Couple of questions on kit wine

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dave8274

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We started a wine kit last month, and just completed the final racking step. The instructions say we can bottle it in 2 weeks, but we want to bulk age it for several months.

1. When racking, at the very end, a very small amount of yeast sludge got transferred. Is that ok, or do I need to re-rack?

2. Letting it bulk age, do we need to rack it again in the future or just let it sit until bottling? We added 3 campden tablets as per the instructions if we planned to age, will we need to do that again later?

Thanks!
 
don"t rerack
it will go to bottom
remember that
when ready i go, primary to bottles
last bit from carboy we put into bottle and use for cooking
thus avoiding sludge
i don"t now about campden,
but you should be good
 
1. You're good. The small amount of lees transferred won't harm the wine.

2. The idea is to keep 50 ppm of sulfite in the wine. Without a sulfite meter, you've just got to guestimate the amount, and generally that is 1 campden tablet (crushed) per gallon of wine. If you've done a 3 gallon batch, you're fine. If you've done a 6 gallon batch, I'd consider adding more campden at bottling. I guestimate 50 ppm by using one crushed tablet per gallon at every other racking and at bottling, since sulfites dissipate over time. With a kit, since it's only racked about twice, the additional sulfite is generally added at bottling. It's fine to add it for bulk aging, of course, as long as your amount is correct.
 
1. You're good. The small amount of lees transferred won't harm the wine.

2. The idea is to keep 50 ppm of sulfite in the wine. Without a sulfite meter, you've just got to guestimate the amount, and generally that is 1 campden tablet (crushed) per gallon of wine. If you've done a 3 gallon batch, you're fine. If you've done a 6 gallon batch, I'd consider adding more campden at bottling. I guestimate 50 ppm by using one crushed tablet per gallon at every other racking and at bottling, since sulfites dissipate over time. With a kit, since it's only racked about twice, the additional sulfite is generally added at bottling. It's fine to add it for bulk aging, of course, as long as your amount is correct.

Thanks. So the instructions said for aging to use 1.5 grams, so I calculated that at 3 tablets, but it WAS a 6 gallon kit. But the kit also had some sulfite in it that I added a couple weeks ago, so I assume they are accounting for that.

So with that said, how long am I safe to leave this in the carboy before bottling and adding more? It's a white wine, if that matters at all.
 
Thanks. So the instructions said for aging to use 1.5 grams, so I calculated that at 3 tablets, but it WAS a 6 gallon kit. But the kit also had some sulfite in it that I added a couple weeks ago, so I assume they are accounting for that.

So with that said, how long am I safe to leave this in the carboy before bottling and adding more? It's a white wine, if that matters at all.

Well, I don't know about "grams", but for 6 gallons, the usual dosage of k-meta powder is 1/4 teaspoon for 6 gallons if using the powder instead of the tablets. The tablets have other things in them, like binders, so they are not 100% k-meta.

You can leave it a long time, but what kit was it? Some kits aren't high quality kits, and aren't meant to age well. If it was a relatively inexpensive kit, without complex flavors, aging it more than a couple of months won't improve it and may in fact degrade it. Some kits are meant to be consumed young, and will start to lose flavor after a year or so. Other kits, generally the "ultra premium" kits, are best 1-2 years down the road. In general, reds age better and longer than whites.
 
Well, I don't know about "grams", but for 6 gallons, the usual dosage of k-meta powder is 1/4 teaspoon for 6 gallons if using the powder instead of the tablets. The tablets have other things in them, like binders, so they are not 100% k-meta.

You can leave it a long time, but what kit was it? Some kits aren't high quality kits, and aren't meant to age well. If it was a relatively inexpensive kit, without complex flavors, aging it more than a couple of months won't improve it and may in fact degrade it. Some kits are meant to be consumed young, and will start to lose flavor after a year or so. Other kits, generally the "ultra premium" kits, are best 1-2 years down the road. In general, reds age better and longer than whites.

This is the kit I did, they had one available at my LHBS:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/limited-edition-washington-riesling-chenin-blanc-march2013.html
 
That kit is a good one- I think 'premium' would be the designation. (I never "get" which are premium vs ultra premium but that price is probably about "premium" quality!)

You can definitely age that one a bit, and enjoy it for at least a couple of years!
 
Cool, thanks. So how long do you think it would be best to bulk age this before bottling? I was thinking anywhere from 3-6 months.
 
Cool, thanks. So how long do you think it would be best to bulk age this before bottling? I was thinking anywhere from 3-6 months.

Yes, that would be fine I think. As long as it's crystal clear, and not dropping any lees at all, I'd even consider putting it someplace cold for the last 60 days to 'cold stabilize' it. That might make it brilliant, it will be so clear.
 
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