Wine Newbie Wants to Make a Merlot

[Thunder_Chicken]

Day 3: Gravity down to 1.047, well on track. The must is losing its sweet grape juice character and is definitely more wine-like now. Still very aggressive bubbling and carbonation. It takes some diligent stirring and prodding to knock the gas out of the grapeskin bag so it will submerge. It never completely sinks, but I call it good when I can just see a little of the muslin bag at the surface of the wine.

The mass of the grapeskins is greatly diminished. When it went in initially it very much resembled a large fruit pie filling, in mass as well as consistency; very sticky with sugar and very little juice. It seems that most of this sugar is getting out into the wine as intended.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Day 4: Down to 1.019! Lalvin EC-1118 is a beast! The must is running on the warmish side, about 77F vs. the recommended 72-75F range, not anything to worry about. There seems to be less gas in suspension; a few stirs of the paddle make it fizz like soda, but it drops flat pretty quickly.

Supposed to rack on day 7 if gravity is less than 1.010 - looks like there won't be a problem with that.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Day 5: Down to 1.004!

Definitely tasting like wine now. The grape juice sweetness is all gone, and the oak is very noticeable.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Day 6: Gravity is 0.998! This is the stated FG. No airlock activity but a lot of gas came up when I punched down the skins, but it falls flat pretty quick.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Day 7: SG 0.997, first racking into carboy. Left most of the yeast and the oak powder in the bottom.

10 days to the next racking.

 

[markus2982]

Keep this thread going. I am primarily a beer brewer, with a few batches of cider under my belt, and would like to dabble in wine as well.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Will do. Ferment is pretty much done at this point, wine is just sitting quietly in the carboy, hopefully clearing. Next racking will be probably Sunday or Monday next week, adding stabilizers and clarifiers.

 

[KBentley57]

I have the same kit; I started mine in March. It is still clearing, but it looks delicious. I do not plan to bottle until after Christmas, I've got to many in the pipeline before then. Maybe we can compare. Notes next year!

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

OK, 10 more days and a racking. I racked to my plastic primary, added the provided k-meta dissolved in a 1/4 cup of water and the packages of chitosan clarifier. Whipped it pretty hard in the bucket, then racked it back into the glass carboy and continued to whip it until no gas foamed out. Then I added the three bags of oak cubes. The oak is slightly toasted and has a very nice aroma.

With good racking and the volume added from the liquid chitosan and the 1/4 cup of water with the k-meta there was no need to top up. I'll break out a good Merlot for the next racking as I'll probably have to make up for volume lost in racking and absorbed by the oak.

A couple of notes - I bought a wine whip that has two little paddles like this, which tended to just make the wine whirlpool.

I'd recommend maybe getting one like this:

The paddles work, but you had to really slam it with the drill at high speed to get it to cavitate, then you had to sit and wait for it to stop whirlpooling. Pulse...wait...pulse...wait....It also tends to dance around and bend and ding off the sides kinda uncontrollably. It works, but I saw the 3-prong used on BrewingTV and it seems better and easier to use.

Also - if you don't have the luxury of 2 carboys and need to first rack into your plastic primary and then back into the cleaned carboy, you probably want to wait to add the chitosan until the wine is back in the glass carboy. The chitosan puts an electrical charge on all suspended solids and it appears that plastic attracts all these bits really well. It was a pain to clean out the fermenter and all my plastic racking equipment as you couldn't just rinse it, everything needed a wipedown. The good news is that chitosan appears to do a hell of a job clarifying.

Anyway, all looks good. It's definitely wine. 8 more days or so for a final racking, then 28 days or so to bottling.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

According to the directions I was supposed to rack yesterday, but today was more convenient and I don't think an extra day is going to hurt anything. I pulled a nice sample today. It is surprisingly clear, and the color is very deep.

The taste is quite good. Right now it tastes pretty much like a good commercial Merlot, which might be an indicator that some of the stuff you see on the shelves of the store might be better with some ageing. The oak is definitely there but not overbearing, something I had worried about when I started the kit.

I'm going to finish dinner then do the final racking before bottling. I intend to let it age so, per the instructions, I am going to add additional metabisulfite (Campden tablets, 1 per gallon) when I rack it out of the carboy.

I will probably not bottle this in 28 days as the directions say is possible, but I'll probably wait until the Thanksgiving holiday (or perhaps even Christmas) when I have some time for a bottling session. From what I understand bulk ageing in the carboy is not harmful and is probably beneficial. If this is a bad idea, you wiser oenophiles have 28 days to talk me out of this idea.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Just finished racking. The amount of lees was incredible! There was a full inch of purple gunk at the bottom of the carboy along with the oak cubes. Even then, when I racked the wine back into the cleaned carboy there was already a lot of junk settled out in my bucket. The chitosan makes lees fall like crazy, and they stick to glass and plastic like crazy.

