Other Tweeking Cheap Kits

[joeswine]

That's only a matter of taste of what you like , not always the status quo we as home wine makers have the opportunity to make a taste tailored to the individual. very cool. Don't you think?

 

[FermentoSapiens]

Hm, I think I got too much wine on the festival. I wrote that a 100$ wine there would cost 400 $ in USA. It should be 40 $, maybe less in the USA. And its not only the drying mouthfeel I miss in my own wines, the taste in good commercial wines also has a longer finish and complexity than my own best wines (from homegrown grapes and expensive kits). The wine I have made from cheap kits are a lot worse. They taste like grape-juice with alcohol and some oak.

Yes, it is cool we can make the wine as we like it, but it is not always easy to get what we want even when tweaking and trying hard. It is easy to get the sweetness/dryness you want in term of residual sugar, and the amount of oak after personal taste. But the rest of it is a lot more complicated (and to get good enough grapes to play with).

 

[joeswine]

This thread is basically for making a good everyday wine nothing more.
All wine making is based on having a good base and the tools to do the work.
Cost is always an issue no matter what your status..
Wine is A very subjective subject .

 

[Ole]

Any tips for tweaking a piesporter wine kit?

 

[joeswine]

Not really this one has a style of it's own and should be kept the way it is.
That's one of the few wines I could actually make that statement of.

 

[ThreeSheetsToTheWind]

I just paid $99 costco

I noticed the other day that the price was now 70$ here. Could be that they were on sale at the time.

 

[masic2000]

In Canada, Costco in store is $79.99 (Argentia Ridge) for 2x23 litre per kit. Makes ~45 bottles of wine @750ml. Right now my Costco has Merlot and Chardonnay.

 

[abrewkat]

In Canada, Costco in store is $79.99 (Argentia Ridge) for 2x23 litre per kit. Makes ~45 bottles of wine @750ml. Right now my Costco has Merlot and Chardonnay.

Dang it. They aren't carrying them onsite in my Costco anymore, and $99 on costco.ca. I'll probably get one once I get through the 5 batches I have on the go and the pounds and pounds of cherries in my freezer.

 

[joeswine]

Are we talking about the Fontana kits?
Or????

 

[joeswine]

I see we've broken 280,000 views..not bad..................keep thinking out side the box

 

[baron4406]

Joe my last cheap kit is about 4 months old and it tastes great. About to do a new one with a total "outside the box" method. Basically cheap 6 gallon Cabernet kit (Wild Grapes), I'm going to add 5 lbs of Blackberries, a Mosti-Mondiale-All-Grape-Pack skin pack (these are what you get when you do the expensive kits, they cost $20 and work great), lots of added tannin, 6oz natural oak chips and maybe some Currants. I do an extended maceration with the skins also. For about $80 per 5 gallon batch you honestly can't beat Joe's method.

 

[David Taylor]

Does anyone know any other option for Fontana kits besides Amazon? They want to charge $50 for shipping!

 

[masic2000]

Costco has some cheap kits, when they go on sale $59. Otherwise $79. This is for 2-6 gallon kits in the box.

 

[montanarick]

Costco has some cheap kits, when they go on sale $59. Otherwise $79. This is for 2-6 gallon kits in the box.

Are kits from Costco only available in Canada?

 

[masic2000]

I think yes, but this is what I found in their customer service,

Costco.ca currently offers shipping to unrestricted Canadian addresses only. Costco is not able to deliver to:

• PO boxes
• Hotels
• Freight forwarders
• International shipping addresses

All items on Costco.ca have their own specific shipping terms, methods and restrictions. Some products on Costco.ca are subject to delivery restrictions. These restrictions vary from item to item.

To determine if an item can be delivered to your area:

1. Add the item to your cart.
2. Enter your ship-to postal code by clicking on “Calculate Shipping.”

You will be notified if the item(s) in your shopping cart can be shipped to that particular location.

