Brew 27: Carmenere/Cabernet Sauvignon

This is another Wine Expert Limited Edition kit. The grapes were from Chile, Maipo Valley. Brew #24 is still in the V-Vessel, and will be bottled Real Soon Now, so I tried an experiment; I ordered some Better Bottles with ports, racking adapters, and high-flow valves. Those adapters are expensive! I think it's because they use a special plastic for it. All I know is, I'm really looking forward to not having to siphon, or worry about sanitizing when I want to draw a sample.

This wine comes with a lot of oak, and some bentonite. It was the bentonite that made me think of using the Better Bottles to begin with. Bentonite is a clay, and in the past it had clogged up my v-vessel. So I tried using a 6-gallon Better Bottle as a primary fermenter.

First observation: there is a reason they say in the instructions to use a container that can hold 8 gallons for your primary. There is not much room left over once all the stuff is added. I placed a carboy hood on it and left if for the next day.

This morning, I took a look at things and noticed that there didn't seem to be that much activity. I pulled the stopper from the carboy hood and it was like opening a coke---a huge amount of pressure had built up! I'm glad I checked it; had I left it for the day it likely would have popped the hood, or worse. Once nice benefit though; with all that pressure, I have good verification that the racking adapter and valve assembly is sound.

So, stats on the wine: I took a S.G. reading, it was as 1.120. In one week I will need to rack this to the V-Vessel.