2nd batch of wine

[porter]

Last night,Fri 28th,i made up my 2nd lot of wine.
Just a cheapish Youngs Chardonnay kit.Now i'm a bit more chilled out about the whole process it all went nice and easy.
I seem to be getting into the swing of things now and i found by being a bit more organised and getting prepped beforehand and sterilising everything helped enormously.
No idea what to expect from this kit,but i've already learnt via this forum to ignore the 7 day tripe.
I was impressed by the little sachet of oak chippings/dust,i know...i'm easily impressed aren't i ?
The 5lt PET bottle began bubbling away nicely quite quickly so time to leave it tucked up to do it's thing now

 

[Dave Ne]

I have been trying for years to find a recipe that my wife will like and last year wilkos had a half price deal going and i bought 2, 6 bottle kits, after a spell of ill health i managed to bottle the batch last week. My wife said it wasnt so bad but it had some kind of funny after taste, i had a taste last night and i have pinned it down to to much acid, looking at the second tin it says the acid is included in the grape juice so there is nothing we can do about it, or is there? Dave

 

[porter]

I have been trying for years to find a recipe that my wife will like and last year wilkos had a half price deal going and i bought 2, 6 bottle kits, after a spell of ill health i managed to bottle the batch last week. My wife said it wasnt so bad but it had some kind of funny after taste, i had a taste last night and i have pinned it down to to much acid, looking at the second tin it says the acid is included in the grape juice so there is nothing we can do about it, or is there? Dave

Not sure i can help much on the acidic taste Dave.Did the kit come with any kind of sweetner sachet?
Could the wine have got infected at all?
Only other thing that experienced winemakers say on here is to give the wine a few months to mature and the wine may mellow out.
Sorry i can't be more specific based on what you said but if i've learnt one thing in the short time since i joined this forum,there is a vast amount of experinced and knowledgable users on here.Maybe someone else can offer advice in a new thread?
Good luck :

 

[bobsbeer]

Only other thing that experienced winemakers say on here is to give the wine a few months to mature and the wine may mellow out.

Yes you're right. Time and patience is needed. You could add a small amount of sugar to back sweeten it, as that will balance the acid. But cheaper kits tend to have this rough taste. I would leave it for a few months and then give it a try. But cheap wine is just that, cheap wine. With wine you do need patience, and no amount of fancy advertising blurb by the kit makers will change nature.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

My wife said it wasnt so bad but it had some kind of funny after taste, i had a taste last night and i have pinned it down to to much acid, looking at the second tin it says the acid is included in the grape juice so there is nothing we can do about it, or is there? Dave

If you intend to make more wine you could always try a WOW, a lot of the recipes in the thread say add citric acid but you don't have to, if you enjoy the finished wine without it great and its far cheaper to make than kits, if you are interested have a read of this thread - viewtopic.php?f=41&t=39846

 

[Dave Ne]

Thanks lads, i am an old hand at this game but i still havent found the magic recipe for my wife, still, i have 5 new experimental brews on today so you never know, cheers Dave

 

[simkin]

I think its the monumental amount of stabilizing metabisulphite Wilko kits have, plus the very chemically clearing agents. I did one too and it was potentially lovely pre-stabilizing then horrid. They give over 5 times what a homebrewer would use in a WOW or real wine. After a whole year, the strawberry? country wine is drinkable though.

Maybe try a WOW. I love WGJ and pomegranate at the moment.

 

[porter]

If you intend to make more wine you could always try a WOW, a lot of the recipes in the thread say add citric acid but you don't have to, if you enjoy the finished wine without it great and its far cheaper to make than kits, if you are interested have a read of this thread - viewtopic.php?f=41&t=39846[/quote]

I am going to try to make a WOW this week now that i have some more 5lt pet bottles.Now that i have most of the basic extras like yeast nutrient,pectolase,etc. the cost of a WOW for me would just come down to a couple of cartons of juice.I can now get my sugar gratis ,courtesey of the missus.
One of the advantages of these type of wines appears to be ,they can be drunk relativley young.For the cost of some grape juice/fruit juice .

 

[Chippy_Tea]

One of the advantages of these type of wines appears to be ,they can be drunk relatively young.

If you bottle it in PET plastic bottles it matures faster as they are permeable to air,.

I find the raspberry, cranberry and pomegranate based WOW is drinkable as soon as it is bottled, the orange based ones need a little time, a week or two is usually all that is needed.