Not happy with Island Mist Green Apple Riseling

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crj5000

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Mar 1, 2011
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So It is time to bottle this kit and tried a sample today. I was not happy with the results. It was not sweet as so many people says it is supposed to be, and the alcohol dominates the drink. It leaves what I call a "harsh" alcohol tastes in mouth after I drink it. I did raise the alcohol in the batch and my final sg was strange. Here is the detailed steps I wrote down. Maybe someone on the forum can identify if I did something wrong, or maybe I just don't like this kit? I have never tried a wine a kit before and in fact this would be the first time I have ever bottled wine. I am a major newbie. I plan to sweeten this and try it again cold. I tried it at room temperature.

I used bottled spring water. And I use 1 campden tablet crushed in a gallon of water to do all of my sanitizing. Maybe I should start using starsan? The wine seems to be wine and I doubt it is infected. It just leaves a harsh alcohol taste as if it has more than 10% in it. Also it is not sweet like is supposed to be. Like I said and plan to sweeten it today. First to 1.02 and try it. and then maybe all the way up to 1.04. There is a sweet wine I like called cantina bianca, and I checked its sg and it was 1.04. So I may like it there. Do all the kits taste like this? Did all of the good reviews on here, just raise my expectations to high? Is the low sg telling me something went wrong and I just don't know what it is?


8-15-2011
Heated around 3 gallons water to too high a temperature, right below boiling. I now realize this is hotter than the "hot" the instructions say. stirred bentonite well. Added juice. Topped up to 6 gallon line in fermenter. Temp = 110F and sg= 1.042. I added 5 1/2 pounds sugar. sg=1.076 temp= 105F. Waited until temp dropped to 82F, which took half a day. Sg=1.080 at 82F. Pitch dry yeast, Premier Cuvee.

8-16
(morning)Can see small bubbles on top of must. temp = 78F. Stirred softly.
(afternoon) stirred well. sg= 1.08, temp=77

8-17
(morning)Put airlock on and can see good bubbles. stirred well, sg =1.07

8-18
(morning) sg= 1.053
(afternoon) sg=1.05, temp= 76.5

8-19
(morning) stirred
(afternnon) stirred sg=1.042

8-20
(morning) stirred sg=1.032 temp=75
(afternoon) sg=1.026

8-21
(afternoon) sg=1.02

8-22
(morning)sg=1.013
(afternoon) sg=1.004, transferred to 6-gallon carboy.

8-23
(morning) Bubbles coming through airlock fast and co2 rising fast through must.

8-24
Fermenation still strong

8-29
Fermentation was strong up until today. bubbles have slowed way down.

8-30
sg=0.988 (sounds funny, so I do some research and check again next day)

8-31
sg=0.988 Check my hydromoter with tap water and it is dead on. My first beer batch hit its og and fg dead on. The other wines I am making have correct fg of 1.000 and 0.996. I do not beleive it is the hydrometer. I believe something in the process is somehow making the sg lower than it supposed to be, which possibly leads to the off taste? The reading is correct.

(afternoon) sg = 0.985-0.986

9-1
sg= 0.986

9-2
sg=0.985-0.986

9-3
Degassed. I combined three methods and keep rotating them. I have the plastic rod that goes on a drill. I would put a stopper with the hole in the carboy. I would cover the hole with my hand and then physically shake the carboy back and forth. I also have a food saver and I would pull a vacuum on it. I did this for awhile and then I took a sample and added the sorbate and k-meta. I then poured it back into the carboy and continued de-gassing until the food saver would pull very few bubbles. I took out a quart of wine as the instructions said and I added the f-pack. The f-pack filled it to the top with a little still left in the f-pack. So I took out another quart and added the rest of the f-pack and then topped up with the second quart I took out. The sg reads 1.000. The instructions say it should be 1.010 to 1.018. Again this seems correct with the low fg. But it is supposed to be sweet. This is not sweet. I then added the isinglass.

9-30
I have not touched it until now. It is clear. sg=1.002.

10-1
Today, I tried it.


Thanks for reading all of this and trying to help me!
 
I forgot to add that I can taste the green apple and the riseling. There is just what I call a "harsh" alcohol taste. More like drinking a mixed drink that has way to much liquer in it. Maybe I should not have bumped up the alcohol. Maybe it is just me. Or maybe it is something that happened during fermentation? Maybe someone on here can help me out.
 
