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Reisling kit question

All,

I just bottled my second batch of kit wine. Both so far have been dry reds. I wanted to do a wine that I could give to folks that have been giving me bottles. A lot of those bottles have been reisling so I thought I would try some for myself. I find it quite sweet and not really to my liking. Anyway, I bought a BK kit and am going to start it this evening. I read through the directions and was a little supprised. I expected that I would need to stop the fermentation early in order to obtain the sweetness inherent in this wine. Instead, the instructions read much like the dry reds I have done. Looks like you pretty much let the fermentation run to completeness. Also, there does not appear to be packet that will add sweetness later. What am I missing here? Will this turn out sweet like many commercial reislings?

Thanks, Michael

Reply to
Michael E. Carey
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Riesling does not have to be sweet. I have made kit Riesling that came out dry or just off dry and it was very much to my taste. Sounds like that is the type of kit you have.

Ray

Reply to
Ray

Bummer. If I have a kit to produce a dry wine, then I have purchased the wrong kit. I was shooting for sweet because that seems to be what some folks like.

Reply to
Michael E. Carey

You could try reserving some of the reconstituted concentrate for addition at the time an f-pack would be added. I've never done it, but the BK VR Riesling kit I did turned out rather nice.

--Mike L.

purchased the

Reply to
Michael Lawson

Reply to
Dave Gimbel

You can always stop the fermentation before it's completely done by sticking the carboy in a fridge and then stabilizing with potassium meta and sorbate.

Alternatively, you can add wine conditioner or grape juice concentrate to finished dry wine - that might be simpler overall.

Pp

Reply to
pp

The VR Reisling kit produces a dry wine. You can finish the kit and add sugar after the last step. You will already have stabilized the wine and it should not ferment any more.

Reply to
A. J. Rawls

I sweeten my Riesling with corn sugar, bought from the brew shop. Sweeten to taste, at bottling time, using a sample, then calculate how much to add to your batch, Add it in intervals and taste test as you go. Sugar has worked fine.

-- Karl Borum

Reply to
K. B.

I think I would like to stop fermentation at about 1.020. This should give me about an 8% alcohol where the potential on my first SG reading was 10.5 (SG 1.080).

Question is, I cannot put my primary fermenter in a fridge. It is a 12 gallon stone crock. Do you think the Sorbate will be enough to arrest the fermentation once I get to 1.020?

Thanks for all the comments.

Reply to
Michael E. Carey

Michael, Yeast can metabolize sorbic acid when it is added to an active fermentation. So, you may be feeding your yeast rather than stopping fermentation. Good luck, Lum Del Mar, California, USA

Reply to
Lum

I wouldn't worry. My wife prefers sweet wine, but she loved the BK reisling. It appeals to both dry- and sweet- folks; it's perfect for your purpose.

hawk

Reply to
Dr. Richard E. Hawkins

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