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What's gone wrong with my kits?

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  • What's gone wrong with my kits?

    Hi, this is my first post here, I'm new to home winemaking and I need some help to understand what may have gone wrong with my first attempt.

    To get me started I bought two 6 bottle Beaverdale kits, the Barolla and the Cabernet Sauvignon. The barolla I've done exactly per the instructions, the cabernet I decided to play around with and made it up shorter than 4.5 litres and added a little dextrose to get the SG up to 1085. I made them both up with bottled spring water.

    I fermented them in demijohns in a temperature controlled water bath, the temperature has never gone outside of 19C to 21C. I didn't check the FG during fermentation, I just left them until I was getting one bubble out of the airlock every four minutes or so. This was 22 days for the barrola and 24 days for the cabernet, I did check the FG at this point and both were reading 990.

    Then I racked them into 5 litre PET bottles, added the stabilser, degassed by shaking the bottles a couple of times a day for 3 days and releasing the CO2. Then I added the two part fining agents as instructed and left them for 7 days to clear.

    I've just bottled them and had my first taste and I'm quite dissapointed, both have an aroma that is overly fruity and artificially sweet. The taste is like a young commercial wine but overlaid with a strong unpleasant flavour and a tang at the back of the throat. The cabernet is no worse than the barolla despite my messing around with it, though clearly it has more alcohol.

    I've read about 'kit taste' and 'bubblegum flavour' but I don't know if this is what I've got? I've seen reviews of Beaverdale red kits and they've been favourable.

    Any advice would be very welcome.

    Thanks

  • #2
    Others would know better than me (not a kit maker really), but ageing ?

    Lots of stuff doesn't make instant prize winners. Needs time to mellow before decent judgement can be made.......
    Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

    Some blog ramblings

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    • #3
      Try it again in a couple of months, you should see a difference, the ken ridge Barolo needs a min of 3 month to age.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by xjr13m View Post
        Hi, this is my first post here, I'm new to home winemaking and I need some help to understand what may have gone wrong with my first attempt.

        To get me started I bought two 6 bottle Beaverdale kits, the Barolla and the Cabernet Sauvignon. The barolla I've done exactly per the instructions, the cabernet I decided to play around with and made it up shorter than 4.5 litres and added a little dextrose to get the SG up to 1085. I made them both up with bottled spring water.

        I fermented them in demijohns in a temperature controlled water bath, the temperature has never gone outside of 19C to 21C. I didn't check the FG during fermentation, I just left them until I was getting one bubble out of the airlock every four minutes or so. This was 22 days for the barrola and 24 days for the cabernet, I did check the FG at this point and both were reading 990.

        Then I racked them into 5 litre PET bottles, added the stabilser, degassed by shaking the bottles a couple of times a day for 3 days and releasing the CO2. Then I added the two part fining agents as instructed and left them for 7 days to clear.

        I've just bottled them and had my first taste and I'm quite dissapointed, both have an aroma that is overly fruity and artificially sweet. The taste is like a young commercial wine but overlaid with a strong unpleasant flavour and a tang at the back of the throat. The cabernet is no worse than the barolla despite my messing around with it, though clearly it has more alcohol.

        I've read about 'kit taste' and 'bubblegum flavour' but I don't know if this is what I've got? I've seen reviews of Beaverdale red kits and they've been favourable.

        Any advice would be very welcome.

        Thanks
        You may not have allowed the ferment to finish. The hydrometer is the easiest and most accurate way to check when the ferment is done. When you get the same reading three days in a row the ferment is finished. going by the number of bubbles is not the way to tell if the ferment is finished. Good luck.
        http://www.winensuds.com/ Gotta love this hobby

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        • #5
          I say that's just ageing. For those who appreciate (rather than just drink!) their wine the wild promises on the front of kits about when they will be ready to drink are not to be believed...

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Delmonteman View Post
            I say that's just ageing. For those who appreciate (rather than just drink!) their wine the wild promises on the front of kits about when they will be ready to drink are not to be believed...
            2nd that
            Gluten free, caffeine free, dairy free, fat free – you gotta love this red wine diet!

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