If you are notified that the shipping address is restricted for a specific item, delivery will unfortunately not be possible at that time.

Canadian link,
https://www.costco.ca/wine-beer-kits.html?price=50-100&refine=MIN_PRICE%3A%28%7B50+100%7D+100%29|

 

[cmason1957]

And good luck typing in an American Postal Code. It ignores Numbers, at least as the first character.

 

[DFWBigMac]

Very new to this, but wanted to post my game plan for an upcoming kit. This is only my second kit (first one was a 1 gal Pinot Grigio with the only tweak being grapefruit rinds being added to the secondary).

I’m trying to replicate a favorite table wine of mine that was discontinued a few years ago, Cap Rock's Sweet Tempranillo. It’s not as sweet as a port and doesn’t have the ABV.

I’m starting with a WE Int’l vineyards Tempranillo with several planned tweaks.

Please feel free to comment, recommend, warn or even scoff!

Primary Tweaks

Plan to make at 5.5 gal (kit say make to 6, afraid 5 gal may skew results too much)

Add cup raisins (blanched, washed & chopped)

Add simple syrup/ sugar to get SG to 1.000 + raisins (bit hot but planning on back sweetening)

Targeting end ABV of 13%-14.5%

Add half powdered oak packet (adding oak to batch age so I can monitor amount of oak better)

Add 1 tbs grape tannin

Using 1118 yeast (in kit)

Secondary Tweaks

Rack to 6 gal carboy, add sterilized glass beads to top off

Allow to finish

Use wine conditioner to back sweeten and stabilize (will need additional bisulfite & sorbate before adding simple syrup to taste)

Let sit 2 weeks

Rack to 5 gal carboy with oak spiral or cubes (excess to be bottled)

Bulk Aging

Planning to bulk age 6 months (tasting every 3 weeks to monitor oak)

Degassing monthly for first 3 months (just enuff to keep wine bright, physically don’t handle carbonation well)

Thoughts, recommendations?

 

[montanarick]

I think yes, but this is what I found in their customer service,

Costco.ca currently offers shipping to unrestricted Canadian addresses only. Costco is not able to deliver to:

• PO boxes
• Hotels
• Freight forwarders
• International shipping addresses

All items on Costco.ca have their own specific shipping terms, methods and restrictions. Some products on Costco.ca are subject to delivery restrictions. These restrictions vary from item to item.

To determine if an item can be delivered to your area:

1. Add the item to your cart.
2. Enter your ship-to postal code by clicking on “Calculate Shipping.”

You will be notified if the item(s) in your shopping cart can be shipped to that particular location.

If you are notified that the shipping address is restricted for a specific item, delivery will unfortunately not be possible at that time.

Canadian link,
https://www.costco.ca/wine-beer-kits.html?price=50-100&refine=MIN_PRICE%3A%28%7B50+100%7D+100%29|

Thanks for the info - I'll be sure to check it out

 

[EvolvingCaveman]

David,

Try Walmart's website

Cheers

 

[cmason1957]

Very new to this, but wanted to post my game plan for an upcoming kit. This is only my second kit (first one was a 1 gal Pinot Grigio with the only tweak being grapefruit rinds being added to the secondary).

I’m trying to replicate a favorite table wine of mine that was discontinued a few years ago, Cap Rock's Sweet Tempranillo. It’s not as sweet as a port and doesn’t have the ABV.

I’m starting with a WE Int’l vineyards Tempranillo with several planned tweaks.

Please feel free to comment, recommend, warn or even scoff!

Thoughts, recommendations?

Particularly, since this is the second kit you have made, I would scale way back in the tweaks you are going to do. You really have no idea what you are starting with. I think the first time I made the kit, I would stick much closer to the way it was intended, maybe add extra oak and plan to backsweeten just a little bit. Then, next time maybe try two things out of the box. Who knows, you might like it just fine with less tweaks.