3 Reasons Why Recipe Kit Instructions are Wrong
I love wine recipe kits; however, the instructions that come with recipe kits are too generic.
What are wine recipe kits? Not to be confused with wine equipment kits, wine recipe kits are all-in-one bundles of ingredients. They're available at beer and wine-making supply stores and online. Cru Specialty, Wine Expert, and Master Vintner are a few popular brands. Wine recipe kits usually include:
Grape or other fruit juice
Wine yeast
Flavoring or sweeteners (depending on variety)
Refining agents, like Kiesesol and Chitosan
Stabilizers, like sodium metabisulfite and potassium sorbate
Instructions
Recipe kits cost between $70-$130 and usually yield anywhere from 3-6 gallons of wine. If you're a new wine maker – or even if you're not – try a recipe kit! They're easy and inexpensive, and they produce consistent wine. But, for these three reasons, don't take the instructions too literally.
#1 – The timeline is too short
If you follow the recipe kit instructions perfectly, you bottle wine as early as 30 days from the start of fermentation. In my experience, 30 days is not enough time to create a crystal-clear and stable wine. I prefer to double the number of days and bottle around 60 – or even 90 – days from the start of fermentation.
Why double the timeline?
The number of fermentation days aren't exact. Sometimes fermentation takes longer than expected, and fermentation creates sediment. If you rush into the next steps before fermentation is complete, sediment will keep dropping despite your efforts to refine and clear the wine.
If you really rush the process and bottle before fermentation completes, you risk cork-popping. Cork-popping occurs when pressure from an active fermentation builds inside the bottle, forcing the cork – and the wine – out of the bottle. Cork-popping makes a mess and results in lost wine.
Even stabilizers won't halt an active fermentation. When in doubt, wait. While you're waiting, read about my first explosion.
#2 – Degassing is unnecessary
Degassing – the process of vigorously stirring wine to force gas bubbles to the top – is unnecessary if you simply increase the timeline. Degassing occurs naturally over a period of days or weeks after fermentation stops. If you don't rush the clearing, stabilizing, and bottling process, you don't need to degas your wine.
#3 – Young wine is not good wine
Some recipe kit instructions suggest that "your wine will taste quite good immediately." Unfortunately, this isn't true.
Even if you extend the fermentation-to-bottling timeline beyond the 30 days suggested in recipe kit instructions, don't expect your wine to taste good. Unless you age in the carboy for 6-9 months before bottling, your wine is still very young.
Very young wine is harsh, sharp, and bite-y. At the same time, it also lacks the depth, mouthfeel, and other taste characteristics of an aged wine. For some people, drinking a young wine results in an upset stomach.
Although you should definitely taste your wine at bottling, don't expect to enjoy a glass or two of it.
Wine making is truly an exercise in patience. Here are some general rules for wine aging, based on type of wine:
Back-sweetened fruit wine (blueberry, strawberry, peach, etc.): 6 months
Dry or back-sweetened whites, back-sweetened reds: 1 year
Dry reds: 2 years or more
Summary
In summary, I understand why recipe kit instructions can't contain too many details. If the instruction authors over-complicate the steps, people won't follow them. But knowing when to improvise and follow your own processes is key to good winemaking.
