Re: Island Mist kits

My wife and I have tried the Island Mist Green Apple and have really enjoyed it. I do reccomend giving it at least a month of aging in the bottles before drinking it though. Not that it doesn't taste good right away but it is very much improved with a little time.

I have used these kits and have been very satisfied. I made the fruit zin and green apple as favors for my niece's wedding.

They make an excellent cooler. Wifey loves 'em. Last year I started the kits in February for summer enjoyment. They now are delicious and noticably improved since June for example. This year I will start them in November or December so they finish better by Spring.

The only one of the series I have made it the Peach-Apricot Chardonnay. It is considerably better than a wine cooler but it is stretching to call it a wine. That said, it was quite enjoyable. Very nice cold on a hot day when you want to guzzle.

Also, my friends who do not like wine, love it. It is worth making for that.

Ray

Obviously everyone likes these. Now another question I have for this is several people said to age it a bit. With only 7% alcohol, how long will it age? I doubt it would do well going over a year, would it? If I still had a couple bottles next summer, would they still be good?

Greg

I aged my last batch for about 9 months. Well ... err.... actually that is when the last bottle was drunk. I guess that means I aged it for 9 months?

Ray

I have never used to Island Mist kits, but i have made the Niagara Mist kits and have found them to be quite good. I've made Black Cherry Pinot Noir, Tropical Fruit Reisling and Peach Chardonnay. However, unlike some of my friends who also have made these kits, i tamper with them a bit by adding sugar, usually 4 cups dissolved in a little bit of hot water. That boosts the starting SG to about 1.070 or 1.075 depending on the kit. Results in a base wine with about 11% alchol or thereabouts. So, after adding the fruit pack, I end up with a (true) wine that is both sweet and has a nice ageing potential, long past 1 yr. Not to mention that a couple of glasses will also give you a nice warm glow. I see no point in making it according to kit instructions, becuse when made as per the kit, these wines have no kick at all (5 or

6% at most). S> > I went into the local homebrew shop to pick up a White Zinfandel. As

Glad to see someone else doesn't particularly like dry wines. I sometimes feel a bit self conscience saying that I sweeten wines. I didn't think of boosting the alcohol prior to seeing it in one of the discussion forums. I'll try that next time, and after trying it at bottling time, there will be a next time.

Only question I have is this. I made the Exotic Fruit White Zin. While it's good, the fruit taste is not terribly distinguished. I can tell the fruit is there, there's also the sweetness, but I can't really pick out the type of fruit. Were the Niagara Mist kits this way?

My home brew store doesn't carry the niagara mist brand, that's why I got the Island Mist. I'm thinking of either the Peach Apricot Chardonay, or the Green Apple Reisling. Both sound pretty good to me.

Greg

Greg Smith snipped-for-privacy@spamblocker.netzero.net Remove "spamblocker" to e-mail

I didn't filter the first few kits, then I filtered 3 or 4 kits and found that it was messy (the design of the one that I had made it hard to prevent leaks) and it didn't taste any better, so I stopped. If you leave it for a while in the carboy you shouldn't have that much of a sediment issue. I will sometimes find some in the bottle (along the side that it was laying on) but there is never enough in a glass to be noticed.

how long do u let it set for, and how many rackings?

You probably do NOT need to use a filter. If the crud is sediment, you probably bottled far too early. FLOATING crud (rather than sediment that got stirred up when you shook the bottle) implies a bacterial problem. Did you check the sulfite levels and/or add SO2 (campden tablets, metabisulfite) each time you racked, and especially before bottling? Depending on the pH of the wine, one needs to keep the sulfite levels at 30-60 ppm.

In either case, I would filter and add sulfite to the wine now:

-Get a large package of coffee filters ($1 at the dollar store) and a

4-6" funnel.

-Select a carboy (or carboys) ~ equal to the volume of the bottled wine.

-Attach a short length of 1/2" clear plastic tubing (available at local hardware store) to the end of the funnel, to reduce splashing and aeration. [The plastic tubing should reach from the funnel to the bottom of a carboy.]

-Add one crushed campden tablet (or 1 tsp. 10% potassium metabisulfite solution) to each gallon.

-Put two filters in the funnel over a carboy.

-Open each bottle and pour it slowly through the filters. [Cover the funnel while waiting for the liquid to pass through.]

-Replace the filters frequently, because they will clog up.

Top up the carboys when you are finished.

Then monitor the carboys carefully for several weeks. If more "floating crud" appears, you may have to add more sulfite or discard the wine. If more SEDIMENT appears, or if the wine is cloudy, you need to do some fining before rebottling.

If you visit

you can do a search on all previous threads discussing these subjects.

Greg, I like dry wines but I like these too. I find them excellent in the summer when I want something I can guzzle rather than sip. I have made a couple of batches of the Peach Apricot Chardonnay and it is very nice.

Ray

Greg, I like semi-sweet wines, my parents like sweet wines. You're not alone. Darlene

Make sure you use a siphoning tube that has a small plastic attachment on the bottom, which is about 1/2 inch tall and lets the racking tube sit above the sediment when racking. I also take the extra precation of raising my tube up about 1/4 inch more and using masking tape to fasten it to the side of the carboy, thus ensuring that I do not pick up any sediment when filtering/bottling.

For filtering I use a simple gravity-fed Vinbrite brand filter (about $30 here in Canada) and the thick filter pads for reds (about $6 or so). i use the thin pads for white wines. If your wine has been racked a couple of times and fined with the stuff that comes with the kit, it should be crystal clear when bottling.

To make the fruit flavor stand out a little more in these type of kits, i have added flavor crystals, and it worked out fine. For the Peach chardonnay Niagara Mist kit I made last year, I added a pkg of Lipton's brand peach flavor crystals and allowed the wine to clear as normal. Gave a very nice boost to the peach flavor of the wine. It aged nicely in the bottles too. I am currently making another batch of peach chardonnay and may add the flavor crystals again. I also added about 1 cup sugar syrup to a current batch of Black cherry merlot because AFTER adding the fruit pack to the dry wine base, I found it still wasn't quite sweet enough for my tastes. It is now probably a 3 or 4 on the sweetness scale (according to the local liquor store) and is quite nice. I look forward to bottling it in 10 days or so.

I have never heard of Lipton Flavor Crystals. I am going to have to check them out. I hope it is not a Canadian thing. Sometimes life just seems to pass me by. Too mellowed by my wine I guess.

Ray

Kook-Aid????? UGH!!!!! The lipton brand drink flavor crystals are much better than this. But you can also use any good brand of instant drink crystals. Preferably one that uses sugar (Crystal Light brand crystals make a disgusting drink - ugh!!!!!).

Adding sugar would not be a problem with these kits, as you add (after stabilization and complete fermentation) a sweetened fruit pack anyways, which is high in sugar. I have also added extra sugar to my Black Cherry Pinot noir kit after adding in the fruit pack, just to "highlight" the sweetness a bit more. Tastes yummy!