Solomon grundy 7 day gold zinfandel rose (6 bottle)

[chewie]

Started one of these of on saturday, 1st wine kit attempt so going as per instructions with it with no other ingredients except for the sugar.

Kit comes with the following.
1 small bottle of concentrate
1 wine yeast
1 acid regulator
1 yeast nutrient
1 stabiliser
1 wine compound
1 kieselsol sachet
1 chitosan sachet

Instructions recommend sugar between 600g and 770g (10.5%-12.5% abv) I added approx 760g.

Also recommended is to pre mark your FV to 4.6 litres, (expect your airlock filled with foam if you use a 1 gallon DJ)

Mix was pretty active from the get go and has been covered up in a room with around 20C temp. Starting gravity reading was around 1078, instructions recommend stabiliser to be added once wine goes below 995 which should be about 11%.

Will update as time passes.

*Tuesday am
Approaching what should be the midway point for fermentation, still bubbling away nicely and foaming into airlock, I've swapped these out several times.

*Sat am
Almost exactly one week in and the airlock is still fairly busy, room temp has been a steady 20C +/- 1C.

*Sun am
Took a hydrometer reading this morning and gravity appears to be at or around 995, still some airlock activity so will let this go another day or two. A small sample tasting and this didn't seem to bad at all, is defo some strength to it. I did top up the DJ with a drop of water to ensure a full 6 bottles due to some loss with foaming out of airlock.

*Mon am
Added stabiliser and degassed as airlock activity was all but stopped, another gravity check was showing around 995 still, first finings sachet and the wine compound to be added in a couple of hours.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Ignore the times in the instruction and keep us posted. :thumb:

I started my first Solomon Grundy kit in May 2013 my review is here - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=320447#post320447

 

[chewie]

Ignore the times in the instruction and keep us posted. :thumb:

I started my first Solomon Grundy kit in May 2013 my review is here - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=320447#post320447

Heh, I've read thru all of the kit reviews for rose wine before i went with a brand that has had good or decent reviews, i have the 30 bottle kit to do as well but wanted to get my feet wet with a smaller (cheaper) kit first:)

 

[Chippy_Tea]

That is a good plan, if nothing else it will show how well you sanitised everything.

 

[chewie]

*Tues am
Final finings sachet added approx 21 hours after the first one, placed the DJ into the fridge as its the coolest place i have. Will look to rack to a pressure barrel probably and bottle fill from that once the wine has cleared.

*Wed am
Roughly 24 hours after the last finings sachet was added and wine has cleared substantially, about 1" of dark matter in the bottom of the DJ, will wait to see if that drops further. Instructions advise on 24-48 hours or longer if needed.

*Thur am
Wine looked to be perfectly clear this morning so racked to 2nd DJ, let it sit for 30 mins or so it still looked to be perfectly clear so then bottled it up. Will update again after the first bottle is opened. Start to finish 12 days.

 

[chewie]

Cracked open a bottle tonight, not to dry, taste is decent and seems to be a very slight acidity to it, would defo make this again. I would also probably leave it for 3 days to clear next time at least, each bottle has a small amount of sediment in it. Other half seems to like it to so that will keep her sweet.

 

[AdeDunn]

I started the 30 bottle version of this kit (ordered a 6, but they sent a 30...) on the 5th of August, following the instructions exactly (apart from the timings, which were silly to say the least). Stopped, stabilised, degassed etc on 14th August. On the 16th of august it was sweetened (using ALL of the sugar the instructions said to use) and bottled.

Compared it to the Blossom Hill and Echo Falls, and tasted nothing like. Also a HECK of a lot dryer. Ended up sweetening even more with 3mls of white grape juice concentrate on the 1 October after the in-laws brought the bottles we gave them back as it wasn't sweet enough. Still tasted nothing like Blossom Hill or Echo Falls though, but is at least now sweet enough (I hope!).

It's a fairly nice rose wine I suppose (not really a wine drinker, nor is my wife who liked it before I upped the sweetness with the concentrate. lol), but it has little resemblance to either of the commercial white zinfandels we tried. I guess that why the label on the box says "style"... :lol:

Here's hoping my parents (who I specifically made it for, as a Christmas present for my mum) and the in-laws (who just got lucky thanks to not knowing what the heck to do with it all...) like it. I suspect it'll taste better given 12 months in the bottle, but I doubt they'll give it that long...:lol: Me, I'd rather have a bit of mead, or a beer. :twisted: