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My high end Skin kits I now try to leave alone until 2 years.

I have had RC212 throw off H2S on kits where it is the supplied yeast and on kits I have swapped yeast on . It has always gone away within a couple of vacuum rackings without the need for copper.

Gill, It really sounds like your issue is SO2 from too much Metabisulfite (campden tablets) not h2s. Do not treat with copper. Step one: Identify the smell, dissolve a campden table in a cup of water, cover it and come back after an hour and take smell it. I think you will find that is the...

You say you have been making wine for 2 years, to me that means your first batch may be almost ready for consumption. :b I have never had a commercial bottle of Cab that was less then 2 years old (most are 3+) and in my kit wine making I now don't even sample a Cab until 24 month after starting...

Great for EM, I own 2. All my aging is done in glass (or a barrel)

There is a thought that the clarifiers strip some of the body / color from the wine. I don't know if it is noticeable but if bulk aging for 12 month they are not needed.

Also the skins will sink at the 3 or 4 week mark.

I do all mine in the 7.5 fermonsters,. For the first week I have the top on very loosely and punch the cap down twice a day. After the week, I tighten the lid and just rock the fermonster back and forth to keep the skins wet. I have settled on 8 weeks for my EMs.

If someone is doing an EM, I would recommend using a fermonster or a big mouth bubbler. Lock it down after 1 week and slosh it to keep the skins wet. No issues of Oxygen exposure that way

Definitely do an EM on it, I would skip the currants, add all the oak in the kit in the primary, use some tannin. BM4x4 is a nice yeast for it. Get an oak spiral for aging, maybe a French Medium plus. Bottle anytime 9-12 months (I usually bottle after I go for a 3 month aging cycle with zero...

I would top with the apple, if it does impart a flavor to the ginger it would be complimentary.

A link or something on this "Grand Red"?

If it was well topped up and there were no drastic temperature changes then even with the airlock dry there would not have been a lot of air transfer into the carboy.

I was always told to fill with baking soda / water and leave it for 24 hours to deodorize plastic

pectic enzyme will definitely work on finished wine. I had a Riesling kit that I added peaches in the primary forgetting to use enzyme. When wine would not clear after 2 months I hit it with a double dose of pectic enzyme. It is not as effective if alcohol is present but it still works.

Are you truly talking must which has the crushed grapes? Or are you talking juice pails with no skins? If it is Juice pails you could look at getting the All Skins packs from Mosti which would help with body / colour.

ibglowin has it right, it reacts very quickly. The main reaction would be with the acids with the product being primarily Sodium Tartrate, this also releases Oxygen which will react with the Free SO2. 5 grams is such a small amount that it probably won't make a difference, but you may want to...

Mosti is I believe based in Montreal - you should definitely be able to find a shop that has them, I have made both their All-Juice kits and their Mergoli Limited editions they are very good. For the Eclipse, the Stags Leap Merlot is considered one of the best by many here, the Lodi Cabernet is...

Wine Expert LE are Limited edition, their premium kits are the Eclipse lines. RJS has the En Primeur line and Cellarcraft has the Showcase line they should be available year round. Your local shop should have the Eclipse if they had the LEs.

To be fair, that is the reason a company uses a distributor. Did you ever ask LD Carlson to replace the kit? I would want the entire kit replaced, not just a new fpac.