First NON-KIT Wine...Catawba

[WindyAcres]

so, I decided to get started late and choices were slim, which is why I ended up with Catawba juice. I do like pink Catawba wine, so I wasn't too upset.

Anyway, since I want to end up with "pink Catawba" wine, i'm hoping that I can get advice on how to get there (since I don't have written instructions from a kit).

I started with 3.5gals juice, added 5# sugar, and topped up to 5gal with water. The winery recommended 71B yeast, so that's what I used.

I'm looking for advice on how long to ferment the juice, should I add any chemicals (Potassium Metabisulfite)? Stuff like that!

Oh yeah, here's the readings I captured after adding the sugar...
1.92grav
21.5brix

Thanks in advance to any advice!!

 

[Mr_fleabite]

If you're shooting for a pink wine/ rose you'll want to keep the SO2 additions minimal, SO2 will bleach out the color. I would always use a good yeast nutrient Fermaid K for example (4-6 grams in 5gal) and some DAP (12-14 grams in 5gal). Holding/ fermenting on skins (if you're able) for a bit will help set more color because you will lose some. If you can't hold/ partial ferment on skins you may just end up with a very light pink, which is nice too.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

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