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Elimination of CO2 from Your Wine Elimination of the carbonic gas by heating and refining of the wine THE HEATING OF THE WINE (between 30 C and 40 C) AFTER FERMENTATION permits the elimination of the carbonic gas and helps to refine and mellow out the wine. It increases the aging and makes it smoother. The wine will continue to mature in the bottle. Attach a heating pad (80 w) AFTER FERMENTATION to the carboy to heat up the wine between 30 C and 40 C. Should You Filter Your Wine Kit? Should you filter your wine kit? Yes, if you want to. For the most part, however, kit wines clear to complete brilliance without filtration. To see if your kit is brilliantly clear, take a sample glass into a darkened room and shine a flashlight through it. The one thing you don't want to change in the instructions is the mixing and stirring of the kits. To make a properly balanced wine, you need to stir the full 23L volume vigorously, prior to pitching the yeast. This is crucial: The concentrates are so viscous that they don't mix easily with the added water. Indeed, unless the must is well stirred, it will stratify, with the top layer being very dilute (below specific gravity of 1.050) and the bottom layer extremely concentrated(sometimes above specific gravity 1.100) Not only would this throw off any attempt at a specific gravity reading, but the top stratum will ferment rapidly, until the yeast in exhausted, while the bottom layer will not ferment successfully at all. This will leave a weak tasting wine, low in alcohol and high in residual sugar- not a desirable result. Winexpert uses sulphite for an anti-oxidant. It prevents oxidative browning and that stale, sherry-like smell. Sulphite and sorbate inhibit the reproduction of spores, moulds, fungi and yeast. The deal is, spoilage organisms in very small groups are not a danger to the wine. It’s when they multiply up to ‘culture strength’ that they can do damage to the wine. By fermenting the wine dry, we remove the sugars that they would need to multiply. By fining, we reduce the populations significantly. By filtering, we reduce it a bit more. By adding sulphite and sorbate, we prevent the populations from rising again, and spoiling the wine. More & more commercial wineries are now using synthetic closures. There are a few things to keep in mind when using our synthetic closures. Use a 4 jaw floor corker. Hand corkers don't work as well. "My kit has two packages of oak chips in it. Am I supposed to add both?" Yes. Wherever Brew King's instructions call for the addition of a certain item, you are required to add ALL of the packages of that item found in the kit. This goes for packages of oak, fining agents like isinglass, and so on. The do-it-yourself sommelier; The Home Vintner elevates art of handcrafted wine
The do-it-yourself sommelier; The Home Vintner elevates art of handcrafted wineCalgary Herald Johnson Calls for Synthetic Closures One of the world's most influential wine writers has come down firmly in favour of synthetic closures - just as the cork industry struggles to retain the trust of the UK market. UK wine guru Hugh Johnson (pictured) has urged readers of his latest Pocket Wine Guide to 'buy your daily wines from suppliers with the courage to use modern stoppers'. In the introduction to the 2003 edition of the annual guide, which has sold seven million copies and is in its 26th year of publication, Johnson cites the accepted industry view that between five and ten per cent of all bottles are 'corked' - tainted with TCA. |
