Thanks for the tip Matt! I’m sure the advise will help a lot when I make this wine next week.

I just want to experiment with the different effects and aroma-flavor profiles of the yeast on the wine. I’m planning on doing a blending at the end too, like you had set up, to see what the best combination of the two is. I’m trying to get the most out of that kit investment!

Hi Adan, when I use the first clarifier I just used a measuring cup to add half to each batch. It wasn’t too scientific.

When I clarified that wine though I learned a valuable lesson: make sure your wine is completely degassed before adding the clarifier. This is not what the kit directions say to do, they want you to do both at the same time.

It took me two attempts to degas the wines and when I made my second attempt I stirred up everything that the clarifier had already settled out. It didn’t clear on its own after that so I had to add another clarifier to knock out the haze.

So why are you doing a split fermentation? Testing yeast or something else?

Cheers! -Matt

Oak aging can do amazing things for your wine! Oak is often referred to as “the winemaker’s spice cabinet”. You can add so much more depth and character to a wine this way.

I would suggest trying your hand with oak adjuncts to get you started. Barrels tend to be quite large, quite expensive, and require a bit of work to maintain. Oak adjuncts allow you to experiment with different toasts levels and different origins (French, American, Hungarian, etc) much more easily and at a fraction of the cost. A bag of cubes might run you $10 and will treat a carboy or two. Once you purchase a barrel though you’re sort of stuck with whatever toast and origin of oak you bought.

Here’s an article that you may find helpful Oak Products Explained. In the second paragraph is a link to another article that may also be useful.

Cheers Pauline!
-Matt

Hi Pauline! I hope you found the article series helpful.

To date I have not tried this with a red wine kit. I too have had less luck with the reds as I have with the white wine kits. That being said I haven’t tried the high end red kits that include the grape skins. I think this could do a lot for a red wine kit. Have you tried one of these yet?

Cheers!
-Matt

Hi RCGoodin, great question! The tasting was a lot of fun. My wife and I had some friends over and we went through all five wines blind. I wrote quite a bit about it in this article entitled The First Winemaker’s Academy Wine Tasting.

In the end it turned out that I was the only one who really liked the RHST Riesling. To me the peach overtones were much nicer than the citrus / grapefruit flavors the W15 created. However, I will say that I was the only one out of the four of us that preferred the RHST.

In the end it comes down to personal taste. Both yeasts produced great wines its just that my palate favored the RHST.

Are you thinking of doing a split fermentation?