Advanced Instructions for Winemaking Komits?

[Stevorino]

Hey all - I've been searching the grand internetz for about an hour now and am now turning back to my homebrew roots for an answer.

Quick background: I consider myself an advanced homebrewer (all-grain, temp controlled fermentation, filter, competition medalist, etc). To me, a 7 degree flux in fermentation range and not rehydrating the dry yeast sounds worse than a felony.

So when I got my first wine-kit today (trying with SWMBO) and read the instructions I felt a little underwhelmed by the simplicity of what was there and really want to make sure these first 30 bottles are excellent.

Does anyone know of a great resource for maximizing wine kits or have great advice for getting the most of the kit?

It seems like the best resource I've found yet is: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/extended.asp But that website looks a bit dated...

Any help would be much appreciated - thanks!

Edit: Oops sorry for the subject line - I meant to say KITS

 

[Yooper]

Jack Keller's site is up-to-date, I'm not sure why you'd think it looks dated?

In any case, wine kits are simplicity itself. Follow the directions exactly (except you can age longer before bottling) and you're all set.

With wine kits, you really do get what you pay for. With a cheap kit (under $80), you get a drinkable wine similar to a $5-7 bottle of commercial wine. With a mid range kit, you get a better wine, like maybe a $10-15 bottle. Premium gives you a generally very good wine. Ultra premium wine kits give a wonderful bottle of wine- maybe like a $25 bottle and up.

I've done kits in all price ranges, to have a variety of table wines on hand. We drink wine every day with dinner, and a cheap wine is usually fine with us on many of those days. On other days, we'll open a good bottle.

Some of my best wines were kits. One was a tannat/merlot blend that was at his peak at about year 5. It was a fantastic wine, and I'm only sorry it was a special limited edition release, so I couldn't buy it again. It was in the $150 range.

The more expensive kits come with more juice (less concentrate) and need less water to top off. The "less juice, more concentrate" kits tend to have what is called "a kit taste". Still enjoyable, but not as good as the premium or ultra premium kits. The better kits also come with crushed grape skins to ferment on, and oak spirals instead of sawdust.

To make an outstanding kit wine, it really is as easy as starting with an outstanding kit. "Tweaking" a kit isn't usually a wise move, and it's not necessary.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Step 1 - Follow the directions
Step 2 - See step 1

 

[Stevorino]

Ok sweet - well we'll give it a go and hope it turns out well.

For our first 2 we have some Cellar Craft Selection kits to see what comes out. My guess is that they turn out as good or better than we expect and we make $100+ wines from here on out.

So if I followed the Jack Keller advice I'm not going to taste a major difference vs. just using directions? That seems so hard to believe given the fact that it's entirely not the case with brewing beer...but it does seem to be the online consensus.

 

[KevinM]

The thing about winekits is that it's already balanced and planned out by the company. In that sense it is very simple. There's no need to do any chemical balancing, to measure every single aspect, because it's all already been done.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), it seems that the best way to get the most out of a wine kit is to really just not deviate from the set instructions.

True, Keller's website looks like it could use some modernizing in appearance, but its information is up to date. But then, I guess when you're one of the, if not *the* most referenced winemaking websites, there's not really a need to look all prettified. (In truth, it's offsetting to me too at times, still looking like a site from the 90's, but it's not a shopping website (or other for profit website) so I don't mind.)

Unlike beer, there's not really much in the way of stepping stones that I've found. The next one tends to be fruit & grapes from what I see (and rain and work made me miss last year's harvest, so I'm waiting to consider cherry season. Or if I'm still broke, I'm just getting cherries and vodka & brandy)

 

[DoctorCAD]

If you wait until you have a few kits finished, you might have a better understanding of what helps and what hurts wine kits. Just like beer, a slight change in methods or ingredients can make a big difference, either direction.

Keep at it, its a learning process after all.

 

[Stevorino]

Great stuff guys - thanks for the continued replies.

Thanks for the thumbs up on Jack Keller's website - it is definitely 90's/GeoCities-Era tough and why I wanted to verify it was quality info before proceeding. I will read through it and keep going with it.

DoctorCAD - what I'm trying to find is what those general tweaks are now before I start making .

Maybe I'd be more successful if I just asked my specific questions. New thread en route....

 

[Yooper]

Those Cellar Craft kits are pretty good, so I think you'll be happy with the quality if you know what to expect. The mid-priced ones have good flavor and are very enjoyable as a table wine, but not as complex as the most premium ones. We've liked every one that we've done. And they are drinkable quickly, and will continue to improve for up to a year or so.