Archive for the ‘Wine Kits’ Category

It has been awhile since I’ve updated the blog with my winemaking activities. The reason for that is simple: During the warmer months, I can be found more often on lakes and rivers with a fly fishing rod in hand, than in the winemaking room. I know many winemakers that start their wines in the summer and autumn when the fruit is being harvested. This means they are taking advantage of whatever local produce is available to them for their wine.

Well, I prefer to have the bulk of my winemaking activities when I can’t fly fish. I do start the odd batch during warmer months, but I really try to take advantage of the time that I have to do as much fly fishing as I can. Where I live, it is almost impossible to do that in the winter.

I’ll be quite busy over the next few weeks as I help my girlfriend (seems odd to use that word when your in your 40’s) move across Canada, but I do have some plans for some wines to start and articles to write. Soooo keep an eye out here! I have a couple of kits that I have not started yet, and also a promise of donations of honey from a local apiarist for some meads that I have in mind.

I know of a few fly anglers that also make their own wine. Jack Keller is one, and so is Ernie Kalwa, the Captain of the Fly Fishing team (The Osprey’s) that I used to be a member of. Not sure which one of us ties the better flies, but I know it’s not me! Although I do enjoy doing that. Today and yesterday, I had two good days to combine my two hobbies. And one advantage a home winemaker has if they’ve brought a fish back to eat for dinner is that wine selection is not difficult. Whatever is there! For me, the bottle of Liebfraumilch was a good pairing with the baked trout and rice I made. And on top of that, the fly that I caught the trout on yesterday was made with hair from my Maltese dog named Rudy. You can read about the afternoon fly fishing here.

Winemaking activities included racking and degassing. The maple wine I started on May 5 is expelling lots of co2 gas still, even though the fermentation is complete. The specific gravity was at 0.996 yesterday when I racked it – it’s cleared nicely on it’s own since the last racking on May 28th. It has a very interesting taste – I just had very teeny sip of it, and could taste maple candy – but without the sweetness. I’m looking forward to seeing how this will age a few more months.

I started three wine kits two weeks ago – a Chamblaise and two Vieux De Roi. All are four week kits – I generally use 8 week kits for red wines but I wanted some Vieux De Roi and it was only available at the time in the more economical priced version. I noted that these two kits in the instructions called for 14 days in the primary fermenter. Anyhow, these three kit wines were racked and degassing is on going in all of them before I add the fining agents.

Then there is that potato wine! I’ve had a few interesting questions and comments about that. Like, “what does it taste like?” Yesterday, I racked and checked the specific gravity which was 1.002. It does taste a bit sweet – I’ll have to check my records on that one, but otherwise it is pleasant. I am reluctant to describe its taste just yet as it was only a very small amount and not quite what I expected or can really identify. The demerara sugar certainly has left it’s mark though.

The other day, I was snooping around some “stuff” I had and discovered two more wine kits I had forgotten about! They were purchased about September of 2007, just before I headed off to Grande Prairie, Alberta for the Canadian Fly Fishing Championships. I guess I had meant to start them upon my return, but totally forgot I had them. Both are Cru Select RQ’s: a Montepulciano Cab Merlot, the other Unoaked Chardonnay. I’m hoping and believing the juice will be fine but I will use fresh yeast when I start them, probably in about two weeks from now.

So there’s another connection between fly fishing and winemaking. One can get in the way of the other at times! Actually, it wasn’t the fly fishing that distracted me from these two kits back in 2007…

Today was Opening Day of the trout season where I am. Some readers will know that as well as making wine, I also am an avid fly fisher. I had plans to go out this afternoon. The weather forecast originally said it was going to be warm and sunny all day – I figured an afternoon and then into the evening might offer some nice results. However, the forecast changed. Instead of the sunshine, we had wild thunderstorms with winds gusting to 100 KM/H (60 MPH). I am not too bad at casting in windy conditions – but that is just nuts. And I certainly don’t want to be out on the water with a long piece of graphite while lightning is striking!

So instead of heading out, I thought I would give my wines some attention. I had meant to do this a couple of weeks ago, but decided on a spur of the moment trip to see Colleen for five days. When I returned, I had a lot of catching up to do on work related activities – home winemaking activities needed to be put on hold.

