Hi.
Though I've been brewing wine's since July - I'm still new at this. I'm
now the proud owner of my 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th bottling in the last 40
days. (Man, the racks fill up quickly) And some were kits, which have
clear instructions on time between racking(s) and then aging after the
bottling. I have been so busy at the brewing, that I didn't realize how
long I'd have to wait.

Especially the recipes for the fruit wines - I am getting from Jack's
site or others - are probably clear, but I'd like your advice. For
instance, I started a MANGO wine (1st recipe)
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques57.asp (my 7th creation) April
1st, the instructions say to rack after 10 days, then 30 days then every
2 months for 6 months. Stablize and Sweeten, wait 10 days, bottle. Age
for 1 year.

Just to be clear (hate to wait longer than I have to), that is 10 days,
plus 30 days, plus 6 months plus 12 months. That's 19 months & 10 days.
right? The "age for a year" doesn't include the 6 months of racking
time... If it means age for 12 months including the 6 months in the
secondary, I can drink 177 days earlier. :*) Not that I'm anxious, but
am probably just confusing myself here.

Willing to be patient, but don't want to...
DAve

I'm sure he means to age for 12 more months after bottling, but hey,
this is only a guideline - an age that he thought the wine reached its
prime (or was at least close to prime). I would recommend you try a
bottle for yourself every couple of months or so after 3 or 4 months to
see if you can taste the difference the aging is making. In my
experience most wines really do show tremendous differences as they
age. You will know when it has reached its prime.

Dave,
> 1st, the instructions say to rack after 10 days, then 30 days then every
> 2 months for 6 months. Stabilize and Sweeten, wait 10 days, bottle. Age
> for 1 year.

Those are guidelines, fruit wine has a mind of it's own and each will
behave differently. For the most part, once wine is fully fermented
which is usually in a few weeks, and the gross lees, (sediment) have
fallen, (usually 2 weeks to a month after the wine is fully fermented)
wine will wait for you. Racking a wine that has dropped no sediment
doesn't serve a purpose unless you are trying to expose it to a little
air to open it up or get rid of a funky odor. If the wine is removed
from the gross lees, topped fully and sulfited appropriately there is
very little chance anything will go wrong. That said, Jack makes a lot
of fruit wines and won't steer you wrong.

I have been so busy at the brewing, that I didn't realize how
> long I'd have to wait.
....

> If it means age for 12 months including the 6 months in the
> secondary, I can drink 177 days earlier. :*)>

Use the times as guidelines, but don't stress over them.

> Willing to be patient, but don't want to...

As to waiting, I can't help you there. You will see that these wines
taste better with time, they improve at their pace, not ours. Drinking
it too young really doesn't hurt anything except... You may find that
it kept improving but the rate of consumption outstripped the supply.
There are worse problems to have.

I hear patience is a virtue, I wish I had some...



Joe

On 4/14/2006 2:22 PM, DAve Allison wrote:
> Hi.
> Though I've been brewing wine's since July - I'm still new at this. I'm
> now the proud owner of my 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th bottling in the last 40
> days. (Man, the racks fill up quickly) And some were kits, which have
> clear instructions on time between racking(s) and then aging after the
> bottling. I have been so busy at the brewing, that I didn't realize how
> long I'd have to wait.
>
> Especially the recipes for the fruit wines - I am getting from Jack's
> site or others - are probably clear, but I'd like your advice. For
> instance, I started a MANGO wine (1st recipe)
> http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques57.asp (my 7th creation) April
> 1st, the instructions say to rack after 10 days, then 30 days then every
> 2 months for 6 months. Stablize and Sweeten, wait 10 days, bottle. Age
> for 1 year.
>
> Just to be clear (hate to wait longer than I have to), that is 10 days,
> plus 30 days, plus 6 months plus 12 months. That's 19 months & 10 days.
> right? The "age for a year" doesn't include the 6 months of racking
> time... If it means age for 12 months including the 6 months in the
> secondary, I can drink 177 days earlier. :*) Not that I'm anxious, but
> am probably just confusing myself here.
>
> Willing to be patient, but don't want to...
> DAve


DAve,

Nearly every wine benefits from aging. If you are willing to be
patient, but don't want to, force yourself. You'll be happier in the
end.

