New to kit wines -- Questions regarding equipment

I'm going to be doing my first kit wine (RJ Spagnols Cru Select Platinum Australian Shiraz) and had a few questions regarding equipment.

1. Everything I see states glass doesn't scratch like plastic and is better. But everything I see suggest the primary fermenter should be a bucket. Why is this? Can't I use a 23L glass carboy for a primary and just have a blowoff valve?

2. When measuring gravity, if I sanitize all items, is it safe to return the sample back to the carboy?

3. For this specific kit, what do you suggest for the length of time I bulk age and bottle age? How soon could I try my first bottle and not regret it?

4. If I decided to age this for an extended period of time, is there anything I need to do/know?

5. Is there a suggested preferred sanitizing solution?

1. They don't blow off like beer, at least from what I've seen. Nothing wrong with glass carboy except if you drop it.

2. With wine I usually let it go back, however I find it easier to just sanitize the hydro and carefully place it in the fermenter. Obviously breaking it would not be good.

3. Don't know that specific kit, but I did a Spagnols RQ kit that tasted like fruit juice after 6 months and like a quality wine after 1 year.

4. Proper corks, proper amount of sulfite.

5. I use my StarSan from beer brewing, works great.

Thanks for the fast reply!

I guess the only problem I can see with the glass primary is it will be hard to stir and take temp readings. But having two glass carboys means I can use one for making beer while the other has the wine for bulk aging.

The primary-in-a-bucket does a few things that a carboy would make difficult, if not impossible.

One is stirring and making sure all additives are dissolved. Another is pouring the bag of juice into a carboy will be a very messy job, even pouring into a bucket can be a big old sticky mess. Sampling the must is much easier in a bucket. Daily punching down of the cap (not really a huge issue with a kit) would be almost impossible in a carboy. Getting enough oxygen to the yeast through the carboy could cause off flavors and smells (yeast LOVES oxygen during primary). The wine will foam up a good bit during primary, and a blow off will help, but in a bucket you won't lose any of the blown-off ingredients. And finally, how are you going to enjoy that warm-grape-jelly-sandwich smell through such a small opening!!!

Not saying you can't do it, just that a bucket makes it much easier. And don't get all uptight about scratches and sanitizing, use a quality sanitizer/cleaner and you will be fine for years before scratches are bad enough to worry about.

I do mostly kits and can say that at 6 months, you can tell if the wine is going to be good, 9 is about right and longer is usually better. Add 1/2 campden tab per gallon for long term storage.

Mixing campden tabs and water is all I use for sanitizing, keep it in a half-gallon glass bottle and if you can still smell sulfur when it is opened, it is still good. It keeps for several months. I use One-Step for cleaning.

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll go with a bucket.

I bought SaniClean as my sanitizer. That should be fine for the bucket?

quink said:

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll go with a bucket.

I bought SaniClean as my sanitizer. That should be fine for the bucket?

Click to expand...

Yep! You are good to go.

Keep us informed.

Regarding #1 The whole arguement of glass vs plastic has to do with potential oxygen permiability when extensively aging in a plastic carboy vs glass carboy for example.

And yes, the plastic can potentially scratch which can be an issue as well since it can harbor things. This scratching is one of the longer term items (ideally) or if you do something in there that could scratch the plastic carboy or bucket.

The best thing to do is to just replace either when scratched.

Also, as mentioned, the bucket (with a blowoff tube) has the best amount of space for the work you may do, and any thing that may rise up during the vigorous fermentation phase.

For your first kit, very little of this is particularly important. Your first few endeavors are usually just about learning the process and getting something decent at the end.

I'm happy to return a sample but try your best to keep it away from oxygen - use a sanitized wine thief getting the sample AND returning it - pouring from the glass or hydrometer thingy will expose it to a little oxygen which can affect the overall flavour in small batches.

As for ageing, make sure you keep it in the dark and the cool. Temperature changes can affect your brew, and direct sunlight will cause the colour to fade. Ageing tends to be affected by percentage, so if it's weak, you could be looking at a slightly lower time. Just remember that the longer you leave it, the better it will be