Costco wine kit - a waste of time??

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Hfxhomebrewer

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Hi, I have never made wine but have made several beer kits, and the idea of making my own wine appeals to me. I do have certain constraints I have to work around, and for me kits are the best option at this point. Maybe not forever, but definitely for now.

My question is, has anyone made the wine kits from Costco? Are they good? Bad? More importantly can they be improved by adding things, or changing certain components of the kit such as yeast? I did read somewhere these kits are 'ok', and let's be real, I am not expecting supreme quality wine but I would hope to make something at least as good as what I can buy at the store. I would normally spend $12-15 for an everyday wine here in Nova Scotia, so I would hope to make something of similar quality if I make a kit. Can low end kits achieve this? I should also mention I am willing to age the wine for 9 months or so before drinking it, I am not looking for something I can drink right away.

I feel like wine is all about the ingredients but beer is all about the process. Am I setting myself up to miss my goal if I don't get one of the high end kits?

The Costco kits are on sale right now where I live for $50 and make 60 750ml bottles of wine. Kind of hard to ignore but I defer to your experience. These kits include grape juice concentrate, corks, labels, finings etc but no skins and as far as I can tell no oak. I am looking at these kits in comparison to the cheapest kits the LHBS offers, which are $60 and make 30 bottles. I have tried some of the wine made by such a kit and it tasted precisely like $2 wine, which is why I am wondering if I can do anything to improve a low end kit or not?

Thanks for any advice you can offer!
HFX
 
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A co-worker of mine just last week said he wouldn't buy another Costco kit again. I don't believe he did any modifications to the kit though; maybe doing so would yield better results than what he got.
 
I did those costco dual kits a few times. These are nowhere near as good as more expensive kits, but after adding extra raisins, grape skins, oak, tannins, spending time in my barrel and about 8 months of age, I think that they are very drinkable. Much better than their 1$ per bottle price tag would suggest.

I do these to tie me over until my more expensive kits and grape wines are ready. I also use them as cooking wine or to make drinks requiring wine (like sangria). I have no qualms about using an entire bottle in batch of risotto for example. ;P

I say go for it but manage your expectations. At less than 1$ per bottle, it is difficult not to get your money's worth.
 
The Costco near me doesn't sell wine kits, so I'm not sure what Costco is selling these days. They have been selling two different brands of dual kits (one in the east, t'other in the west), but they are usually thin/weak. I haven't read any mention of the 23 litre pails in the last year or so. In the past the whites were OK, and some people liked the reds. However, many people thought that the red pails needed tweaking.

Steve
 
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I have made a few batches of both the 7 liter and 23 liter Costco kits. I have had limited success in trying to tweak the 7 liter kits, although I just bottled a double cab batch where I included a homemade must pack that is showing promise. The 7 liter chardonnay is at best OK. The 23 liter kit they sell (Amarone) is actually pretty decent. Have one aging now that I recently racked and I am very happy with it.
 
Personally, I can't drink the Costco wines. They always taste thin and harsh to me.

I'd say go for a Cheeky Monkey, or a Cellar Craft Sterling if you're interested in seeing a decent flavour in a low end kit. Hopefully they're the same price for you in NS as for me in MB - they tend to be more expensive in the US.

You're only looking at $2.50 - $3.00/bottle, so the investment isn't bad :)
 
I would look elsewhere. The whites are more drinkable than the reds. I have never made one but others do. You get what you pay for.

cheers
 
use your 60 bottle kit an make 30 bottles out of it , at 60 bottles its very watery and harsh even aged 9 months its pretty much a cooking wine
 
use your 60 bottle kit an make 30 bottles out of it , at 60 bottles its very watery and harsh even aged 9 months its pretty much a cooking wine

Have you tried this before? I was always under the impression that if you make a 30 bottle batch with both bags you will end up with a completely unbalance final product... the starting sg would be off the charts with a potential alcohol level of around 24-25%. Unless you did this and work it into a port with any unfermented sugar over around 18% being the sweetener...
 
Thanks for the link to joeswine's thread, very informative.
Thanks to all for the advice and input. I might go for the cheeky monkey and use the techniques suggested on the joeswine thread.....
 
HFX - I have made the Costco wine (PAKLab) . Not very good - I started out with them . Cheap way to make and learn from mistakes - but you have brewed beer so you don't need a "starter kit". You have a couple of choices for supplies in Halifax. I have use Winekitz , Noble grape and Maritime Brew . Each carry a different brand. All of them good people - Noble Grape carries Winexpert and Vineco (Cheeky Monkey). All of them are good people and will help you.
 
On an unrelated note, I don't get why people rave so much about the cheeky monkey series. I made one kit expecting great things but was disappointed in the end result. In my opinion, grand cru international is just as good (even better imo) and cheaper.
 
We have never made any kit or brewed anything before, our first kit is the costco double whammy and its in the pails right now. When you all say thin what does that mean? Low alchohl? Or low taste and body?
 
Low body and structure. Adding extra oak chips or a finishing tannin should help.
 
Turns out that the kits are on sale at my local costco (and online too) .

Can't really beat less than 1$ per bottle shipped to my door!

I figure I will add 1-2 lbs of merlot grapes, 1 lbs of raisins, some oak, some tannins and maybe 1-2 lbs of sugar to the must. We will see how it goes!
 
Turns out that the kits are on sale at my local costco (and online too) .

Can't really beat less than 1$ per bottle shipped to my door!

I figure I will add 1-2 lbs of merlot grapes, 1 lbs of raisins, some oak, some tannins and maybe 1-2 lbs of sugar to the must. We will see how it goes!
Just don't over tweek. You could end up going from bad to worse. Know what you're adding and why before doing so. (IMO if adding grapes I don't see the reason for raisons) and sugar is only needed if starting SG is too low...etc.
Cheap kits can be made acceptable as long as you don't overdo it. I myself make a lot of Spagnol's HE kits and have been happy with end results ( after some tweeks) :b
 
Cost years looking for a deal. IMHO, the Paklab white's Chardonnay and Orvieto are good value for money for a summer wine - the reds are too thin, with little finish or bite. The Argentia Ridge wines are average both in reds and white. The onyx series were initially a disappointment -Amarone and Merlot. Did not try the white. Tweaked the Amarone with dates, and oak, and the Merlot with oak and bulk aged them both for 9 months. They are my middle of the road reds. But they cannot come anyplace close to Cellarcraft. Life is too short to drink bad wine.
Call me for more info 902 823-2530
Ric
 
Turns out that the kits are on sale at my local costco (and online too) .

Can't really beat less than 1$ per bottle shipped to my door!

I figure I will add 1-2 lbs of merlot grapes, 1 lbs of raisins, some oak, some tannins and maybe 1-2 lbs of sugar to the must. We will see how it goes!
Have you got a link to them online?
I can't find them on the website.
Is it only Canadian stores?
 

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