Well, I am completing my forth batch of wine and I am still confused on when
and what yeast nutrients to add. In the first three batches of wine I just
ran through the instructions the wine store gave me and I ended us with
three wines that tasted very similar, save the fact that they were worlds
apart (literally) - Spanish grape Porto, Canadian Icewine style Riesling,
and a California Merlot... The commonality between the three was the yeast
used LALVIN 1118, fining agents and a lack of attention. Blasphemous it
sounds...I just fermented the juice, added package #2, then filtered and
bottled the wine...The whole process took about a month... Strangely enough,
I ended up with is a bunch of wine that taste the same...

Now that I am giving the juice the respect is deserves (and I have more than
enough wine for when we have guests...Just kidding...;o) I want to make sure
my wine doesn't taste like "home made." Based on all my reading and
experience I am on the right track, however, when it comes to feeding the
yeast I am not sure about the nutrients.. Does anyone have recipe that they
go by that they feel works well? Or any suggestion on which nutrients are
better then others... Any help would be appreciated...

And thanks again to everyone who have been so helpful!!

Happy Holidays,

Shawn

P.S. One more question, does anyone have any suggestions on what the best
fining agents are?

Inferno said on 12/21/2004 11:14 AM:
> Well, I am completing my forth batch of wine and I am still confused on when
> and what yeast nutrients to add. In the first three batches of wine I just
> ran through the instructions the wine store gave me and I ended us with
> three wines that tasted very similar, save the fact that they were worlds
> apart (literally) - Spanish grape Porto, Canadian Icewine style Riesling,
> and a California Merlot... The commonality between the three was the yeast
> used LALVIN 1118, fining agents and a lack of attention. Blasphemous it
> sounds...I just fermented the juice, added package #2, then filtered and
> bottled the wine...The whole process took about a month... Strangely enough,
> I ended up with is a bunch of wine that taste the same...
>
> Now that I am giving the juice the respect is deserves (and I have more than
> enough wine for when we have guests...Just kidding...;o) I want to make sure
> my wine doesn't taste like "home made." Based on all my reading and
> experience I am on the right track, however, when it comes to feeding the
> yeast I am not sure about the nutrients.. Does anyone have recipe that they
> go by that they feel works well? Or any suggestion on which nutrients are
> better then others... Any help would be appreciated...
>
> And thanks again to everyone who have been so helpful!!
>
> Happy Holidays,
>
> Shawn
>
> P.S. One more question, does anyone have any suggestions on what the best
> fining agents are?
>

If you're making kit wines, it's probably best to follow the kit
instructions exactly.

Otherwise, yeast nutrient is usually added right at the start,
just before adding the yeast. Nutrient should affect how well
the wine ferments but I don't think it affects the taste at all.

How old are your first 3 batches? If they are still young, it
may take time for them to develop their individual flavors. The
flavor really does change with aging.


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