Packlab The Dreaded Paklab Onyx V kits....

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Should I buy a cheap-o Paklab Onyx V kit at 47 CDN

  • Yeah, buy the Sauvignon Blanc - It'll work for white

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Buy the Merlot Pail and use it to liquor up bums on the street or visiting nerds.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    5
  • Poll closed .

phat

Phacilitator of Basement Phermentation.
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Hey folks. just got back from Europe, and will shortly be posting some Tuscany Wine Porn for us all to enjoy..

I have a Cellarcraft Red Mountain Trio on deck that I'll start on the weekend. I'm getting fairly well set for stuff bulk aging to restock my cellar eventually. most of it's the better end of stuff, because, I'm a princess and like big reds.

I have an Austrailan Chardonnay that I'm about ready to stabilize that I've been doing battonage on, and it tastes really good right now.

Soooooo... My costco has the $47 all "juice" Paklab Onyx V kits again.. there's a few reds, and I noticed a sauvignon blanc.. I know these are a little thin. (I have a malbec bulk aging that I put a ton of oak in, it may turn out ok.)

Still $47 is less than two bucks a bottle. two buck chuck is cheap up here. but to put that in context I brought a couple super tuscans back from italy that I paid 50 euros a *bottle* for.. I like my nice reds ;)

I know I can "get away" with cheaper kits for whites. I don't drink a *lot* of white. so my thought is either 1) just avoid it, save your carboys for good stuff.. 2) Buy a Sauvignon blanc kit to have a bit more white around. or 3) Buy the theoritically fullest body red pail, and doctor it up with a bunch of raisins and elderberries and oak for extra gusto... I've not really "hacked" a red kit for extra body much before so don't know how much I can accomplish here. so.. perhaps a bit of a poll.. Phat should:
 
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check out the kit tweaks thread , I learned alot of tweaks using the packlab kits . youd be surprised how much you can improve them
 
check out the kit tweaks thread , I learned alot of tweaks using the packlab kits . youd be surprised how much you can improve them

I don't seem to have a source for seperate grape packs locally, (and spending a fortune on one kind of negates the purpose of hacking a cheap kit in the first place). I do have tannin and french oak chunks in my "regular" bag of tricks. How much improvement do you see just using plain old raisins to add body to something like this? Yeah, I know that's kind of subjective but so's everything..
 
I agree buying expensive grape packs doesn't make sence but some good quality raisins or making your own grape packs works great. a a little tannin etc can't hurt. for the price what have you got to loose? I make these kits for a 80 something neighbor of mine , tweak them a little ( I use frozen pomace skins left over from my grape wines) and give them 3 months in a barrel . if it wasn't for the price he wouldn't be able to afford any wine at all on a pension. With the SB I add a couple ripe banannas to the primary and some biolees while ageing. a tblsp of booster blanc in the primary would be worth a try

these kits are also good sources of concentrate to use in fruit wine making , a couple liters of the concentrate to replace some of the sugar in a blueberry of black berry wine (use red) or a peach, strawberry, bananna or rhubarb wine (white) makes a huge difference. A litre of the white concentrate in your skeeter pee to replace some of the sugar makes for an easier ferment and a smoother pee.

I've even used the concentrate in my grape wines before, faced with some Ontario grapes that only hit 19 brix I used some of this concentrate to get the brix up to 23 and it saved the wine. a much better way to get the brix up than just using sugar.
 
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bzac...

I like your idea of replacing some of the sugar with concentrate. My buddy runs a store in Regina, and he sells kits to some folks that use the concentrate with their home grown fruit.

phat is talking about the 23 litre pails, and you are using the word concentrate. May I assume that you mean the 2 packs of concentrate? If you only use a portion of the package, how do you store the remainder? Fridge? Freezer?

Thanks, Steve
 

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