Other Fontana Express kit (7-day) - Experience anyone?

[Spikedlemon]

I know Joe loves his 'cheap' kits with tweaks and I had decent experience (and lots of fun) with the 10-day mini-kit (4L bag wine kit) but I came across this peculiar Fontana kit, a 7-day, and wanted to see if anyone's tried it before.

http://shop.abccorkusa.com/catalog/category/view/s/abc-cork-store/id/627/?cat=561

I know one of the main tenets of wine making is time (patience) to yield good results but I admire their claimed ability to turn juice to finished wine, assuming a level of 'drinkable', in just 7 days.

I can't help but think of the positive spin. How quick could you turn around a simple summer beverage, almost last minute, or test out an experiment on flavor modifications from @Joeswine 's favorite thread tweaking said cheap kits and quickly review the results.

Perhaps my ideas are far ahead of everyone's quality - but I'd not even have considered it had I not had a successfully drinkable wine with the minikit (10day) wine.

 

[wineforfun]

So are you telling me the 10 day kit you had fermented, cleared, bottled and ready to drink in 10 days?
If so, I can't imagine what it tastes like and it can barely be done fermenting in that time, unless it had a very low SG to start with.

I am definitely in the camp of "taste is in the tongue of the beholder" but this seems a little quick to make it even drinkable.

Tell me more, I am curious.

 

[Spikedlemon]

So are you telling me the 10 day kit you had fermented, cleared, bottled and ready to drink in 10 days?
If so, I can't imagine what it tastes like and it can barely be done fermenting in that time, unless it had a very low SG to start with.

Tell me more, I am curious.

http://www.miniwinepak.com/

Yes. I actually took a couple extra days for the minikit (let's say, 14 days total rather than 10 as I wanted it to clear a little more).

The mini-kits are all done in the dispensing bags and I did not measure SG. My guess is that it'd be a 10%ABV wine. The instructions were for a ~7 day fermentation time before adding the clarifiers. Which, imho, isn't far off from a typical kit using EC1118 in primary getting down around 1.000SG.

Degassing is done by shaking the bag which, I might add, is surprisingly effective. I degassed my SP by shaking the 3gal carboy and it a relatively easy way to do so.

My wife and I started drinking it near immediately after completion (I aged it a day in the fridge) and it really needed a couple days to age to a 'drinkable' status but, after about a week, she admitted that she's purchased many $10-12 Chards that were far worse and the kit'd be in the middle of the pack. I consider that a success.


... now, about this 7 day kit...

 

[joeswine]

minniewinepak

Well actually my favorite thread is (when good wines gone bad) either one. how does one buy this kit they wanted me to supply them with all kinds of data as if I was a retailer was I on the wrong site??

 

[sour_grapes]

I aged it a day in the fridge.

I don't know nothin' about nothin', and reserve all my opinions and keep my own counsel, but I just have to say that this is the best line I have ever read on WMT!

 

[wineforfun]

http://www.miniwinepak.com/

Yes. I actually took a couple extra days for the minikit (let's say, 14 days total rather than 10 as I wanted it to clear a little more).

The mini-kits are all done in the dispensing bags and I did not measure SG. My guess is that it'd be a 10%ABV wine. The instructions were for a ~7 day fermentation time before adding the clarifiers. Which, imho, isn't far off from a typical kit using EC1118 in primary getting down around 1.000SG.

Degassing is done by shaking the bag which, I might add, is surprisingly effective. I degassed my SP by shaking the 3gal carboy and it a relatively easy way to do so.

My wife and I started drinking it near immediately after completion (I aged it a day in the fridge) and it really needed a couple days to age to a 'drinkable' status but, after about a week, she admitted that she's purchased many $10-12 Chards that were far worse and the kit'd be in the middle of the pack. I consider that a success.


... now, about this 7 day kit...

Interesting stuff, thanks. For me, and I am very OCD, I would need/prefer to know the SG. Also, I want my dry wines to be at least 12-13% ABV.

Curious to hear about this 7 day kit.

I am thinking next week I will read about an overnight kit.

 

[cpfan]

I am thinking next week I will read about an overnight kit.

We have those here. You go to the liquor store, buy a box of wine, sanitize your bottles, fill from the box wine, label, age overnight, and there you go !!

Steve

 

[Mismost]

We have those here. You go to the liquor store, buy a box of wine, sanitize your bottles, fill from the box wine, label, age overnight, and there you go !!

Steve

AND...I have done that! I once box to bottled a wine...in a very expensive bottle I might add, just to yank my little brothers chain. He proceeded to proclaim it to an excellent vintage and went on to explain to me WHY you always buy the expensive stuff.

He was not amused when I showed him the box it came out of....but, he has never mentions Autumn flavors, hints of leather, hidden berry flavors to me again, and that's fine with me. (two trips to the California wine country can turn some folks into real snobs...he is much better now).

It was all in good fun and lest anyone think I was a prick for pulling that trick...let me assure you, he has many stories to tell on me! So it was self defense at worst!!

 

[wineforfun]

AND...I have done that! I once box to bottled a wine...in a very expensive bottle I might add, just to yank my little brothers chain. He proceeded to proclaim it to an excellent vintage and went on to explain to me WHY you always buy the expensive stuff.

He was not amused when I showed him the box it came out of....but, he has never mentions Autumn flavors, hints of leather, hidden berry flavors to me again, and that's fine with me. (two trips to the California wine country can turn some folks into real snobs...he is much better now).

It was all in good fun and lest anyone think I was a prick for pulling that trick...let me assure you, he has many stories to tell on me! So it was self defense at worst!!

That is awesome.

I can see the "snobs" pulling something like that, touting the granite, sea breeze and morel flavors only to be told, ummmmm yeah, this is Barefoot.

 

[Spikedlemon]

Well actually my favorite thread is (when good wines gone bad) either one. how does one buy this kit they wanted me to supply them with all kinds of data as if I was a retailer was I on the wrong site??

Alright... Maybe it's my favorite thread on this site.

So all your Fontana kits are 4-week ones?

We have those here. You go to the liquor store, buy a box of wine, sanitize your bottles, fill from the box wine, label, age overnight, and there you go !!

I know where you can get a 16L box wine that's expressly for that purpose.
Not sure you need to age it overnight.

AND...I have done that! I once box to bottled a wine...in a very expensive bottle I might add, just to yank my little brothers chain.

Well played.

 

[Smokin_Paul]

The ABC Cork site is for business to business sales only. My wife has a business so we used her tax ID number to check out the pricing. The prices are not that great and if you do buy you need an importing license or some such thing as Canada considers a kit like its actual alcohol. So the pricing is wrong and the effort to "import" not worth it.

I've made a bunch of these 5.5L kits.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KTHJC4O/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Those Express kits sound downright weird, 7 days from juice to wine? Now I want one just out of curiosity. ;-)