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Been making wine for a few years now both from kits and fresh grapes. What I am finding is I really like dry red blends that are fruit forward (jammy) with a light oak / spice finish. Anyone know how to achieve this result in homemade wine making? Most of my wines turn out decent but are...

I'm about to start a moscato kit for my wife as she enjoys a light, sweet and fruity wine. The kit contains an elderflower packet. What flavor will this add? I don't won't to mess up what should be a simple wine for my wife or add something she won't like. Thoughts?

A few thoughts... 1. Your must is def fermenting (fizzing) 2. Fermentation is not robust because your juice is very acidic (orange/pineapple), you didn't add yeast nutrient and there is limited oxygen for your yeast to reproduce (airlock) 3. You're probably fine though, just taste it in a few...

For what it's worth, I've learned 1 thing from making wine kits... If you plan to go dry and not back sweeten, I recommend not using the sorbate that is used to stabilize the wine after the primary fermentation, it will leave a residual sweet "bubble gum" off taste to your wine, giving it that...

I concur with theDREWery, rack it and add sulphite. The sorbate especially adds an off sweet taste that is not desirable for dry red wines.

Mine always tasted cheap. Off sweet flavor with a wild smell and after taste. You?

Newbie here but a few pointers from someone 4-5 kits in... If you plan to leave your wine dry and not back sweeten, don't use the sorbate when stabilizing, just the sulfite. The sorbate leaves an off sweet taste that is not desirable in dry wines. Also, I've found that bulk aging and clearing...

Good advice guys. Tasted again today and the sweet after taste has subsided quite a bit. Also, this is my first time bulk aging and I really think this method provides the best results. A few more months in the carboy and I think this one will turn out nice.

Every homemade wine I've made with the exception of Apple has had a residual sweet taste. I did learn the reason for this in my kits is due to sorbate so I stopped using it.

Pumpkinman, that kinda makes sense. The wine tasted great before I stabilized and I was really excited about the potential for this last batch.

The last kit spent 7-10 days in primary and a little over 2 weeks in the secondary before stabilizing. Racked again and Currently about 3weeks in the carboy. Reading after secondary was under 1.0.

Ok, on my 3rd wine kit and for some reason all my reds have a slight sweet, almost saccharin aftertaste and smell. I've tried to make sure that I ferment each batch out completely to create a dry red but that residual sweet taste always seems to exist. My starting SG was 1.085 and ending was...

My first batch was also a 1 gallon jug of concorde. I tried everything to get it to taste good including oaking it for a few weeks but it never became drinkable to me, even after a year in the bottle. It always had a musky smell and taste that I just couldn't palate.Found out later that Concorde...

As a note, I don't think you HAVE to use both together but I think the results are better if you do.

Add kieselsol and then stir well, then add gelatin (dissolved in water as per instructions) and stir well. Rack after 2 weeks.

Sorry, to answer your question, you can use both products (bentonite before) and (kieselsol after) per instructions. No need to adjust the amounts.

What type of wine? did you use real fruit? and how long has it been since you racked? Bentonite certainly helps the wine clear after fermentation but it can take a few weeks or longer without additional fining agents like kieselsol. I use bentonite during fermentation and then bulk age most of...

Thanks all. I did give it a gently stir and a blanket of bubbles rose up the side of the carboy. CO2 perhaps? which is probably a good thing during bulk aging right?

Hey guys, I'm making an Australian cab kit. When I finished the secondary, I stabilized, degassed and moved into tertiary. At this point, It tasted really smooth coming out of secondary but now has a bit of "zing" to the taste. Is this normal? Is this what "mouthfeel" is supposed to taste like...