"BKBooth" wrote in news:3f8c65ef$0$16188$ snipped-for-privacy@news.cablerocket.com:
Earlier in the year I made a batch using the Alexander's Sun Country Cabernet kit. Tonight I took a bottle to my homebrew club meeting, and the guys actually loved it. I got comments that it was more balanced and mellow than one of the other guy's concorde wine that he made the "non- kit" way and which had also been aging for 3 years.
Hi all, I want to make a batch of wine from a kit or other simple method. what is a decent kit? and can I use 5gal plastic water jugs as a fermenter? I have used them for beer but don't know if wine may have a different effect due to acidity etc. My LHBS has several kits in the $ 40 to 50 range. I want to do a blackberry merlot or a peach white wine. any help and suggestions appreciated.
Be careful -- the types you mentioned are typically more of a "wine cooler" kind of thing (less than 10% abv). We see posts in this newsgroup on a regular basis from people who bought them thinking they were "normal" wines (full-bodied and 12-13% abv) and were disappointed. They aren't necessarily bad, just make sure you know what the product is before you purchase it...
Most kits are 6 US gallons, so 5 US gallon water jugs will have one obvious drawback. Also, if you plan to bulk age for longer than the 4 weeks or so that your kit recommends, you should really use glass (I believe I've read that the plastic will allow oxygen into the wine).
Whatever you do, save some for at least a year or 18 months. If the kit is half decent at all, you should notice huge improvements from the aging.
Cheers, Richard
DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.