave the final stabilizing,
> clarification and degassing until the last racking before
> bottling maybe a few months from now.

I would think that you should stabilize with the potassium
meta as soon as the wine is finished fermenting give or
take a week as long as it's under an airlock with CO2
above it. The potassium meta serves an important purpose
and that is to prevent oxidation, you might as well protect
it as soon as possible and bulk age afterwards. That aging
will allow the CO2 to vent off on it's own - one of the
benefits of bulk aging.

Don

Joe > wrote in message >. ..
> ... am doing my first kit wine now <snip>
> ... should I:
>
> 1) Follow the kit instructions and timing for everything,
> including the potassium sorbate and isinglass and stirring
> to drive off CO2, then just leave it in the carboy for a
> few more months, or
>
> 2) Just make my own schedule for rackings like I do with
> other wines, but leave the final stabilizing,
> clarification and degassing until the last racking before
> bottling maybe a few months from now.
>
> Or does it really matter?


As a general thing, you can probably let most of the kit phases run
longer than the recommended times (even those are fairly flexible, if
you read the instructions carefully), as long as the wine is topped up
and under airlock.

I've read a couple places now that the fining agents included with
some of the kits (I usually make Brew King kits) are intended to work
with the bentonite and/or yeast cells, so they actually work better if
you don't wait to add them until you've racked the wine off the
initial layer of sediment. So, you probably should try to follow the
instructions as to content and order, but without worrying too much
about the precise timing. At least, that's what I'd recommend for a
first kit.

Doug

As I read on this newsgroup, sorbate is used to stop the yeast
activity. Since I only do red kits, I don't use it because it is
useless, there is nothing left to fermente. And the isinglass, only if
it doesn't clear by itself.

After a month, I add only the metabisulfite. After two months, my wine
is always clear (so I never really used the isinglass). Then I let it
bulk age for as long as I can wait, then bottle.

I did my first kit as the instruction said, because I knew nothing and
I thought that is was perfect instructions. Then I realized that most
people want there wine NOW, so the manufacturers add things to help
these people.

Since my last kits are actually young (a couple of months), I can't
tell you if I made a mistake, but I'm sure I didn't. So I would go
with your second suggestion.



Joe > wrote ...
> The instructions list bottling after about 35 days, but
> I'll probably want to age it in the carboy a bit longer.
> Since I've never done a kit wine, or a grape wine before,
> should I:
>
> 1) Follow the kit instructions and timing for everything,
> including the potassium sorbate and isinglass and stirring
> to drive off CO2, then just leave it in the carboy for a
> few more months, or
>
> 2) Just make my own schedule for rackings like I do with
> other wines, but leave the final stabilizing,
> clarification and degassing until the last racking before
> bottling maybe a few months from now.
>
> Or does it really matter?

On 03/08/2004 12:34 PM, Willie said:
> As I read on this newsgroup, sorbate is used to stop the yeast
> activity. Since I only do red kits, I don't use it because it is
> useless, there is nothing left to fermente. And the isinglass, only if
> it doesn't clear by itself.
>
> After a month, I add only the metabisulfite. After two months, my wine
> is always clear (so I never really used the isinglass). Then I let it
> bulk age for as long as I can wait, then bottle.
>
> I did my first kit as the instruction said, because I knew nothing and
> I thought that is was perfect instructions. Then I realized that most
> people want there wine NOW, so the manufacturers add things to help
> these people.
>
> Since my last kits are actually young (a couple of months), I can't
> tell you if I made a mistake, but I'm sure I didn't. So I would go
> with your second suggestion.
>
>
>
> Joe > wrote ...
>
>>The instructions list bottling after about 35 days, but
>>I'll probably want to age it in the carboy a bit longer.
>>Since I've never done a kit wine, or a grape wine before,
>>should I:
>>
>>1) Follow the kit instructions and timing for everything,
>>including the potassium sorbate and isinglass and stirring
>>to drive off CO2, then just leave it in the carboy for a
>>few more months, or
>>
>>2) Just make my own schedule for rackings like I do with
>>other wines, but leave the final stabilizing,
>>clarification and degassing until the last racking before
>>bottling maybe a few months from now.
>>
>>Or does it really matter?


I've read how kit wine manufacturers test their kits and
instructions extensively, so one should follow them
exactly. But I guess I forgot that one of their goals is
to get it bottled quickly, for the impatient winemakers.
I'm in no hurry, so I'll follow my instincts from the
country wines I've made. Thanks for the advice, everyone.

--
Joe
http://www.joekaz.net/
http://www.cafeshops.com/joekaz

This might be a dumb question to you experts, but I've never heard of this.
How is it that a red would have nothing left to ferment, while a white could
have? I know my red kits come with sorbate, I just added a pack yesterday to
a cheap Barolo 28-day one.


"Willie" > wrote in message
om...
> As I read on this newsgroup, sorbate is used to stop the yeast
> activity. Since I only do red kits, I don't use it because it is
> useless, there is nothing left to fermente. And the isinglass, only if
> it doesn't clear by itself.

Good point...and not a dumb question. If either wine (red or white) is
fermented to completion (Dry), then neither wine will have anything left to
ferment....assuming one is not going to deliberately sweeten a completely
fermented white wine. Fermented "Dry" is complete alcohol fermentation, Red
or White.
Rory