1.002 is not sweet. It is sweeter than dry wine (0.98 or 0.99) Sounds like all of your sugar fermented out and you need to back sweeten some more. Sweeten it to 1.015 and see how that tastes.
 
OH!. Is it clear? Your wine needs to be completely clear before you stabilize and sweeten. Sorbate stops yeast reproduction, it doesn't kill yeast. Meta kills bacteria, not yeast. If you have a fog to your wine, the yeast are still active and can ferment any sugar you put in there. Once it is clear, rack it to another container without any sediment (yeast) then stabilize and sweeten.
 
It sounds like it fermented too warm, as pitching the yeast at 82 degrees might mean a pretty hot fermentation. Hot fermentation causes "hot" alcohol flavors.

Also, I think adding 5 1/2 pounds of sugar was a mistake- as it boosts the ABV causing it to be "hotter" and thinner when the sugar ferments out.

I think your 1.042 reading was incorrect, as that kit should have an OG of 1.070 if I remember correctly.

When did you add the F pack? You're supposed to add it at the very end when fermentation is done, to backsweeten it. It doesn't sound like you added it at the right time? It's hard to tell from your description.

So, I think it fermented too warm, had too much sugar added, and the F-pack wasn't used properly. If this kit is made according to the package directions, it's very good and pretty darn sweet.
 
I added the F-pack about 30 minutes after the sorbate and k-meta. Yooper what temperature do you recommend? I just bought a temperature controller for my fridge, so I will be able to control it in the future. It is very possible that the 1.042 was incorrect since the temperature was off, and I was still learning to use back then. The wine is clear. Yooper I do think you are right about it being "thin".

Since I posted this I have been experimenting with sweetening it. I took out a cup of wine and sweetend to 1.032 and the "harsh" part of the alcohol is not as prevalent and it is now drinkable. But still not what I was expecting and not something I would go to the store and buy to drink. I also took another cup out and sweetend to 1.040, this may be a little to sweet but it is better.

Any other suggestions for making a better kit wine? I will try another island mist kit, but it will probably be a few months before I buy it.

I am hoping that after I sweeted and bottle, that maybe it will taste better in a month or two. I know it is supposed to be drunk right away, but it wont hurt to try..
 
I put both of these samples in the fridge and I am waiting for them to get cold. Maybe they will taste better cold...
 
Yooper, I just checked the instructions with the Mist Kit and they say the orginal gravity is supposed to be 1.048 - 1.052
 
Yooper, I just checked the instructions with the Mist Kit and they say the orginal gravity is supposed to be 1.048 - 1.052

That's probably right, then! I don't like sweet stuff, but my best friend has made these kits a number of times (she LOVES them) and I've sampled them. I thought they were closer to 1.070, but I think she did tell me they were about 7% ABV or so.

Adding the sugar would boost the ABV, but it would make some hot alcohol flavors as well as thin and dry the wine out. In addition, a higher ABV means a wine takes longer to finish and longer to age.

I make lots and lots of kits, and I've found that the instructions really do give a great product. I think fermenting too warm and boosting it with sugar was a big mistake.

I'd ferment it at 65-72 degrees (fermenting temperature, not ambient temperature), and not add anything until I saw how it came out. You can always add stuff later, but you can't take things out!
 
That's probably right, then! I don't like sweet stuff, but my best friend has made these kits a number of times (she LOVES them) and I've sampled them. I thought they were closer to 1.070, but I think she did tell me they were about 7% ABV or so.

Adding the sugar would boost the ABV, but it would make some hot alcohol flavors as well as thin and dry the wine out. In addition, a higher ABV means a wine takes longer to finish and longer to age.

I make lots and lots of kits, and I've found that the instructions really do give a great product. I think fermenting too warm and boosting it with sugar was a big mistake.

I'd ferment it at 65-72 degrees (fermenting temperature, not ambient temperature), and not add anything until I saw how it came out. You can always add stuff later, but you can't take things out!


Linda, at WE, suggested to me that keeping the must and wine at 80 degrees throughout the entire process would be beneficial - better fermentation, better degassing and better clearing.
 
Following the directions would have given you the wine you bought. Adding sugar up front only makes alcohol, and those kits are balanced for LOW alcohol.
 
I've made this kit and boosted the alcohol up with 4# of sugar, it does skew your timeline as far as how long it will take until it tastes good, like yooper said the added sugar has created more alcohol giving you the burn that you taste. give it a month and sample it again, it should have mellowed out some.
 
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