Gearing up for next wine (red) - check & advice ?

[JimmyPage]

Got myself a brand new 6-bottle Barola kit, from my favourite LHBS. Sadly it's not that "L", so I rarely get to go there. Anyway, I digress.

After the disaster that was the Merlot I am very keen to get this one spot on. So here's my thinking ...

1) santise everything to operating theatre standards.
2) Rather than mix in the demijohn, mix in the nice 5L jug I bought, and then transfer to the demijohn.
3) Do not use a heater mat. Ambient temperature in the house at the moment is 18 (getting up first thing in the morning) -22 (around 10pm)C. So the widest range is 17-21 C.
4) After 4 days, rack the wine from one demijohn to another to continue fermentation off the initial dead yeast.
5) Use a LBHS recommended yeast "Vitners Harvest SN9"
6) Record starting SG (I've never done this, as the kits say it's not needed) as an idea of what the FG should be.

e2a:
7) Ensure starting temperature is 20C

Any comments ?

As an aside, the Chardonnay I brewed at the same time as the Merlot has been declared by SWMBO as the best yet

 

[GAZ9053]

I have always used the kit yeast but some use other yeasts, the kit will probably say rack at 1.010, I usually miss that target so end up racking after 2 weeks. is it a 7 day kit? just make sure you sanitise everything

 

[Barfly99]

Think you're doing all the right things. Besides the obvious stuff like cleaning everything, the two things that are going to have the biggest impact on the final product are the yeast used and the temperature it was fermented at. Let us know how it goes.

 

[JimmyPage]

I have always used the kit yeast but some use other yeasts, the kit will probably say rack at 1.010, I usually miss that target so end up racking after 2 weeks. is it a 7 day kit? just make sure you sanitise everything

It's not sold as a "7 day" kit ... just says something like wine should be ready between 2-3weeks.

 

[GAZ9053]

most kits are quite optomistic in time ready, dont rush it and check your FG, make sure its done before moving on