[sangwitch]

anyone every try the vineco kits? I see in the "Top 100 kits" article that they scored with some of the best kits. In fact, they have the #1 slot with their KenRidge Showcase Italian Amarone.


curious if anyone has tried the kits and what they thought.

[geocorn]

Vineco kits are only available in the U.S. from E.C. Kraus. The same parent company, Andre's Vineyards, owns both Winexpert and Vineco. It seems that when Andre's bought one of them, they decided to not offer the Vineco product to U.S. markets. Kraus was grandfathered in and so they are the only U.S. Retailer.

[sangwitch]

Interesting. I'm not sure I've ever heard of the company until I read the article. I recognized the ads, but just never paid much attention to them in the past. I have this loyalty gene so I pretty much only look at WE kits. Only recently have I ventured out and tried RJS. Edited by: sangwitch

[Wade E]

EC Krause is very expensive, but they are good at emailing back info
like George. That is where I got the idea to back sweeten with juice
and emailed them to see if it was alright. They did get back to me
promptly saying it was a good idea! They have free shipping on
purchases over $25.00 but if you look at the prices, that is already
figuered in and then some!

Edited by: wade

[ScubaDon]

Evening Wade,
Did you post information on this forum about back sweetening with juice back when you learned to do it? Would like to read about it if the information is still out there.

[Wade E]

Hi scuba, because I was making Vintners Harvest wine base wines and
diluting the kit a little bit farther than they recommended I wanted to
makesure the flavor did not get lost and that is why I do this. These
Wine bases were designed for 3 or 5 gallon batches and I turned them
into 6 gallon batches by adding more water and sugar. I dont know if
anybody else besides me and Nothern Wino had this problem but when
making this kit to 5 gallon recipe, it seems to come out big anyway.
What I do is take a all natural juice from a health store only because
these juices are not watered down like grocery store juices are and put
them in a sanitized pot on the stove on medium high and simmer down
like you would reduce a broth to make soup. I usually start with 1/2 a
gallon and reduce down to 1/3 its original size. What this does is keep
all the sugar and concentrate the flavor so that it is thicker and more
powerful. This way i can sweeten and add more flavor without diluting
the Abv to much.

[PeterZ]

You know, a pressure cooker with a vacuum pump would be, on a small scale, what the kit makers do to create syrup. With a good vacuum you could probably boil water off at less than 125F.

[bmorosco]

Originally Posted by geocorn

Vineco kits are only available in the U.S. from E.C. Kraus. The same parent company, Andre's Vineyards, owns both Winexpert and Vineco. It seems that when Andre's bought one of them, they decided to not offer the Vineco product to U.S. markets. Kraus was grandfathered in and so they are the only U.S. Retailer.

Is that the definition of a MONOPOLY????

[bmorosco]

Originally Posted by PeterZ

You know, a pressure cooker with a vacuum pump would be, on a small scale, what the kit makers do to create syrup. With a good vacuum you could probably boil water off at less than 125F.

Peter can you explain that just a little further...I am intrested in that process...Thanks Benny

[sangwitch]

I bought my wife a pressure cooker for Christmas. We got it to use for canning, but I like this other use that PeterZ is pointing out.