Wine Lovers, white pear Pinot Grigio. It's one of the 28 day kits. I read that I should cut it to a 5 gallon yield. What else can I do to give it a chance?
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Other Tweeking Cheap Kits
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wineforfun
Still Trying To Make The Perfect Wine and Now Tryi
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Pretty sure Joe will suggest hitting that with some grapefruit zest.
Go to page one and start reading! I suggest taking notes as you read ALL of this thread. This is like a graduate course in Tweaking. You will learn a tremendous amount.
I did start reading it. The search engine was too much of a distraction though. Lol
Amanda660
Haven't met a grape I didn't like!
Happens to me all the time (but I have the attention span of maybe a 3 year old - on a good day).
Things are looking up ,did you people see the prices that HOME BREW has on RJ CRU kits at $49.95 to $51.95..think some one in the industry took notice of us????Take a look at the Home Brew website and see the great array of kits that you would love to TWEAK.really take a look!!!!
Joeswine do you have a link? Ive been busy over here lol have 15 kits and buckets in glass
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From back in Sept.....I have made mistakes, way overshot my SG on a Fontana Cab...it will not be Cab, but I'm trying to turn it into a decent sweet red wine...the flavor is there and it's got some punch to it! Have it soaking up some oak and may add more tannin powder to it...just gonna keep tweaking it. BTW...your picture shows two quart jars of simple syrup and that is too much...read dummy, don't just look at the pictures...my bad!
Did add the tannin, added oak twice, and just let it sit. Bottled it today. Finished at 15.5%...the tannin and oak have kinda masked the sweetness some, but it is "warming". Think I'm just gonna stash most of this batch away and check it in a year or so. I kinda screwed the pooch on this one when I WAY over shot my SG...not my first mistake in life! Still, it is not terrible and frankly it's a forty buck kit...at the very least, bet it makes good wine coolers some day!
Lesson learned....Use your hydrometer and don't look at the pretty pictures!
Did add the tannin, added oak twice, and just let it sit. Bottled it today. Finished at 15.5%...the tannin and oak have kinda masked the sweetness some, but it is "warming". Think I'm just gonna stash most of this batch away and check it in a year or so. I kinda screwed the pooch on this one when I WAY over shot my SG...not my first mistake in life! Still, it is not terrible and frankly it's a forty buck kit...at the very least, bet it makes good wine coolers some day!
Lesson learned....Use your hydrometer and don't look at the pretty pictures!
Spikedlemon
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Has anyone experience adding dates to wine? ... I tried to fish for comments on another thread but figure this might be a good place to bring it up.
our favorite cheap kit...only kit I have made more than once. I use Joe's tweaks, five gallons, bump the ABV, and age it with cherry wood honeycomb sticks...slightly off dry and just very pleasant even young. We really like this one.
Thanks, I have never gone the 5 Gal. Route, tried lots of other tweeks. I think I will try 5Gal. on this kit and see what happens. Do,you typically have to adjust the ph?
Joe,
Yes it is a 6 gal WE kit. This kit runs about $75 give or take. Since I have not tried the 5 gal tweek before I thought I would give it a try with this one, along with my other tweeks (as schooled by you).
joeswine
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Cheap kits
BigSell, on this one do you have any blackberries to add about 2 cups or 16 ozs. also good wood is a very nice addition if you keep it at the 6 gallon mark if you drop it to 5 keep a close eye on the tannins .Blueberries are also a good addition. Just finished bottling my friends KITO'S blueberry cabernet and it was just fine the same manufacture price range. have fun.
BigSell, on this one do you have any blackberries to add about 2 cups or 16 ozs. also good wood is a very nice addition if you keep it at the 6 gallon mark if you drop it to 5 keep a close eye on the tannins .Blueberries are also a good addition. Just finished bottling my friends KITO'S blueberry cabernet and it was just fine the same manufacture price range.
have fun.
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I'm on page 9 of this thread, have a few questions before I forget as I keep reading........simple sugar....just regular brewing sugar? If not, can I use it? A quart per batch? I'm brewing a merlot which was put on two weeks ago, still bubbling a little, is it too late to add dried raisins to ad flavor? If so I'll wait till I put the next batch on. Are raisins even a good match for a merlot??? OK, off to keep reading this thread....more questions on the way I'm sure!!!!!
I see you found it!! You can use regular old sugar added straight to your must, or make and use simple syrup, I don't know about brewing sugar. Use your hydrometer to track additions and how they change your SG. You can still add raisins, but they're more effective in primary and secondary AF. I wouldn't like raisins in my merlot, but you're playing with a cheap kit, experiment if you want.
Oh, I've been doing some reading, 56 pages worth to be exact...... As soon as I start my kit, I put the top on with the air lock, I've noticed people using towels for the first week of fermentation.....should I be doing that? My first costco wine was low in alcohol, so the next kit I start I'll add some berries, not sure what's best for a Merlot, any suggestions??? And I'll be adding a little sugar and tannins. The kits come with oak, so I'll use that as the wine kit store didn't have much there for oak. I'll be starting it in the next week or two....
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