Cab kit has a "zing" flavor

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rtrent2002

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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? The taste is kind of a semi-acidic semi-carbonation taste. Maybe I need to degas again? (There is no activity at this point and no bubbles that I can tell) I'm currently adding oak chips for about 30 days before I rack one more time and then plan to bottle.
 
rtrent2002,

Do you have a hydrometer? If not everything is guess work. If you do have a hydrometer, what was your starting gravity/SG, and what was your final gravity level?
Did it ferment to dry?

If I'm not mistaken, your kit completed fermentation, I'm not fully understanding what you mean by the secondary and tertiary, but I'm guessing that after fermentation was complete, you racked into a carboy off the lees, many new wine makers call this a "secondary", secondary fermentation would be malolactic fermentation and this should never be started on a kit wine (we can discuss MLF in another thread if you are interested), after this, you racked it again, possibly to rack the wine off any sediment\lees.

Are these the steps that the instructions told you to follow? Which Kit is it, maybe we can get a better idea after seeing the instructions.

Mouthfeel isn't a taste, Mouthfeel describes the sensation of the wine in the mouth. Mouthfeel is most commonly described as a texture such as smooth, velvety, silky, and rough, just to name a few.

What you are tasting might just be a little bottle shock from the racking, I would leave the wine alone, as long as there isn't any off odors or tastes, and it is stabilized and topped off, leave it, time will degass the wine for you.

I would age the wine at the very least 6 months to a year, Cabernet Sauvignon needs time the longer you let it age the better it will become; our Cabernet's age between 18 - 24 months in demijohn and barrels before we bottle, then the wine will sit shelved another 3-6 months before we start enjoying it.

I hope this helps
 
Sounds like a little co2, maybe it refermented a little bit or a bit of MLF. Red wine can be hard to stabilise because the color pigments bind to the sulfite. You probably need to degas again, but wait a few weeks.
 
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?
 
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