Californian Conniseur Rojo Tinto, Beaverdale Rioja

[nicknjh]

Hi Gang,

Now I have a Beaverdale Rioja 30 Bottle bubbling away like a goodun and smelling good. I have just bought also a Californian Connisuer Rioja Tinto(Rename of Rioja i think perhaps they got told off) in this kit it says at stage 4, stabilization & Clarification, add packett 4 potassium sorbate if you are using a conditioner it is imperative that you use the potassium sorbate , if you are creating a dry wine you may choose to omit the potassium sorbate if you would like to limit the level of preservatives in your wine, now if i want to lay some of this wine down for over six months my understanding is that I should add it is that right?? what are the benefits of adding and the benefits of not adding ?? if anyone can help I would be very gratefull... by the way do wines made from grape juice like in theese kits smell more than others when fermenting cheers all

 

[tonyhibbett]

It is generally advisable to add sulphite (not sorbate) to prevent oxidisation during long term storage, particularly in a barrel, but I never bother with it for bottling wine and have never had a problem.

 

[Brewtrog]

Pot sorbate is used to stop yeast from multiplying, it is used because although sulphites do kill off most the yeast, it can't be taken as 100% effective, so the sorbate stops any yeast from recolonising the whole brew. As the kit says, if you're making a dry wine and the sugar is totally gone then you don't need the stuff, however if you want to backsweeten with sugar then you will need to use sorbate (of course you could just use a non-fermentable sugar to backsweeten). It's mostly personal preference if you wish to add it to a dry wine, it acts as a fail safe just in case it wasn't actually dry. Personally I don't use it but I like my wine to be dry.

 

[nicknjh]

well the Beaverdale Rioja has been bottled for over a week and I have to say it tastes great, I will never buy a cheep wine kit ever again, honestly compared to the cab sav from wilkos I bought it is in a different league, the cab sav has been rellegated to the cupboard for cooking even then I am hesitant, lucky it was only a six bottle kit, the californian conniseur is just clearing and ill let you know how that is at a later date

Cheers all :

 

[tonyhibbett]

From the ridiculous to the sublime. The new Wilco brand kits reach new depths of poor quality and value, while the best red wine I ever made was a cal con barolo, surpassing more expensive kits, but it needed time to get there.