WineBuddy Chardonnay 30 bottle kit

[Chippy_Tea]

Having made and been impressed with the WineBuddy Sauvignon Blanc 30 bottle kit we decided to get another unfortunately the shop was out of stock so we decided to give the WineBuddy Chardonnay 30 bottle kit a go, we haven't a clue what it will taste like as we have never tried Chardonnay, its has started to bubble already so fingers crossed.

The instructions seem to be the same as in the Sauvignon Blanc kit - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49224



1. Sterilise FV.

2.Pour in 5 litres of hot water maximum 53c.

3. Pour in 4Kg of sugar.

4. Pour in the contents of the concentrate pack.

5. Top the FV up to 22.7 litres.

6. Pour in the contents of the Yeast/yeast nutrient pack and also the Oak Chips pack.

7. Fit lid and airlock.

8. leave the FV in a warm room (20c - 25c) for 6 days (we all know this is optimistic) then check the specific gravity using a hydrometer, if the gravity is less than .996 move to step 9.

Review to follow.

 

[simmo3801]

Should be another good one. I dissolved the sugar in the boiling water before adding it to the FV. I also like the suggestion in the Sauvignon Blanc thread to only use 3 litres of boiling water as I had to wait ages for the temp to drop when I used 5 litres.

 

[baggybill]

My first WineBuddy Chardonnay kit... and it's came out slightly cloudy :?

Followed the instructions exactly apart from timescales.

Born 10th Nov weighing in at 1.080 @ 21'
Constant 22' maintained throughout fermentation
Racked 30th Nov at 0.984, stabilised, finings, thorough de-gass, flavouring etc.
Racked 6th Dec to x4 glass demi's & some bottles and...
... it's got a bit of a haze!

Tastes fine, completely de-gassed just doesn't look too great in the bottle. Some of it was intended to be Xmas presents - that ain't gonna happen the way it looks right now:

How did you folks turn out? Crystal clear? Hazy? And if hazy, did it clear after a while (how long)?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

All my kits have cleared perfectly, how do you degas?

 

[baggybill]

Stainless steel plaster mixer & 18v cordless drill. Spend around ~20 minutes, being careful not to introduce air/oxygen to the mix.

Do this with all my wines and all come out crystal clear... well, except this one. Last one was a Wilko 30 bottle Pinot - absolutely crystal clear.

Not sure if a wine filter would clear this up a bit, it's like a chill haze?

I'm in no rush for the wine, I might just stick it away for a few months. Easter BBQ's maybe :drink:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Leave it until it settles in the bottles then if you have the patience (and OCD like me) take the trap off your racking cane and use a peg to keep the tube above the sediment and rack to clean bottles, I tried gently pouring it didn't help, I now just drink it as it is if I make a balls up of racking and stir up a bit of sediment.

When i degass i only do it for around a minutes going from forward to reverse every second 20 minutes seems a lot of time and I would be worried about air getting introduced and the risk of oxidisation.

 

[Scaff]

I've made this kit before, I think I still have some in a cupboard.

It was nice, not the worst but very drinkable.

Mine was crystal clear, but I degass from FV to FV by pouring it 30 or so times


Scaff

 

[tonyhibbett]

I've had the occasional batch which failed to clear quickly, usually when the ambient temperature is high.

 

[baggybill]

I put a bottle in the fridge for a week and it's now absolutely crystal clear but with a layer of dust like sediment in the bottom of the bottle (very easily disturbed).

The 4 demijohns full, I had in my garage for a week at ~9'C. They were still very hazy and sediment could be seen starting to settle on the bottom.

The fining stage had three packs/stages which I did follow exactly. Hmmm... worked no problem for other people.

So, yesterday, I carefully syphoned the demi's back into an empty FV (gave empty vessel a 10 sec blast of CO2 to dispel air), and used my own finings - Kwik Clear. Tried some extra de-gassing but there's no sign of any (foam free & sample's have zero fizz in the mouth).

Fingers crossed, I may have some wine ready for Xmas after all :grin: