Drying out kit wine

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bluebrew1

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I have made several wine kits and they seem to turn out sweeter than similar store bought wines. I was thinking of using diffrent yeast to dry it out, or looking for grape skins. I am pretty new to wine but have been brewing beer for a while.
 
I have made several wine kits and they seem to turn out sweeter than similar store bought wines. I was thinking of using diffrent yeast to dry it out, or looking for grape skins. I am pretty new to wine but have been brewing beer for a while.

Which kits have you made? I do mostly reds and they've all finished dry, at .990-.994. I've never had one finish sweet.
 
I made winexpert kits. chianti and cab/shiraz

the flavor was good in both, but when we compared the chianti next to a store bought chianti there was a noticable diffrence in the "bite". I think it may be tannins. I am going to try to make the same kit agian but divide it into 2 3 gallon carboys and see if adding tannins makes a diffrence. any suggestions?
 
The "bite" could also be the acidity. You could also add tartaric acid.
 
I made winexpert kits. chianti and cab/shiraz

the flavor was good in both, but when we compared the chianti next to a store bought chianti there was a noticable diffrence in the "bite". I think it may be tannins. I am going to try to make the same kit agian but divide it into 2 3 gallon carboys and see if adding tannins makes a diffrence. any suggestions?

I've made some of those cheaper winexpert kits. They were ok, similar in quality to a $5 bottle of wine. I think what you're picking up is not sweetness (if you measured the FG, I bet it was dry), but instead the "flatness" of a wine without complexity or depth.

The best fix would be simply to buy a better quality kit, to be honest. What's the old expression about making a sow's ear into a silk purse? Don't get me wrong- I make several of those kits a year. I mean, it ends up being about $2 a bottle so it's a bargain. But the results are NOT a $15 bottle of wine. We make those cheaper kits as our "jug wine" and we make the better kits as our special wines. I've found that you really do get what you pay for with wine kits, and the $150 kits are outstanding and make a wonderful wine. In the medium range, there are some decent kits as well. I have one now that I just started last week that was in the $95 range and it will probably finish as something comparable to a $15 bottle when it's finished.
 
My LHBS only carries winexpert, any suggestion for a good chianti. I have ordered a kit online that was ranked in the top 100 by wine maker. Chianti is what my wife and I drink mostly so that is what I would like to be able to focus on.
 
I have also heard that aging longer will help, and that adding some yeast fuel after fermentation has slowed or stopped will also help.
 
Any suggestions on a chianti?

I haven't made any Cellar Craft Showcase chanti kits, but those are pretty good, as are the En Primeur kits. I don't there are a ton of great chianti kits but this one looks like it's got a lot of sangiovese grapes: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...s/cellar-craft-showcase-rosso-fortissimo.html

I've done this one: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...dient-kits/cellar-craft-showcase-amarone.html
It's fantastic, but not really ready for a couple of years.
 
Ive got a chianti that I made from concentrate, It tastes sweet, but shows a .99x on the hydrometer, so I know it is dry. I'm leaning towards the acid levels being out of whack, but have no way to verify.
 
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