Other Tweeking Cheap Kits

[Spikedlemon]

Merlot bottled. Tasted fine from the carboy and, since I had a half-bottle leftover it was consumed last night.

A little on the sour side but otherwise ok. I'll let them age in bottles for a while now.

 

[Mismost]

Bottled the Fontane Wildberry Shairz Saturday. Young, thin, kinda hot, off dry, beautiful color and clarity....and man is it berry flavored! And I only used about 2/3rds of the included Fpac...glad I did not use the whole pouch.

I actually like it and I think it will make an awesome wine cooler or Sangria base. The redheaded wife likes it. At $1.53 a bottle what we don't drink we can pour over each other and lick off.

 

[joeswine]

thinking outside the box

mismost, now that's what I call really thinking outside the boxover all how has the cheap kits worked out for you? tom ...that's a good suggestion blueberries with the pino are very good or if you can find corthian grapes outstanding with it as well.so are we having fun yet???

 

[Mismost]

mismost, now that's what I call really thinking outside the boxover all how has the cheap kits worked out for you? tom ...that's a good suggestion blueberries with the pino are very good or if you can find corthian grapes outstanding with it as well.so are we having fun yet???

The Malbec is actually ready to bottle but I was hacking together a bottle washer...got that up and running and now have six cases of once nasty wine bottles ready to go.

It tastes good out of the carboy, the added oak and more time helped. I think it will good as an early drinker.

Have to build a large bottle drying rack and wine racks....running out of space....but having a real good time!

 

[Mismost]

Malbec bottled last night and I really like this one. Tweaked:
5 gallons
cup of French Oak
cup of Zante currents
5 oz. of dried cherries...they just looked too good sitting on the store shelf
1 quart simple syrup
1 tbs tannin, yeast nutrient and energizer

later additions
1 ts tannin
1 cup med oak

I had overdosed an earlier wine with too much tannin, so I took it a little slow on this one. In hindsight Joe's 2 tablespoons of tannin would have been right on target to start with...Started this one 16Jan2016...did five rackings....beautiful color, very clear, decent legs, medium bodied I would say, smells nice and is pretty smooth right now. Joe has this one mapped out real good. I have the cost, per bottle at about a buck!

40 bucks from Amazon with free Prime shipping, cool labels included....I'll do this one again. Side notes...my All-in-One wine pump just exceeds my expectations for racking, degassing, and bottling. It is a close call between the pump and the big red floor corker as to which I like best....but I ain't getting rid of either one!

 

[wineforfun]

Malbec bottled last night and I really like this one. Tweaked:
5 gallons
cup of French Oak
cup of Zante currents
5 oz. of dried cherries...they just looked too good sitting on the store shelf
1 quart simple syrup
1 tbs tannin, yeast nutrient and energizer

later additions
1 ts tannin
1 cup med oak

I had overdosed an earlier wine with too much tannin, so I took it a little slow on this one. In hindsight Joe's 2 tablespoons of tannin would have been right on target to start with...Started this one 16Jan2016...did five rackings....beautiful color, very clear, decent legs, medium bodied I would say, smells nice and is pretty smooth right now. Joe has this one mapped out real good. I have the cost, per bottle at about a buck!

40 bucks from Amazon with free Prime shipping, cool labels included....I'll do this one again. Side notes...my All-in-One wine pump just exceeds my expectations for racking, degassing, and bottling. It is a close call between the pump and the big red floor corker as to which I like best....but I ain't getting rid of either one!

How many bottles did you end up with?
If 30, what did you use to top up with each racking?

I started mine with 5 gal. and at each racking, lost a little. Did not top up, per Joe, and ended up with 21 bottles when all said and done. Still a great deal at $2.25 bottle.

 

[Mismost]

How many bottles did you end up with?
If 30, what did you use to top up with each racking?

I started mine with 5 gal. and at each racking, lost a little. Did not top up, per Joe, and ended up with 21 bottles when all said and done. Still a great deal at $2.25 bottle.

Ohhh...my bad, thanks for catching that! Think I got bucks and bottles mixed up. I ended up with 26 bottles, so cost is actually closer to a $1.75. Last three racking were more to degass and play with my new AIO pump.

