I purchased a World Vineyard Cal Zinfandel Shiraz kit on Oct 6 2011. I moved it into the secondary on Oct 13 2011. It has been in my basement at 56 degrees F ever since. The directions say it should be aged well within 3 Mo. Well it has been 3 Mo and I do not consider it well aged. It tastes like it needs to age more. Could that be because it has been at such a low temp for the last 3 Mo?
The directions say if I want to age it longer the 6 Mo I need to add additional Metabisulphite. I have not done that do I need to? And how much extra?
I posted this in the brewers section but they said I should come here and post it. So sorry if this is a repeat.
I replied to your other thread, but in case that one gets deleted now that you are in the wine section, here was my reply…
Did you take a gravity reading when you moved the wine to secondary? If so, what was it? I ask because the cold temp may slow down or stall fermentation if it wasn’t fermented out completely. Other than that, you should be fine. After fermentation is complete, I bulk age my wine in my cellar (around 57f).
I agree that 3 months is in no way enough time for a red to be ready. The manufacturers tend to list the bare minimum aging times to get people excited about buying their kits. I like to wait at least a year before really trying my reds, and 6 months for whites.
I did take a before and after reading on the batch. Before primary it was 1.090. After moving to seconary it was 1.006. Was Ok according to the directions.
I forgot to say that the wine has a metalic taste. I moved it tonight to the garage to start cold stabilization. Maybe that will help in a couple of weeks we will see.
1.006 was probably ok for when you transferred it, but the wine should probably have fermented a bit lower (.996-ish) from my experience. It would normally do that in secondary if it didn’t get too cold. You may want to check that, but I think you are probably ok.
I’ve noticed the metallic taste a bit in young kit wine. Give it at least 6 more months and try it again. I guarantee it’ll be better, although it may or may not be as good as you’d like depending on your wine palate and personal taste.
I agree with the above advise. Even kit wines benefit from more aging. 6 months is a good time frame for whites and 12 months for reds. I do recommend the extra metabisulphite addition.
