So I have a few questions before I dive head-long into my Vintner's Reserve Reisling kit.
1.Primary Fermentation: I've read some posts on here that say to folow the directions.The kit instructions say 10 days. That sounds really short. I'm looking for the optimal first experience. Should I leave it in there long for primary?
2. Can I bulk age a kit wine for +6 months? I've read passing comments that kit wines are designed to be done in 1 month. So can I leave it in secondary for a few months then bottle age for a few months?
3. Degassing. I really don't want to do this at all. It goes against my instincts of not letting oxygen get to the wine. That said I don't have a drill paddle/mixer/etc. to use degassing. Can I just rack to a bucket fermenter and stir? Or should I just leave it alone and go get a mix/stir?
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In the Fermenter:
1. - Belgian Dubbel
2. - Riesling
3. - Apfelwein
4. - Schwarzbier
I recently made that same kit as my first wine. I followed the directions except instead of bottling I transferred 5 gallons to a corny keg for aging and the remaining gallon to bottles to sample over next few months. I started it in late october, tried a bottle at the holidays. It was pretty good I thought.
I degassed it by grabbing the neck of the carboy and moving it in circles to mix it up really good. It foamed a lot so might want to be careful.
A whisk you're not attached to (a sterilised one of course) and a drill will do the job of degasing.
As for ageing, i've heard both the pros and cons of bulk ageing, and in my opinion it seems fairly trivial.
That said, I would bottle it, if not only to free up your carboy!
Ageing Kit Wine
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