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Generally speaking, yes. The juice manufacturers want the juice not to ferment on the store shelves and take steps to prevent this. You should carefully inspect the ingredient list for the addition of sorbate or benzoate. If either of those is in there, you won't have much luck getting a...

It is always best to keep the headspace to a minimum at all times. Maybe you could rank it into a 5-gal carboy and it would fit better? You can also displace the air out of the headspace using N2, CO2 or Ar. I keep a spare tank of CO2 with a long-nozed nozzle to purge oxygen out of bottles and...

You order the tank off their website and they will ship it to you from their warehouse in Texas if you want it new. You would have to check with local wineries to see if anyone has a tank they are upgrading. Not many are available used though, from what I've seen. A "variable capacity" tank has...

Probably not the best idea to cork anything intentionally carbonated though.

Stpats has a wide array of stainless variable capacity tanks both with and without jackets. Some of the ones I've bought from them are the TD1000-C (1000L with jacket), TD2000 (2000L w/o jacket), and TD2000-C (2000L with jacket). The quality is good and they've held up just fine for years. I've...

I'd also say it depends on how you intend to bottle it. Many of the sparkling wine bottles use screw tops, which I'm not sure will re-seal well enough. If you plan to use crown caps, you could pick up some 25oz beer bottles from your LHBS. They also sell sparkling wine bottles that take a crown cap.

If you are shooting for 15% ABV, I would use the EC1118 strain. I can guarantee D47 won't get there. I haven't tried 71B on a high SG must but it may be capable.

You can certainly use a thin plastic container for aging purposes. Flex tank has a whole line of food-grade maturation tanks designed just for this purpose with the 15-gal models starting at $215. Or you could buy a hobby-sized oak 5-gal barrel for $95-$155 depending if you want American or...

The kit wines tend to be the common international varietals (cab sauv, merlot, etc...), so I doubt you'll find assyrtiko juice, unfortunately.

I have not used frozen must myself. (I grow my own grapes and source grapes from regional vineyards.) I've heard good things about Brehm but that is the only source I know of. So it probably would be worth a separate thread to inquire about frozen musts. This is certainly a major factor. Aging...

I suppose this comes down to the style of wine you like along with a good dose of "in my opinions". WIth that in mind, in my opinion, a quality red wine needs to have skin contact to build the body and tannin structure. While some kit wines provide skins, I'm not convinced that replicates the...

Hey stephenm2 - As you get into winemaking, this book serves as a really good primer for the beginner and experienced alike. To address your questions, the merlot probably will be pretty close to where your sugar and acid level needs to be. Definitely do not want to add water since it will...

Since may home-brew wine recipes call for the use of raisins, I would guess that you would not have any trouble if the raisins are manufactured / treated the typical way. The potassium carbonate is a simple de-acidifying agent that can be used in wine making without any trouble. The ethyl ester...

The copper sulfate won't cause it to be thinner in body. The marquette I've made has also been somewhat lighter in body and similar to Pinot, but this is the style I'm shooting for with this grape. You could try allowing more skin contact or try a different yeast (such as BM4x4) that may give...

Yes, generally the ingredients will scale uniformly with the batch size. For a 5-gallon batch you would typically use one 5-gram packet of yeast. Not sure how that comes out in volume but I would figure it is only 1-2 tsp

Sodium or potassium metabisulfite (active ingredient in campden tablets) is added by winemakers before fermentation to knock down wild yeast and bacteria. After fermentation it is added to protect against oxidation and bacterial spoilage. Bottom line is that this is a wine yeast-friendly...

Hey JulietKilo - The white grape juice is usually from Niagara grapes. Niagara wine is characteristically somewhat acidic and "foxy", meaning it has strong fruit flavors (think of concord juice). This makes it well suited for a sweeter style and is excellent to use as the sparkling wine blended...

This doesn't directly address your question, but St Julians in Michigan offers sparkling wine bottling services. You supply the bulk still wine (1000gal minimum) with your COLA and they will force carbonate and bottle&label it for you.

The sawdust (granular) oak form is perfect to use in the primary. It doesn't appreciably add oak flavor but helps with reducing vegetal notes in the wine and can aid in color stability by providing tannin. When used in the secondary, low quality or untoasted chips lead to flavors described as...

The wine is still very young and will smooth out as the yeast settles. You could always blend in a little of your Zin later should you find it to be unbalanced. I've heard of people using Brehm to get frozen must. Haven't used it myself though. You can order untreated juice year-round from...