Not to speak for Jack Keller, who is quite obviously a prolific wine and
mead maker and a wonderful resource, but I'd use any set of instructions
(even Jack's) only as a general guideline. Depending on a number of
factors, including (but not limited to) temperature, nutrient, aeration,
Ph, and original gravity, your ferment could well last beyond the first
racking point of 10 days. So, do read the directions, but also be
prepared to modify them for your specific wine/mead.

With kit wine instructions, be aware that the kit manufacturers are
specifically tailoring their kits for the impatient general public. You
will most probably enjoy your kit wine much more if you add a
significant amount of time to their instructions.


Cheers,
Ken Taborek

Dave,
I may be quite wrong, but I've always considered that the day the
primary fermentation is complete as a starting date for a particular wine;
meaning I put that date on my bottles, and I use that date as a basis for
bottling and aging. Since most of my primary ferments last about a week
(meaning the SG is 1.000 or below), I start counting that wine as complete,
even though it still needs to be racked, bulk aged, bottled, and
bottle-aged. I've followed a number of Jack's recipe's with this idea in
mind. I believe if he says bottle and age a year, then I would age a year.
But this doesn't mean I wouldn't try a bottle before hand just to see how it
tastes. Everyone's taste buds are different - its your wine...
I realize this is a long time to wait, but if you alter the types of
wine you make right now, then you can have enough to drink while you're
waiting for the others to age properly. I alternate between making wines
which need a long time to age (like pumpkin, carrot, blackberry, plum) and
wines that will mature quickly, like strawberry and some of the frozen
concentrates which are ready to drink at 6-9 months. I believe it took me
about 2-3 years of making wine to get my cellar going, so that I can pick
and choose from what's available.
Darlene


"DAve Allison" > wrote in message
...
> Hi.
> Though I've been brewing wine's since July - I'm still new at this. I'm
> now the proud owner of my 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th bottling in the last 40
> days. (Man, the racks fill up quickly) And some were kits, which have
> clear instructions on time between racking(s) and then aging after the
> bottling. I have been so busy at the brewing, that I didn't realize how
> long I'd have to wait.
>
> Especially the recipes for the fruit wines - I am getting from Jack's
> site or others - are probably clear, but I'd like your advice. For
> instance, I started a MANGO wine (1st recipe)
> http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques57.asp (my 7th creation) April 1st,
> the instructions say to rack after 10 days, then 30 days then every 2
> months for 6 months. Stablize and Sweeten, wait 10 days, bottle. Age for
> 1 year.
>
> Just to be clear (hate to wait longer than I have to), that is 10 days,
> plus 30 days, plus 6 months plus 12 months. That's 19 months & 10 days.
> right? The "age for a year" doesn't include the 6 months of racking
> time... If it means age for 12 months including the 6 months in the
> secondary, I can drink 177 days earlier. :*) Not that I'm anxious, but am
> probably just confusing myself here.
>
> Willing to be patient, but don't want to...
> DAve

Miker, Joe, Mailbox and Dar.
thanks for the information, that really helps. I will be patient and
purchase more store bought wines (to increase my bottle supply, of
course) in the meantime. I have built a "drink by" chart to help me
realize when I might have "dry spells". Which is now why I can see why
you all do so many wines so often. :*)
thanks. DAve

