I’ve yet to try making a blush so far though I have some incentive. White Zinfandel is mom’s favorite. I bought a kit from Vintner’s Reserve and started making it today. This will be the first “sweet” grape wine that I’ve ever made, and from the kit I can see that it contains an “F Pack” that is obviously some form of sweet syrup that is used to back sweeten before bottling.Â
The kit wines all have the very same instructions and I’ve done so many now, that I have memorized them. The juice (with water) filled the 6 gallon fermentor to the top and I measured the specific gravity. The original SG was only 1.070 which is in the range that the kit instructions call for (1.070 – 1.085). However, knowing that this low level will create a weak wine, I added sugar, enough to bring it up to 1.085. Of course, I added all the other ingredients that are pre-measured out for you and covered it up.
7 days in the bucket at around 70 degrees, should get us down to 1.010 or so. White Zin… here we go.
12/19/09 – 7 days from the start of the White Zin, the Specific Gravity is 1.020. The recipe calls for the SG to be at or below 1.010, but Saturday was going to be my only chance to rack the wine. I racked from the primary container into a carboy and fitted the airlock. I will wait about 10 days or so, and check the SG again. Then…perhaps rack again.