Tweaked Beaverdale Rioja

[Richard S]

One of my choice slurping reds is the Beaverdale Rioja. The last one I made was in November and already I find myself down to the last few bottles. I bought another and decided to try to "enhance" the kit a little by adding a few extras. The kit comes with a packet of oak dust, I like oak so in went a 30g packet of French oak chips as well. I also added 500g of chopped sunmaid raisins and 1tsp of tannin. Anyway, I am at the de-gassing stage now so I thought I would sneak a taste (as you do ) and all I can say is YEEEEEEHAAAAAW!!!! Me thinks it's gonna be good.

[Her Lushness]

Am I right in thinking that you can re-use the wood chips that you put in wine? (I assume it was a 5 gallon kit you refer to?)

Either way this sounds like a plan, and I think I will try it next time i do a Rioja - I just bottled up 30 bottles of it 2 weeks ago, so it may be a few months until I start another one... then again...

I've got a 5 gallon Beaverdale Cabernet on the go at the moment - I'm trying to increase my stocks of "ready to drink" wine ready for Xmas, and as I'm off work sick at the moment, I've got plenty of time on my hands to pester you all on this forum and ferment things

[Richard S]

Am I right in thinking that you can re-use the wood chips that you put in wine? (I assume it was a 5 gallon kit you refer to?)

Yes it is a 5 gal kit and no to re-using the chips. The oak was £2 from the local hbs so no great loss. Keep 2 or 3 bottles of Rioja back for topping up your next kit with.

[lockwood1956]

I wouldn't re-use the oak chips either

regards
Bob

[lockwood1956]

Looking forward to a slurp of this one Richard

just a word of caution if you are new to winemaking, doing this will make your kit warranty void, its something for later in your winemaking, once you have your techniques nailed down.

regards
Bob

[Her Lushness]

As ever, thanks for the suggetions and advice guys, I'm defo going to give this one a go next Rioja I do.

[Richard S]

Looking forward to a slurp of this one Richard

Me too but it will be a while, it tastes great on bottling day then goes into hiding/bottle shock for a bit. I will keep a couple of gallons in demi johns so I can keep an eye on progress better.

just a word of caution if you are new to winemaking, doing this will make your kit warranty void, its something for later in your winemaking, once you have your techniques nailed down.

Good point, I know this kit rather well and know that these additions won't do too much harm. Could be a good way to enhance a Barolo.

[Her Lushness]

Good point, I know this kit rather well and know that these additions won't do too much harm. Could be a good way to enhance a Barolo.

Or the Cabernet I've got on the go right now?

[Richard S]

Or the Cabernet I've got on the go right now?

These additions should be made at the beginning when you are starting the kit off. Should be ok to try with most red kits but make a few first. Get to know the flavours, smells, amount of body and then ask yourself "what do I want to change, why do I want to do this and by how much"?

[lockwood1956]

Or the Cabernet I've got on the go right now?

I'd be careful about trying to add much to a cabernet, its pretty big stuff anyway

[Her Lushness]

These additions should be made at the beginning when you are starting the kit off. Should be ok to try with most red kits but make a few first. Get to know the flavours, smells, amount of body and then ask yourself "what do I want to change, why do I want to do this and by how much"?

Okay, and thanks again for the advice, it's due for degassing now anyway, so it's way too late to add anything else to it.
In the world of commercial wines, I like the heavy, full bodied, full flavoured oaky wines - hence my asking about adding more okainess to a kit wine.
I'll start making notes on what I drink, and why I like it and see what I come up with.

(Hmm... sounds like an excuse to open another bottle!)

[Richard S]

I took a bottle to Karl's on Sat night but by the time we got round to drinking it, it was probably too late (we had no idea if it was any good).

Me and Mark have just had a bottle and we think that it is the best kit wine that I have made to date. It should be way too young to drink but it smells and tastes just right, big oak profile, big tannins and a nice fruity finish.

I am going to repeat these kit tweaks on a Magnum ultimate Merlot or Cab Sauv to see if a cheap kit can be turned into something more medium range.

[goldseal]

A mere 3 months after buying the kit, I started my version today.

Added 1tsp of liquid grape tannin, 250g of Sunmaid raisins, 250g of Tesco raisins (because I forgot to get a 2nd bag of Sunmaid) and 30g of Brupaks heavy toast French oak.

[Richard S]

Bring a bottle to Grapefest Pete, I will swap it for a bottle of my plonk.

[owlwithoutfeathers]

A mere 3 months after buying the kit, I started my version today.

Added 1tsp of liquid grape tannin, 250g of Sunmaid raisins, 250g of Tesco raisins (because I forgot to get a 2nd bag of Sunmaid) and 30g of Brupaks heavy toast French oak.

Hi there. Just stumbled accross this thread. I'm interested to know how this turned out? I've did the Beaverdale Red Rioja kit last year (sans tweaks) and its very drinkable now (sadly, i've only got 11 bottles left which i need to hide somewhere!). It took a good 6 months to get any character, but was drinkable.

With the addition of the extra tannin, oak and raisins, how is it? Juicy, thicker, fuller-bodied?

Cheers. Owl.