One thing I’m frustrated about – the GSM is still holding carbon dioxide gas. There were two things today I’ve never seen before – the second one I’ll get to in a moment. But the first one – this GSM that I started March 8/09 still has tons of tiny bubbles coming up when it’s agitated. It’s been in a warm spot for a month, and I’ve never seen a wine hold gas like this.

I also racked the Granache I started about a month ago – it’s tasting very good although of course, young. As readers may recall, my plan is to blend the Granache with the GSM. This evening, I added Kieselsol and then Chitosan which came with the kit. The Granache has very little CO2 in it, thankfully. Maybe sitting in the primary for 9 days does help with degassing.

Do you remember the “Mystery Wine?” There was a LOT of sediment on the bottom of the 5 gallon carboy it was in and I decided to rack it off of that. I ended up racking to a 4 gallon carboy and then there was enough left over to two thirds fill a gallon jug. Now, this was the wine that I had fermentation problems with, and was a bit concerned about it. I had a taste of it this evening – all I can say is that it is wonderful! It’s not much like the blackcurrant wine although it does have some notes in the flavor that were similar – I’m wondering if the berries in the freezer were indeed a mixture of black currant and purple gooseberries. I don’t know. But it sure is a “yummy” wine.

Now, the interesting thing – the second thing today I’ve never seen before: I took a specific gravity reading, and this was below the 0.900 mark. So I don’t really know exactly what the SG is. I’ve never seen a wine go below 0.900 when I’ve made it, previously. The beginning SG of this wine before fermenting was 1.104. I thought it might end up a little sweet – but it’s not. And it does not need sweetening – it’s quite good the way it is.

Too finish things off, I racked the Liebfraumilch as well. It has a nice fruity taste to it – I just had a very tiny sample – and it needs some degassing before adding clarifying ingredients. I was hoping to get to the Potato Wine, but time ran out. If I had more room, I could be doing a couple or more things at once, but right now space is limited. Hopefully that will be resolved soon, and I can get some of these winemaking activities done faster and in less time.

Tomorrow, I should give the potato wine some attention, and then if the weather co-operates, I’ll be wetting some flies and catching a few rainbow trout!

Are you one of the many people who enjoy drinking red wine but find that you get headaches after drinking it? You don’t get them after drinking white wine but those reds really seem to bring the ache on. Have you like others blamed it on sulfite? If you have, consider that the majority of wines, both red and white, contain sulfite. Sulfites (usually the potassium metabisulfite form) are found in many grocery foods as it is a common preservative that inhibits bacteria growth.

So, it’s probably not this common food preservative that is causing those headaches. What else could it be?

Many red wines are subject to a “malolactic fermentation” (MLF). Lactic acid bacteria are introduced either along side the first yeast fermentation or after the yeast have completed their job of turning the sugars into alcohol. These bacteria break down the harsher tasting malic acid that can be found in higher quantities in some wines and turn it into lactic acid. The process helps to soften the taste of those wines that have high levels of malic acid. Malolactic fermentation is generally not carried out with most white wines.

MLF introduces other chemicals into the wine as a side effect of this fermentation, including histamine. Histamine of course can have severe effects on those individuals who are susceptible and can cause mild to severe headaches and other unpleasant symptoms. So if you enjoy the flavors and aromas of red wine and it’s intoxicating effects, what can you do to avoid the unpleasant effects?

Why not make your own red wine? The easiest way to do this is to purchase one of the many kits that are available. These kits can result in superb wines that will rival many of the store bought bottles. Kit wines should never undergo a malolactic fermentation as the producers of those kits have already balanced the juices and juice concentrates that go into them. No malolactic fermentation means no chemical bi-products that include histamine.

Learning how to make wine is not that difficult, and the kits that are available make it very easy and simple to bottle wines you will be proud to serve your guests.

I’m sometimes asked when I tell others that I make my own wine, “Ian, how can I make wine?” As someone else once wrote (I think it was Jack Keller, but I’m not certain right now) my response is “You don’t make wine. Yeast make wine.” Sometimes I find it amazing that these single celled organisms are responsible for the turning juice into a beverage that many of us enjoy for it’s flavors, aromas, and of course, gently intoxicating effects.

