Wine kit woes

[rtrent2002]

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 .998 / .996. Is it possible the kit wines use some other form of sweetener other than sugar that is causing the off taste? It's not bad, just different.

 

[DoctorCAD]

How long are you letting them sit?

 

[rtrent2002]

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.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

It may be the dreaded "kit taste", I can taste a kit wine after one sip, the taste that you are referring to might be due to the sorbate that comes with every kit, if you are making another kit, try to leave the sorbate out, you really only need sorbate if you plan on back sweetening..

 

[rtrent2002]

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

 

[Chef-Ryan]

yeah sorbate (usually Potassium Sorbate, i say it looks like little white ice-cream sprinkles) is used with sulphate. The sorbate is used to prevent yeast growth (it kills the beasties already in the wine) so should only be used in wines with significant residual sugar (any sugar unfermented added post ferment or remaining after fermentation has completed to the desired level). but with dry wines or even lightly sweet wines KMS (potassium metabisulphate) does the trick.

 

[DoctorCAD]

I say it just hasnt sat long enough. Give it 9 months and that "sweet" taste will magically dissapear.

 

[rtrent2002]

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.