Other Tweeking Cheap Kits

[Rice_Guy]

This may sound a little crazy but here goes. In September of 2023 I purchased several buckets of Malbec juice and fermented it on skins. I recently went to bottle and was not happy with the wine. Plus it was very red. I was expecting a Malbec to be dark. I bottled two buckets and have one still in a carboy. Here comes the crazy part. If I were to put this wine in a fermenting bucket and added sugar, fruit like blueberries or blackberries and yeast, would it take off or would the alcohol prevent further fermentation. Bottom line….would it be a waste of time.

* The darkest color I have in hand is aronia. (where are you located ?) I like blackberry and black raspberry as coloring agents too but would rank them as about 1/5 the intensity.
* 13% alcohol would not
Kill 1118. Most yeast would tolerate up to 15% so it is a risk, but ought to work.
* I see blueberry Merlot in the wine club. I like the mix so am tempted to say Malbec would also be OK.
* have you heard the phrase “oxygen is the enemy of alcohol” ? ? As a guess if you aireated your wine enough to grow yeast you should be able to taste acetaldehyde. If you are still tasting lots of tannin you might pull a refermentation off. On my part I would be tempted to do a separate 5 liter fermentation and not risk the Malbec. Option two would be go to my freezer and see how much aronia is there. A quart of juice could be sterilized then added to the Malbec. 2023, over a year old, ought to have the yeast settled out so accidental refermentation ought to be a low risk. (there also is black raspberry juice)
* I have worked on the lab bench so I would consider one to five ml of almond extract to up the flavor. I also would try a chocolate extract. Without adding vanilla the chocolate polyphenols would dominate, give a slight impression of chocolate but not be overpowering. (Making your own extract with cocoa powder is messy but easy.)
* I like tannin in wine. Are you satisfied with the astringent notes? As an experiment I did a mulberry juice with the maximum package direction of grape tannin. It passes as a “big red wine”. ? Scott Labs finishing tannin is good, but they have too many choices.

 

[wineview]

* The darkest color I have in hand is aronia. (where are you located ?) I like blackberry and black raspberry as coloring agents too but would rank them as about 1/5 the intensity.
* 13% alcohol would not
Kill 1118. Most yeast would tolerate up to 15% so it is a risk, but ought to work.
* I see blueberry Merlot in the wine club. I like the mix so am tempted to say Malbec would also be OK.
* have you heard the phrase “oxygen is the enemy of alcohol” ? ? As a guess if you aireated your wine enough to grow yeast you should be able to taste acetaldehyde. If you are still tasting lots of tannin you might pull a refermentation off. On my part I would be tempted to do a separate 5 liter fermentation and not risk the Malbec. Option two would be go to my freezer and see how much aronia is there. A quart of juice could be sterilized then added to the Malbec. 2023, over a year old, ought to have the yeast settled out so accidental refermentation ought to be a low risk. (there also is black raspberry juice)
* I have worked on the lab bench so I would consider one to five ml of almond extract to up the flavor. I also would try a chocolate extract. Without adding vanilla the chocolate polyphenols would dominate, give a slight impression of chocolate but not be overpowering. (Making your own extract with cocoa powder is messy but easy.)
* I like tannin in wine. Are you satisfied with the astringent notes? As an experiment I did a mulberry juice with the maximum package direction of grape tannin. It passes as a “big red wine”. ? Scott Labs finishing tannin is good, but they have too many choices.

I need some time to digest what you just said. Thanks for taking the time.

 

[joeswine]

Well, adding a previously used skin pack won't make it worse. There's no way to go except up.

Not so sure about that …

 

[joeswine]

Well I don’t know about the reuse of wine poop.
But today I finished the first set of 2 Wild Grapes wine kits .
The process :
Tasting : this was be was 5.5 weeks from start to finish, light up front very good finish going to set up very nice fir an every day wine .
Exet up to bottle , pino Grigio
.
I also have a White Zinfandel in tap WE KIT.

 

[Khristyjeff]

Here's one that turned out really nice.


Started on July 7, 2024 and bottled on November 21, 2024.
Tweaks include: adding 1 tsp tannins, 1 ounce of French oak chips, and 4 ounces of dried cherries from Walmart (the cherries tasted like cherry pie . Initial SG was 1.090 so I added 4 Cups of sugar and ended up with 14.9% ABV. My wife and I liked this enough that I just bought another kit direct from ABC Crafted Series. Black Friday sale plus cost of tweaks will end up around $3/bottle.

My notes were: Fruity, full-bodied, tasty.

 

[Christopher Anderson]

Here's one that turned out really nice.
View attachment 118079View attachment 118080

Started on July 7, 2024 and bottled on November 21, 2024.
Tweaks include: adding 1 tsp tannins, 1 ounce of French oak chips, and 4 ounces of dried cherries from Walmart (the cherries tasted like cherry pie . Initial SG was 1.090 so I added 4 Cups of sugar and ended up with 14.9% ABV. My wife and I liked this enough that I just bought another kit direct from ABC Crafted Series. Black Friday sale plus cost of tweaks will end up around $3/bottle.

My notes were: Fruity, full-bodied, tasty.

ABC normally has a buy two-get one for 75% off and this year, they had a buy two get one free! I bought their heavy bodied kits. So far, I am pleased with them. Also added Blackberry to one. Blueberry to another and the third, added some strawberry.

 

[wineview]

Is this an Amazon kit and what was the cost?

 

[Khristyjeff]

Is this an Amazon kit and what was the cost?

The ABC Crafted wines are available on Amazon (limited options) and direct from ABC website https://craftedseries.com/collections/winemaking-kits Black Friday sale for the Medium/Heavy-Bodied option was around $80.

 

[joeswine]

Got these in today , n ver ends bottled these

 

[joeswine]

Ok today I finished a pino Grigio ( wild Grapes kit

 

[joeswine]

Ok today I finished a pino Grigio ( wild Grapes kit

Last pict was a Chestnut soup I made , got in by accident ?

 

[bstnh1]

Got these in today , n ver ends bottled these

Wild Grapes kits are made by Global Vintners, right? About the same as Winexpert kits? Better? Worse?

 

[joeswine]

No WE kits have a better depth and structure .
Wild Grapes are what they are decent kits for the money

 

[Christopher Anderson]

So if tariffs are imposed on Canada, how many kits are you buying before Jan 21? Or doesn't matter?

 

[Christopher Anderson]

BTW. Walmart had the Fontana Italian Pinot Grigio on Sale Thurs for 38.99. Bought 2.

 

[wineview]

BTW. Walmart had the Fontana Italian Pinot Grigio on Sale Thurs for 38.99. Bought 2.

I wish you would have spoken sooner. Now they are $97.

 

[Christopher Anderson]

I wish you would have spoken sooner. Now they are $97.

Sorry. Out of town. Caught it at 5am Thursday. Traveling

 

[joeswine]

So if tarries are imposed on Canada, how many kits are you buying before Jan 21? Or doesn't matter?

You asking me ?

 

[Christopher Anderson]

You asking me ?

Tariffs. i hate predictive speiling. and yes, Asking Joeswine.

 

[joeswine]

Remember I stated my customers by the kits , friggin weekly .
I don’t by to many only have 3 of my own to do after the first of the year