So, how to make wine? Well, considering it’s the yeast that consume sugar, turning it into alcohol and carbon dioxide, we get to control so much of the process however, including the type of yeast we are going to use. There are many varieties of yeast available to make wine today, and are selected for a variety of characteristics they have. Some have higher tolerance to alcohol and temperature changes, while others are more suitable for wines that are meant to finish sweet or semi-sweet.

Of course, in wine making, there is also the choice of the main ingredient. Will it be juice from grapes or other fruits? How about mead made from honey? Even vegetables can be used to make wine. Until someone has tried it, they may think that making a parsnip wine would be rather awful tasting, but in fact parsnip wine after some aging is quite nice.

When wine is being made, what we try to do is control the conditions as much as possible that the wine is being made in by the yeast we’ve selected. During and after the fermentation (and sometimes before fermentation starts), adjustments will be made to try to get the right acidity, sweetness or dryness, clarity, and the all important flavours and aromas.

If you are using a wine kit, you won’t have to worry about those adjustments – the concentrated juice you will receive has already been balanced and had the necessary ingredients added to complete a fermentation that will turn out similar to a wine purchased retail made of the same grape variety(s). And for the beginner, this is probably the easiest way to begin learning about how to make wine.

First, I’ve had suspicions for some time that winemaking kit instructions are a bit off when it comes to degassing wine. Most kit instructions advise, after adding Potassium Metabisulfite (and please please make sure you add the sulfite BEFORE you attempt to degas!!), to stir vigorously a few times for at least a day or two before adding the fining agents. The most recent set of instructions advise that it is vital that the wine be degassed or it will not clear adequately.

Here’s my problem with these instructions: I have yet to be able to stir a wine vigorously for five minutes, three times a day for a couple of days, and have it anywhere near to being fully degassed within those two days. I’ve had a Zinfandel sitting in a carboy for the past week, and today, it continues to give off lots of CO2 when it is vigorously stirred, with lots of tiny CO2 bubbles rising. I am not introducing that much air to it while I’m stirring because most of the action is way down below the surface of the wine.

Here’s another reason why in my opinion, even a kit wine will profit from bulk aging before it is bottled. Much of the CO2 will have time to dissipate on its own. Whenever I let a batch of wine, kit or not, bulk age, (which is most of the time), I have little CO2 problems. However, I have seen others who follow the instructions of a kit wine to the day, and their wine can have excess foam when poured. I once had a bottle with a man who was very proud of his wine he had just made and wanted to share a bottle with me. He poured his into his glass, gave it a swirl, and the foam on top was nothing like I’d ever seen before. To say that he had made the wine is a bit misleading – he sprinkled the yeast on it in a “ferment on the premises” shop. Obviously the shop staff did not do much degassing, if any.

One does have to be careful not to overdo it when degassing too. That’s one of the reasons I’m not so keen right now on the Fizz-X tool. That thing can create a whirlpool with a deep vortex at the centre. That’s a lot of surface area that’s coming into contact with air. And I’ve found that even using that tool does not seem to really degas wines all that great. Unless I’m mistaking all those tiny bubbles rising from various depths of the wine and all that foam on top for something else – but beats me what it could be.

No, I think time is the best degasser. Not that some degasing isn’t a good thing to help the process along. But that’s just my opinion and I’m certainly open and welcome other thoughts on this as well.

Another observation after racking the Grenache that I started about two weeks ago to the secondary carboy: I really dislike the original 5 Gallon (6 US Gallon) carboys I purchased. They seem to have more capacity than 5 Imperial gallons, which leaves too much ullage for my liking. Quite a bit too much. I much prefer the “Mexican” 5 gallon carboys.

It’s April Fool’s Day. Did you have any pranks pulled on you? I didn’t! I’m sure if my older sons were around, I’d have been the subject of some foolish prank or three. I can remember the first time I ever heard about April Fool’s Day. I was about four or five years old, and my mother told me something or other – I can’t remember what, but it was outlandish. She then smiled and shouted, “April Fool’s Day!” Then she explained the best she could to a four year old what it meant. I’ve been known to have pulled a few pranks myself on this day in history. And admittedly, I’ve been the victim of quite a few too. When you’ve spent a lot of your life working shiftwork, it can be easy to not remember what day exactly it is.

