California connisseur cab sav

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sherbyderb

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Hello all i am now on the last stage of the wine kit instructions and the wine is in dhe final six days of clearing. I looked at it this morning and can see what looks like a jelly substance ttuck to the inside of the DJ. I was just wanting to know if anybody has experianced this before? The wine seems to have settled really well as there is a layer of about half an inch of sediment at the bottom, im just a little worried.
Thanks in advance Andy.
 
I degassed it over three days and added the Potassium Sorbate and then the isinglass (i think its spelt right???) This was all to the instructions, Im finding it hard to tell if it is clear in the DJ as there is so much so i might take a small ammount and see. :? :wha:
 
is it stuck to the glass?
Sometimes the finings can float or stick to the glass. I would give it a quater turn to see if it moves and starts to sink.
You could always rack it off into a clean sterile dj and let it finish its clearing.
 
thanks for your replys peeps. Well it seems to have dissapeared now and is still clearing do you reckon to would do more good than bad to rack off the wine into a clean DJ for a few days before bottling? here are a couple of pics of the wine so far
IMAG0203.jpg

IMAG0204.jpg

This is the sediment
 
I just bottled a california con Merlot last weekend. I totally cheated!

I put it in a plastic fermenter, with a tap set about 2" up from the bottom. Followed the kit instructions with the exception of racking - none!

Left out the final chemical (potassium metabisulphate?) after the kit said it was optional.

Once the finings were mixed in I placed the fermenter in it's bottling position and left it a week.

Attached little bottler and filled up 28 bottles - easy!

They came out nice and clear.

I did this because I used this same approach with the Tesco brew buddy chardonnay kits, and they were incredibly succesfull, so I decided to hell with the faffing about, racking here and there - just do it like beer - ferment and then bottle - minimal hassle...

The proof will of course be in the drinking, which won't be for another few weeks......
 
Looks normal to me, except that your jar is half empty :nono:

Leave it where it is until you are happy that it has cleared completely, check that by shining a torch from the back of the jar, and then get it bottled, or rack and then bottle if you've got no-one to help you.
 
sherbyderb said:
this was after the third rack
Far too much interference.

Rack once, add finings or leave to clear naturally, rack again and/or bottle.

If anything of mine ever gets a third racking that will be at about 6 months, and that's only if it's staying in long term bulk storage.
 
I was a little worried at one point but all seems good now, it's just a matter of time now for it to clear. There is 4.5 liters in there well I think there is, the gravity it has finished on is 994 and I have wired it out at a nice 11.7% or there abouts. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this kit as it is my first attempt at a wine kit.
 
The Cal Con cab Sauv 30 bottle kit will be my next red. I have finally decided to buy a 20 litre oak barrel for the purpose, as this is the nearest to the right size, and they usually have slightly larger capacity than the nominal stated size. The few bottles that won't fit can be set aside, one for topping up the barrel and the others for comparison. As I will need to omit the oak chips from the main brew, I can put some in the spare bottles. There's nothing 'wrong' with the Brewbuddy version, but the cal con barolo I made, matured for a few months, was infinitely superior, so I'd like to try their cab sauv. At £89, the barrel adds considerably to the cost, and while polypins are great for dispensing and relatively cheap, I'm getting rather fed up with patching up the cardboard cases.
 
Interesting idea - is that to store/serve from? Or to ferment in?

If it's to serve from, how do you propose to stop the wine oxidising with the air gap above it?
 
Purely for maturing. A certain amount of gentle breathing is a beneficial feature of casks, as is, co-incidentally, PET bottles! The barrel has to be topped up from time to time to maintain the level. The plan is to leave it for 6 months at least, and then bottle it, drinking it somewhat less regularly than the everyday winebuddy stuff in polypins, which I can knock out (and drink!) in a couple of weeks.
 
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