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If you want to stay with the W.E. brand, I would recommend the International GSM (Grenach, Syrah, Mourvedre), Luna Rossa, and Original Barolo Style. If you want to step up a notch, go to anything in the Estate series. More expensive, but more full bodied. They also have to be aged longer...

It doesn't matter if you wait an extra week or two after stabilizing before racking off the sediment. You will have a heavy layer of sediment on the bottom after just a few days. The point of this racking is to get your wine off that sediment before the dead yeast start to impart off flavors...

:):):):):)

Your right, if the hydro is clinging to the side you can't get a good reading. Rotate the test tube 1/4 turn and give the hydrometer another spin. Repeat until it hopefully doesn't stick. The test tube has to be standing straight and down and I know mine leans just slightly, but I can usually...

Hello Flem, You've obviously covered all the basics. I wonder if this is a new insight we should all consider. Is your wine warmer or colder than your hydrometer? Do you maybe store the hydrometer in a different location than your wine? I'm wondering if your hydrometer is changing temperature...

Kazoo- as stated above the extra time is for clearing. The wine is usually NOT ready to bottle just because fermentation is complete. Sediment in your bottles will add a bitter off-taste to your wine, not to mention it looks bad.

That's my strategy. I also try to rack from primary into the Italian carboy, and I don't top up at that point. It's still fermenting, and the extra space is needed for clearing agent(s). After 10 days clearing in Italian carboy, I rack to one of my smaller smooth-sided carboys. Usually only need...

Anyone have thoughts on my question of whether or not you should squeeze the juice out the grape skin bag when you remove it from the primary? Is like a fine cloth bag, and it had a lot of juice in it when I removed it so I squeezed that out into my wine. Was that good to do or not? You folks...

Here I am two months later. I've racked twice more, degassed twice more, and added a small packet of chitosan clearing agent during the the first re-racking which didn't do anything as far as I could tell. Didn't see much CO2 either time. It's finally cleared to the point that I can see my...

That's a really good answer. I too have read that Bentonite encourages vigorous yeast activity in addition to helping with clearing. I have to assume the kit makers have tried it both ways, and decided the pre-fermentation addition works best.

Does anyone know what the out-of-the-box starting S.G. and final ABV for these kits is supposed to be? Is it pretty common to bump the starting S.G. a tad like I do for the W.E. mist kits?

I tried this at my local FOP shop and thought it was really good (although green). I like the Lodi district Estate series Cabernet as well, I think these are both really good quality and perfect companions for a nice steak.

You sound like you are in a bit of a hurry. Try to slow down a bit. If you can still see bubbling, even slight, then you are nowhere near ready to stabilize. Give it a few more days, then check the SG, then give it a few more days and check again. Don't stabilize until you have verified that the...

That's right, they discontinued the Crushendo line. There was some sort of announcement last year about a new high-end line to replace it, but haven't heard anything since.

Pictures??

We drink it young (say 3 months), but it does continue to improve. My first kits only went to 0.999, but the last one I kept warmer (75F) and it went to 0.996. Can't say that I can taste the difference.

Not sure about the sweet taste, but in general I don't think this one drinks well young. It has a bit of a raisin type flavor (that's the best I can describe) when young, but that turns into what I would describe as a buttery flavor once it's aged 6 months to a year.

No cross bracing required, some of the angled boards are continuous, they run directly from left side to right side, so they are the cross-braces. It's worked out great so I will be building another. Takes about 3 hours. I figure I've made 600+ bottles of wine in the last 15 months, but the...

Kanib, that's some of the prettiest wine I've ever seen. Very Nice!

This is my home-made wine rack. Just some 2x10s, holds about 28 bottles in each square so about 240 bottles all together. Never have gotten it full though, but I'm trying. From top to bottom you see WE Estate Barolo, WE Montepulciano, Kenridge Grenach/Syrah/Mourvedra, WE Merlot, WE Lodi Ranch...