Wine kit questions

Other Fermentables
1

I bought a pinot noir kit from my LHBS today and have a few questions after reading the instructions…

  1. Do I need to rehydrate the yeast like I would when brewing a beer with dry yeast?
  2. I have a 6.5G glass carboy and a 6G better bottle that I can use for this…is that OK?
  3. The instructions don’t have me aerating the must prior to pitching the yeast…should I anyway?
    3a) If I aerate, is an aquarium pump and stone OK for use in wine like I do when making beer?
  4. The instructions have the wine 2 weeks in primary and 2 weeks in secondary. Is that OK or should I alter that for better results?
  5. How much of the instructions should I toss and replace with better advice, like those included in some extract beer kits?

This is the kit:

2
  1. Rehydrating is always a good idea and my commercial winemaker friend recommends it.
  2. Just fine for active fermentation. Aging should be done in something just the right size to minimize headspace and oxygen.
  3. Wort has to be aerated because it has been boiled - and boiling drives out all of the oxygen. Must has not been boiled, so it is not as neccessary.  It won’t hurt anything though.
    3a) That would be fine if you want to aerate. Dumping it into the carboy will aerate it too, assuming that it is dumped “roughly”.
  4. I’d suggest primary until active fermentation is definately complete and yeast has started to settle. Secondary until it is as clear as you want it.
  5. Always use the better instructions - trouble is, who’s instructions are better?
3

Cool, thanks!

4

I’m having a hard time believing a pinot noir will be ready in 4 weeks. Primary ferment could be done within a week, sure, but I would think you’d want to age a lot longer than 2-3 weeks.

5

Yeah I’m sure…the directions say its “drinkable” in 4 weeks…I’ll see, I have a hard time not sampling things when I bottle.  ;D