Beaverdale Tweaks

[Volty]

Just thought I'd say a quick hello after stumbling across this excellent site. I have just returned to wine making after 20 years, how things change. The quality of kits is far superior to what it was. I have made a few of the Beaverdale kits with excellent results. The last one I made was a Beaverdale Barola (30 bottle) which I'm about to rack. This one I tweaked by changing the yeast to LALVIN RC212, adding 500grms of Raisins & adding 500grms of sugar. First impressions are excellent, looks like the tweaks have made a big difference. I'm going to age this one about 6 months where as the others were consumed within a few months, can't wait. The next one to be made is a Beaverdale Chardonnay & then a Chablis Blush. For these two I intend to use LALVIN YEAST ICV/D-47. Not to sure about adding more sugar & raisins to these, what are the expert opinions on here or are the any other tweaks you can suggest.

[goldseal]

Afternoon, and welcome to the Forum .

I think your Barolo tweaks make sense. You might want to think about adding some good quality oak cubes or oak chips while it ages.

D47 should be a good choice for whites and rosés. You might also want to consider Lalvin 71b-1122 (aka Gervin D).

Personally I wouldn't add any more sugar, and definitely no raisins, to the non-reds.

Let us know how you get on!

[lockwood1956]

Dont add raisins to a white kit......use sultanas

and i wouldn't up the sugar either, a red wine can take extra alc, but a white would likely suffer

hope that makes sense

regards
Bob

[Volty]

Cheers for the replies. On another note I've noticed that on this last brew it was fully fermented in 6 days rather than the usual 10-12 days (verified by hydrometer). Was this down to the fact that I used a better yeast or because I used a heater for the first time? In the Beaverdale instructions it recommends racking from a primary to a secondary fermenter when it gets to 1010 so its not sitting with all the dead yeast. Would it have made any difference to have started it in the secondary & fermented out as when I racked at 1010 it finished fermenting 24hrs later thus being only of the dead yeast for one extra day? It just seems I could have started in the secondary under airlock & left to ferment out if its only going to take 6days.

[goldseal]

The decrease in fermentation time is almost certainly because of the heater. Better yeasts don't neceesarily ferment faster. Some will ferment significantly slower.

I would avoid starting fermentation in the secondary: yeast needs oxygen during the first stages of fermentation, hence starting in a bucket with lots of head space. It also means the wine can foam away without coming out of the airlock.

Once the fermentation dies down (1.010 ish), the yeast doesn't need any more O2, and will benefit from the protection a fully topped-up secondary offers.

[Volty]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to split the last brew into 4 Demijohns & the leftover will be bottled. I'm then going to add oak in various amounts to see which turns out best. Whats the best length of time to leave the oak in?

[goldseal]

It all depends how much oak you add, whether your oak is in the form of cubes, chips or dust, what oak you have (e.g. American or French) and how oaky you like your wines.

Oak dust will add oak to the wine very quickly, whereas cubes might take 2 or 3 months.

[Volty]

Thanks, I will be going to the HBS tomorrow so will see what they have. Thanks for the replies.