At any rate, it was the most fun I've had for 45 bucks in a long time!

 

[wineforfun]

At any rate, it was the most fun I've had for 45 bucks in a long time!

Agreed and the beauty of it was we weren't out much if we screwed it up...............which takes quite a bit to do.

 

[joeswine]

cheap wine kits

People, you can have fun ,be creative and not cost a lot, we've proven that, not to forget the Island mist kits for the summer, or the Orchard breeze kits and others that are very cost effective.

 

[jimdolan]

A couple of quick questions regarding the tweaking. 1- Do you macerate the Zante's or leave them whole?
2- Are they actually needed? I'm in Missouri and there seems to be no source other than the inet.
3- What about a malolactic fermentation to speed aging?

I ordered a couple of Fontana kits Cab and Malbec to give this a try and was surprised to see in the instructions "fill your bag with warm water and drop in your fermenter". I wondered for a second or two if the plastic bag really added any complexity to the wine (Reds- Step 1C & 1D)

 

[joeswine]

in the mix

Hi the currents add to the background as well as the structure, it should have stated rinse out the bag with warm water(use only about a cup) to get all the liquid and must out.no MLF place the c7rrents into the primary, any large market should carry them where you would find raisins.

 

[sour_grapes]

A couple of quick questions regarding the tweaking. 1- Do you macerate the Zante's or leave them whole?

Just FYI, "macerate" does not mean "chop." It means to soak, or to steep in the liquid. You can macerate whole raisins or berries.

 

[jimdolan]

Definition: In food preparation, maceration is softening or breaking into pieces using a liquid. Raw, dried or preserved fruit or vegetables are soaked in a liquid to soften the food and/or absorb the flavor of the liquid into the food.

Perhaps the intent of the question was not clear - Do you break the skins to speed up liquid absorption ?

 

[Mismost]

aisins

Definition: In food preparation, maceration is softening or breaking into pieces using a liquid. Raw, dried or preserved fruit or vegetables are soaked in a liquid to soften the food and/or absorb the flavor of the liquid into the food.

Perhaps the intent of the question was not clear - Do you break the skins to speed up liquid absorption ?

When I used the currants, I left them whole.

Used raisins in a plum wine and I soaked them in hot water and ran them through the food processor...then into a mesh bag. I think it helped expose the sugar inside and after a week, they were pretty much used completely up. That wine is still sitting so I can not comment on the end results yet...but it didn't seem to hurt anything...the bag keep it all contained good.

 

[Tnuscan]

I remember tossing in a cup of currants, whole, on my first "tweeking" and finding most of them plump and swollen after racking. From then on I started chopping them before tossing them in.


Cheers!!!

 

[joeswine]

Cheap wine kits

The way I use them is just to let nature take its course, easy and simple, if you want to chop them, dices or roast as long as you follow my basic flow you should be fine. I don't us a bag to container them in I want them to be soaked from all sides floating around in the wine ,just like a fresh Grape process.Remember it's your wine and my process your following our results my vary depending on what your adjustments my be,HaveFun Always.

 

[jdwebb]

Joe - I bottled the blackberry Pinot Noir I started in late February, it's a bit tart, but not bad. Hopefully it will be OK by Christmas.

I'm about to start a Wine Expert Vintners Reserve Shiraz. I read a thread where you used blueberries in a Shiraz, I intend to do the same. How much did you use? And I see you heat them on the stove as well. Do you heat them until they pop open?

 

[Tnuscan]

I edited my last post by removing a sentence. After reading it again this morning I saw that it could be read as a negative comment. I enjoy tweeking and what you share on your threads.

Much respect!

 

[joeswine]

Cheap kits

no problem,Tnuscan,this thread is open to all points of view as long as they are minejust kidding we are all fellow wine makers and are sharing the same view but from a different prospective at times and that's good.

 

[joeswine]

Island Mist coconut yuzo continued

this is a fun kit at $60. dollars and with the summer coming in I knew the wife would like it and besides I love coconut.