californian connoisseur

[Piggle]

Just finished brewing my second 30 bottle batch of californian connoisseur Sav Blanc and it's turned out dryer than Gandhi's flip flops. Not a happy bunny.

 

[tonyhibbett]

It's supposed to be dry. However, my experience with the brand is that it needs at least a month to mature, preferably longer.

 

[Piggle]

Totally agree but this is much dryer than the last batch. Suppose I'd best put it in a few DJs and forget about it for a year.

 

[calumscott]

Sodastream! :)

 

[tonyhibbett]

Depends what you mean by dry. Strictly speaking this means with little or no residual sugar. Harsh, bitter, sour, overly acidic and astringent are something else. If you have noticed a significant reduction in quality, I suggest you contact the manufacturer and complain. I had the same experience with a Youngs wine kit and it turned out that they had been supplied with sub standard concentrate from a supplier who they no longer used. Replacement kits were supplied free of charge and were found to be of the previous acceptable standard. There appears to be a shortage of supply of white grape juice recently, which can lead to higher prices and/or reduced quality.
I found a similar problem with a red wine kit from another manufacturer, who denied any deficiency, but were quite happy to supply a replacement free of charge.
The fact of the matter is that these kit manufacturers have no control over the raw materials supplied to them, any more than those suppliers have, unless the **** hits the fan, like the horsemeat scandal.

 

[Barfly99]

Couldn't you back sweeten it to bring it back to where it's supposed to be? I do that specific kit all the time and you do get the odd one that will ferment hard and fast to a low SG after just a week, regardless of the temperature. I always keep back a cupful of the grape juice and add some of it back to the cleared and filtered wine if it's needed at the end.