DAve Allison wrote:
> Hi.
> Though I've been brewing wine's since July - I'm still new at this. I'm
> now the proud owner of my 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th bottling in the last 40
> days. (Man, the racks fill up quickly) And some were kits, which have
> clear instructions on time between racking(s) and then aging after the
> bottling. I have been so busy at the brewing, that I didn't realize how
> long I'd have to wait.
>
> Especially the recipes for the fruit wines - I am getting from Jack's
> site or others - are probably clear, but I'd like your advice. For
> instance, I started a MANGO wine (1st recipe)
> http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques57.asp (my 7th creation) April
> 1st, the instructions say to rack after 10 days, then 30 days then every
> 2 months for 6 months. Stablize and Sweeten, wait 10 days, bottle. Age
> for 1 year.
>
> Just to be clear (hate to wait longer than I have to), that is 10 days,
> plus 30 days, plus 6 months plus 12 months. That's 19 months & 10 days.
> right? The "age for a year" doesn't include the 6 months of racking
> time... If it means age for 12 months including the 6 months in the
> secondary, I can drink 177 days earlier. :*) Not that I'm anxious, but
> am probably just confusing myself here.
>
> Willing to be patient, but don't want to...
> DAve

On Fri, 14 Apr 2006 14:22:59 -0400, DAve Allison
> wrote:

>Hi.
>Though I've been brewing wine's since July - I'm still new at this. I'm
>now the proud owner of my 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th bottling in the last 40
>days. (Man, the racks fill up quickly) And some were kits, which have
>clear instructions on time between racking(s) and then aging after the
>bottling. I have been so busy at the brewing, that I didn't realize how
>long I'd have to wait.
>
>Especially the recipes for the fruit wines - I am getting from Jack's
>site or others - are probably clear, but I'd like your advice. For
>instance, I started a MANGO wine (1st recipe)
>http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques57.asp (my 7th creation) April
>1st, the instructions say to rack after 10 days, then 30 days then every
>2 months for 6 months. Stablize and Sweeten, wait 10 days, bottle. Age
>for 1 year.
>
>Just to be clear (hate to wait longer than I have to), that is 10 days,
>plus 30 days, plus 6 months plus 12 months. That's 19 months & 10 days.
>right? The "age for a year" doesn't include the 6 months of racking
>time... If it means age for 12 months including the 6 months in the
>secondary, I can drink 177 days earlier. :*) Not that I'm anxious, but
>am probably just confusing myself here.
>
>Willing to be patient, but don't want to...
>DAve

DAve,
I've the same problem, which I've solved by making some
batches of wine from fruit juice, blackcurrant and apple,apple and
pear etc.

These are usually fit to drink after 6 weeks or so.

Charlie

Maybe you could get clarification from Jack but I would interpret the
wording as from start of fermentation rack after 10 days, the at 30 days
after startup, then at 6 months after start up. The sweeten and bottle
after 10 days and wait 1 year from that data. Total time would be 1 yr 6
months and forget the 10 days.

As stated above, fruit wines are funny. I would try it after 3 months in
bottle and then every couple of months until I like it. The saddest thing
is NOT to drink your wine too young and then have none left after it
matures, but to wait too long and then realize that it is starting to
decline and you have not started drinking it.

Follow Jack's recipes (or anyone else's) but realize that you are crafting
to your own taste and modify accordingly.

Ray

"DAve Allison" > wrote in message
...
> Hi.
> Though I've been brewing wine's since July - I'm still new at this. I'm
> now the proud owner of my 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th bottling in the last 40
> days. (Man, the racks fill up quickly) And some were kits, which have
> clear instructions on time between racking(s) and then aging after the
> bottling. I have been so busy at the brewing, that I didn't realize how
> long I'd have to wait.
>
> Especially the recipes for the fruit wines - I am getting from Jack's
> site or others - are probably clear, but I'd like your advice. For
> instance, I started a MANGO wine (1st recipe)
> http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques57.asp (my 7th creation) April 1st,
> the instructions say to rack after 10 days, then 30 days then every 2
> months for 6 months. Stablize and Sweeten, wait 10 days, bottle. Age for
> 1 year.
>
> Just to be clear (hate to wait longer than I have to), that is 10 days,
> plus 30 days, plus 6 months plus 12 months. That's 19 months & 10 days.
> right? The "age for a year" doesn't include the 6 months of racking
> time... If it means age for 12 months including the 6 months in the
> secondary, I can drink 177 days earlier. :*) Not that I'm anxious, but am
> probably just confusing myself here.
>
> Willing to be patient, but don't want to...
> DAve
>