Crosby & Baker Acid Blend & Tannin

138 days ago

Bought this set from the Internet. Seems that eBay is a good resource for such things, especially those you cannot find in Singapore. The two home brewing stores in Singapore do...

Bought this set from the Internet. Seems that eBay is a good resource for such things, especially those you cannot find in Singapore. The two home brewing stores in Singapore do not carry a lot of equipment for making wine, mostly for brewing beer so I am actually forced to find them on the Internet. Of course shipping is a factor but since the stuff I buy are usually small and light weight, the overall prices should be acceptable. The eBay store I bought from is The Bruhaus Brewing & Wine Supply. The shipping time is usually two weeks but once I got mine only after a month. Apparently they sent to some other country and was later shipped to Singapore. I don’t know why but a lot of people think Singapore is not in South East Asia.

Anyway, I am using the Acid Blend and the Tannins to improve my wines. The acid blend is actually a combination of malic acid, critic acid and tartaric acid and this helps to improve the acidity of the wines. The Tannin powder is to add some astringency to the wine. Think of it as “black tea” and what you feel in your tongue after you drink them. I am guessing it is to balance the sweetness of the wine to get it a more “rounded” flavour. Yes, complicated stuff I know. I am still figuring it all out myself.

3 ounce of Acid Blend and 1.5 Ounce of Tannin. Why is the bottle of 1.5 ounce of Tannin much larger then the 3 ounce of acid blend? Maybe Tannin takes up more space or something.

If your wine tastes dull, add some acid blend to it. They claim that by adding acid, it will “sharpen” the taste and enhances the wine. I honestly don’t know but if wine makers say do it, we should at least try. It can be very difficult to define dull but just think of it as drinking plain water. I am not very sure whether you guys have tried making plain Konnyaku jelly before? It tastes kind of dull even if it has some sweetness to it. What they do is add some critic acid to the jelly to “liven” it up. I have tried it before and there is indeed a difference. The slight tartness is like adding lemon juice to the jelly.

Tannin. Something extremely difficult to explain but I will try my best. Have you ever drank green tea (loose leaves) from the first flush before? Taste like nothing right? Not much flavour and nothing at the end. But if you drink black tea (which is actually from the same plant only that the leaves have been oxidized), you will find that there is a certain “bite” to it as it goes down your throat. And it gets more pronounced after a few more flushes. That is the Tannin affecting the taste. Hope I explain it right.

So I will be making some wine with these acid blend and tannin added. Will keep you guys updated on the result.