Anyhow, I’ve been degassing my Zinfandel. It continues to release lots of carbon dioxide when I vigorously stir it for five minutes, a few times a day. This evening, there was not quite as much foaming so I know I’m getting there. I would use the Fizz-X tool, but the carboy is filled to within an inch and a half of the mouth, and I’d have to siphon out some of the wine each time and then pour it back in. It’s been my experience that the Fizz-X tool does not help to release CO2 as fast as some claim. I should try it more often, perhaps.

Primary Fermentation

I’ve got a RJ Spagnols Cru Select Australian Bush Vine Grenache that I started on March 23. Seven days later, the SG is at 0.096. The wine is still in the primary fermenter. The instructions say to rack from the primary to the secondary on Day 14. That’s the longest I’ve seen a kit say to leave wine in a primary. I am thinking the extra time is to get as much extraction from the grape skins. I read somewhere that this also greatly aids with degassing the wine by leaving it in the primary for 14 days. I’m not sure about that. Part of me does not like the idea of leaving the wine in a primary for so long especially when I’ve been taking the lid off and stirring to get the grape skins below the surface every day. We’ll see how it goes, I guess!

Leonard Cohen

What’s Leonard Cohen got to do with winemaking? Not much exactly – but I have always enjoyed Mr. Cohen, and many a bottle of wine has been enjoyed while his songs have played in the background. This evening, CBC Television broadcast a one hour portion of Leonard Cohen Live In London. If we could have, Colleen and I would have watched it together but circumstances did not permit that (I’m in jail as I write this. Kidding). So, I sent Colleen a bottle of the Zinfandel I had made three years ago, we both opened one, and watched Mr. Cohen together at the same time. I guess you could call it almost a “virtual date.” Sometimes, you just do what you have to do, although I would have preferred to sing to her in person along with Mr. Cohen, “I’m Your Man.” I couldn’t really sing it over the telephone because our televisions sets seemed to have a gap of about 2 seconds. I’m quite uncomfortable as it is with my singing voice – I think in my entire adult and teenage life, the only people who have ever heard me sing before are my sons – and that’s mostly to fun Irish Rovers music. Thankfully, Colleen graciously does not laugh at me when I sing “I’m Your Man” to her.

If I get out of jail in time, we’re hoping we can take in Leonard Cohen live, together. In London. Ontario. I don’t think I’ll be able to sneak in a bottle of Zinfandel though.

I realized the other day that although I had several red wines on the go, I had no whites! And summer is coming, and on a warm day, it’s nice to sit back and sip on chilled white wine. I also like Liebfraumilch. I haven’t made one in awhile. When I was at the local shop I frequent (too often), they had a Liebfraumilch available in a “California Connoisseur” series by Vineco. So I decided to pick it up and at least have some white wine on hand from my home winemaking activities for the summer. I’ll probably have to make more if I really want enough to last the summer though!

I’m not all that impressed with Vineco calling this a “Premium Wine Kit,” but it will make a decent wine. Anyhow, my review of the wine kit is here.

I’ve added a new link to my sidebar – a new blog just recently started by Daniel Pambianchi.

Daniel took time out of his day to comment on my post, “A Bulk Aging Disagreement” and provided some of his thoughts. I’m looking forward to watching Daniel’s blog grow and I’m sure many of us will learn a thing or three from him.

Daniel is the President of Cadenza Wines, Inc. and the General Manager of the Maleta Winery in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario. One of their wines, a Riesling, won Silver at a major competition last week.

As well as being the Technical Editor for WineMaker Magazine, Daniel has written “Techniques in Home Winemaking: The Comprehensive Guide to Making Chateau-Style Wines” and another book that should be of interest to home winemakers wanting to improve their skills with making wine from kits, “Kit Winemaking: The Illustrated Beginner’s Guide to Making Wines from Concentrate”

Welcome to world of home winemaking blogging, Daniel!

Daniel’s blog is here.

Some data that may or may not be of interest to anyone. The KenRidge GSM Kit that I started on March 8th has been showing some very vigorous fermentation. I decided to stir and press down the grape skin pack and noticed immediately the warmth coming off the pail.

Not a full two days, probably about 18 hours since I started the wine:

Specific Gravity: 1.049
Wine Temperature: 82F
Air Temperature: about 70F

The yeast is generating a lot of heat.