Atmosphere/kenridge amarone wine kit

[bez]

Bottled my Kenridge Amorone 8 weeks ago, have tried 1 bottle after a month, it had none of the depth of flavour I expected, a few weeks later not much change, have decided to leave till Christmas ish . Bearing in mind the price, I expected more,

What were the details of you don’t mind. Did you leave it in the secondary vessel. At what pint did you bottle it.

 

[Willshill1]

I used a Fastferment, google it , primary and secondary in the one container, used it twice now and still learning

 

[Willshill1]

Sorry was busy last post, I followed instructions with kit and tried to keep to timescales but life sometimes gets in the way , have since done a Kenridge Sav Blanc for my wife, it’s bulk aging now, but tasted great when finished, so high hopes for it when bottled

 

[KHS]

Bought mine in the week and set it up yesterday, just started bubbling away on the heat pad.
Plan is to follow the instructions to the letter then leave it in a carboy until start of December, then bottle ready for Xmas. Bought a Young’s degassing tool, so that should be plenty of aging time, yeah?

 

[bez]

Mine stopped bubbling on Wednesday. After. Ten days vigorous bubbling. I will have a look at it on Sunday. Probably syphon to a clean container and take from there.

 

[bez]

I’ve syphoned to the second vessel. Lovely and clear. Leave in that for a few weeks at around 21%

 

[KHS]

Day 14 for my Amarone kit, was bang on .996 as instructions said it would be.
Swapped it over accidentally into another FV before realising it should go into a carboy really, so transferred it straight to a carboy and gave it a tickle with the degassing stick.

Plan is to leave it in the carboy to Xmas, but may throw it into bottles after a couple of months. Undecided yet.

 

[Willshill1]

Hi transferred a Kenridge Sauvignon Blanc into carboy for about 6 weeks and bottled it a month ago, was great straight away, will be great by Christmas

 

[bez]

This is now 9 weeks from the start. Probably been bottled 4 weeks ish. It’s getting very smooth indeed. It’s lovely and fruity. Should be wonderful for Xmas.

 

[KHS]

Bottled mine a few days ago, got 26 bottles of it. Tasted very nice indeed :thumba:
Leaving it now until Xmas.

 

[The Baron]

Don't take this as gospel or the wrong way chaps but fermenting wine is not as good as brewing beer from a homebrew context. I have found that white wines from kits are better than red wine kits, the problem with red wine is that the grape juice used is not of a single grape variety but blends and to make a true shiraz/cabernet you really do need those grapes and any grapes that are any good are used by the vineyards themselves. Now white wine can be produced to a good standard even with cheaper kits it does produce a good result but when you come to red I have found that the juice does not have the depth of body and flavour that some people expect especially after they have tried brewing beer to a very good level of success is not there. Most cheaper red wine kits will make a light red(even though it says full red on the box) even crossing over to a deep rose in taste and flavour but once you have made these it actually suits some people and makes a good quaffing wine as long as you understand the limitations. The middle range kits say £30 to £40 kits produce a better deep red wine that can be acceptable if you are requiring a fuller red but even these are not as good as a £5 of supermarket red in my opinion but well acceptable at £1.50 a bottle approx. The most expensive kits are a step up but still the majority will leave a discerning red wine drinker a little short and can be £3 to £6 in cost which does start to become expensive however not everybody is doing this about price after all it is a hobby. In summary whites give a better result than red s in comparison to bought wines from the supermarket but as long as you understand what the results will be never mind what it says on the box you will produce a good drink. My wife likes a good red and to get somewhere near a supermarket cheap red I have to use the CC or beaverdale kits or it is too light and not fruity enough for her taste. Hope this helps but it is only my opinion of wine kits which I have done many over the years. I have also done the red grape juice wines from supermarket cartons which make a good rose/light red at a bargain price but again you do need to lower your expectations of what it will produce and you will be fine and enjoy it for what it is

 

[Willshill1]

Having done six kits in the last year 2 Beaverdale reds , 2 California Connisseur reds , and 2 Kenridge red and white I totally agree, everyone liked the reds , but I personally was disappointed especially in the Kenridge red which I have now left to age, however the Kenridge Sauvignon Blanc is excellent and everyone loves it, I’m a red drinker and I really like it.

 

[bez]

Tested a bottle of the amarone last night really smoothing out.
I’ve had a kit of their own from love homebrewing. It’s the supreme merlot. About 40 quid. It was great. Half drunk from the second carboy after about four weeks. Really nice smooth and fruity.

 

[KHS]

Got another Atmosphere kit for this Xmas, the Australian Shiraz. Also have a FastFerment now, so will use that. Will probably do primary/secondary in the FastFerment and the pop it in a carboy to bulk age until Xmas

 

[Willshill1]

Have Winexpert Diablo Rojo clearing in Fastfermenter at the minute, lifted lid and oak chip mesh bag out to degass and clear , placed it in large jug and tasted the dribble in jug , very alcoholic but not much flavour but probably altered by strong oak flavour from bag , hoping for more

 

[KHS]

Just started my next Atmosphere kit in the FastFerment conical fermenter. The bentonite has "clumped" at the bottom of the fermenter, I had to jab it with my brewing paddle to get the liquid to pass through to the bottom bowl.

Should I remove it from the conical fermenter as maybe the trub will sit on top of the bentonite rather than drop into the bottom bowl?
Or will the bentonite clump liquidise?

A bit concerned as its an £80 kit!!

 

[KHS]

To answer my own question, I just took it out of the conical and moved it to a standard Fermenter before fermentation started.
Definitely did the right thing as the bentonite was just like a clay and the trub would’ve just sat on top of it.

To conclude, conical fermenter not good for this kit

 

[Willshill1]

Just transferred out of my Fastferment last Monday, the collection ball is totally inadequate, 300ml approximately, and I could see a build up of sediment in the bottom of the conical , I poured off approximately 600ml of sediment and could have dumped even more, the problem is the small diameter at the bottom of cone 24mm approximately so if Bentonite blocked so will the sediment, I’ve done three wine kits and all have blocked and the collection ball has also been inadequate each time, I find the ease of use of the Fastferment good but probably saves 1 litre of wine compared to regular FV , and it takes up more room, I believe newer Fastferment have a wider base which would allow sediment to flow better, so maybe I bought to early