Be prepared with at least a full 750 mL bottle of a similar wine for topping off at this point. I lost a lot due to the racking and the inability to pull anymore without taking a lot of lees. With that and the oak absorption, and the extra top-off to get the level up into the carboy neck, I had to give it an entire bottle plus maybe two ounces of water. Something that might help during racking would be to use a nylon mesh bag over your racking cane to keep some of the odd solid oak bits out. The lees are largish particles for the most part and that would probably let you rack more wine.

Well, anyway, that's about it until bottling time. I packed the carboy away nice and safe and I'll do my best to forget it for a while. I need to get busy collecting wine bottles.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Today I bottled the batch. 30 bottles + 1 nice glass. It was very clear, yet there was another thick layer of lees at the bottom of the carboy. I corked and put on the PVC capsules. I'll leave the bottles upright until next week, then I'll box them up and lay them horizontally in the cellar.

The wine already tastes much better than most of commercial Merlots I have had. It's got nice body but is (thankfully) missing the harsh afterbite that I seem to taste with most commercial Merlots. I think that harshness comes from the oak, but I am not sure. The oak is present in my wine, but it is not overwhelming, and I am starting to see how oak tannins add to the experience. In most wines I've had it seems the oak has been so overblown that it really buried and detracted from the rest of the wine. I taste the grape and I taste the oak distinctly.

I have to take advantage of the cool fall to start brewing some ales, so I'll be distracted from my wine for a while. I'll see if I can keep my hands off of these bottles until next spring. I'll report back when I open the next bottle. I am thinking that several of these are going to make nice gifts to friends and family.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Well, I succumbed to temptation and opened a bottle. Very nice. No horrors, no crazy changes to report. It is pretty nice drinking as is. I'm not sure how it will develop over time but it is quite drinkable right now.

One thing interesting is that I see now the reasons why to let a wine "breathe". The oak tannin astringency does soften quite a bit. The last sip is definitely softer and sweeter than the first. I've never experienced that effect before with a commercial wine, but it quite noticeable with this one.

 

[Yooper]

Well, I succumbed to temptation and opened a bottle. Very nice. No horrors, no crazy changes to report. It is pretty nice drinking as is. I'm not sure how it will develop over time but it is quite drinkable right now.

One thing interesting is that I see now the reasons why to let a wine "breathe". The oak tannin astringency does soften quite a bit. The last sip is definitely softer and sweeter than the first. I've never experienced that effect before with a commercial wine, but it quite noticeable with this one.

And you'll notice that the aging in the bottle will change that as well. It will soften and smooth out, and get better with some time.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

I've seen some conflicting information on how long to age. Some say 3 years for reds, but I've read others saying that it closer to its shelf life, not peak. And from what I read, there is a peak, beyond which the wine will start to decline.

 

[Yooper]

I've seen some conflicting information on how long to age. Some say 3 years for reds, but I've read others saying that it closer to its shelf life, not peak. And from what I read, there is a peak, beyond which the wine will start to decline.

Yes, that's because there isn't any real guideline.

So much depends on the level of acidity, tannin, and such in the wine. But also, cellar temperatures and humidity also play a part. Wine will age fast at 65-70 degrees, but much slower at 50 degrees, so that makes it hard to tell someone "Age this wine for 1.5 years", as it isn't that simple.

What I do is guestimate the probable peak and then drink a few bottles during the time I'm waiting. When the wine is phenomenal, I drink more of it, but hold some out for aging a bit. Normally, that means that the last bottle is starting to decline if I play it right!

But I"ve had some that have continued to age beautifully, and may have made it much longer had I had a few left, and I've also had some turn insipid and past their peak while I was aging it.

Most premium red kit wines are great for up to about 3 years, depending on the kit. Some longer, some shorter. Grapes are much more variable- tannins, acidity, pH, etc may change the amount of age a wine can benefit from.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

I'll probably sample a bottle every 3 months or so and see how it goes. Of the 30 bottles, 24 are boxed up in my cellar/crawlspace and are a bit of a pain to get to (on purpose). The remaining 6 (less the one I drank) are upstairs in my closet and will be handed out as gifts this holiday season.

It's definitely a nice wine. I'm glad I did the kit. I think I'll be doing this kit again before too long. SWMBO has been raving about a Sauvignon Blanc that she had in Chile some years ago (and she isn't much of a drinker at all) so I think that will be my next wine next summer when it gets too warm to ferment beer.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

These are going to be gifts to a family friend who really enjoys wines. The kit labels are pretty sexy IMO.

The only thing I am worried about is that these look like wine bottles I could have bought from the store. I almost wish I could put the wine in some hand-made amphora and seal it with pitch, something that makes it look rustic and home-made. But it WAS from a kit, not like I grew the grapes or anything.

 

[btienk]

Great thread. I hope to start doing wine soon. I want it to be ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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