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Looking to expand upon kits I've made in the Winery Series, want to do either the AUS Pinot Noir or Cab/Syrah, the Pinot looks to be a good choice with the grapepack included and the fact that I only have 4 out of 60 bottles from my 2012 CC LR Sonoma Coast left. Has anyone made the Pinot kit or...

Combing through all the blueberry wine recipes (most recently in the new issue of winemakermag uses boiling water),other recipes use cold. I've always used cold water with marginal color. Can anyone comment on experience using hot boliing water/sugar mixture vs. a cool water addition. Just a...

I subbed the 1118 yeast out on my RJS Super Tuscan with Red Star Pasteur, usually always ferment in 10 gallon with Cellar Craft kits but thought Winery Series would fit easily in 7.9 fermentor. Cutting it too close for comfort on day 2, temp range has been 72 - 78. Maybe it was all that...

My new babies before I put them to sleep for while. Started March 2012 - Bulk aged for one year - Bottled yesterday.

Just opened a 24 month old bottle of RJS Cru Select Ripassa - the longest aged of any of my kit wines. The oak and tannins just haven't mellow out, but it's drinkable. Looked back at my notes and fermented for 14 days till dry at .990 SG, started at 1.10. That's about 14.75 % alc. The kit came...

Can someone confirm that I should have enough KMS used at the stablizing stage to carry me over for at least 3 months of bulk aging. I racked lees off after secondary, and stablized with the provided 5gram pkg of sulfite, no finings, no sorbate. Both the cellar craft and WE kits seem to be...

Anybody's feed back for this tweak on Winexpert kit? Would it make a difference for body/color on the new Petit Syrah/Zin limited kit? or is it overkill.

Just transferred my (18#'s to 3.75 gl water) Blueberry w/Syrah grapepackwine to a 5 gal carboy at 1.015 sg.I didn't get the yield I was hoping for bycoming up short about 750ml, I was hoping to getextra for later topping. Wine has great body and color, better than any kitI've madeand has a...

Has anyone tried using a hand held Mity-Vac (brakebleeder)to vacuum rack. Just wondering if you could manually maintain the level of pressure by monitoring the gauge and be able to draw the wineto receivingcarboy. Doesn't seem to need a lot of pressure to start pulling wine on a regular pump...

Tasted my RJS - WS Zin today and not sure if the taste was too much oaked or KMET. I used 2 American Toast Spirals for 3 months then racked offthe oakfor another 3 months of bulk ageing. Added 1/4 tsp of Kmet each time. When taking my half glass sample today, I used a sanitized thief that wasn't...

Does anyone extend the clearing stage on these red CC kits? Since 2ndstage oak cubes are added at the stabilize/clearing/degassing stage, would the (secondary) lees harm the wine if left for2 months before racking off to bulk age? I know the directions call to rack after 21 days on oak cubes...

I'm racking down to a 5 gal and 1 gal after clearing stage, ready to bulk age. What KMET measurement do i use for both these vessels. I've got a little wooden measurerthat's 1/16th. Any thoughts splitting up a 1/4 tsp

Last two kits, CC Rosso FortissimoLQ and the newestRed Mountain CAB -Showcases thatI just startedboth hadlow SG reading at 1.083& 1.08. Does the wet skin pack make up the difference in these reading? Has anyone else had similiar readingson these type kits recently?

I'm making my first CC kit (Rosso Fortissimo Cuvee) Instructions(step 33)say to stir vigorously for 2 min. to drive off gas on days 20-22. Do you rack before doing this stirring? It only notes after this step degassing may be easier if you rack to primary. Either way, I'm guessing you rack off...

Which works better Mity Vac Bleeder or this hand held foodsaver device? I follow my last 3 kits instructions and after stabilizing, degassing with whip, good temps andclearing stage (day 42-48) I then bulk ageing 3 months in Pet Bottles and rack to 1 gallon jugs to try degassingfor a...

Using Waldos U Tube Video as a guideline for a 5 gallons of Scuppernongs. Looks like it follows a kit instruction after secondary fermentation. At racking, says to add Sorbate along with the sulfite, thendegassing. I might add bentonite at some point. After a few months of bulk ageing, I want to...

Does anyone know anything about this RJS En Primeur Kit- Italian Negroamaro Primitivo - Fine Vine Wines has listed as a wine of the month. Don't see it listed on RJS website. Is it new to RJS or just my oversight. Anybody made it?

I've got (14) 1.5 liter Carlo Rossi jugs and thinking about bottling a RJS primitivo in these jugs and using new screw caps for closures. Is this a goodidea? The wine will be bulk aged for a couple of months and should be ready to drink. Will the wine be ok for 6 months of consumption.

This kit is a bit different from other Cru Selects or other Skin pack kits of eitherlower or higher quality. Thinking about going only 7 days on primary vs. 14 day Cru Select instructions. I guessing the SG will be at least 1.00 at that point and transfering to Secondary for 15 days, then adding...

wandering through the wine stores and all the white wine seems to be in clear bottles these days. Why is that? I getting ready to bottle white wine from kitand finally have enough clear bottles and having second thoughts, maybe I should go with tinted. If I'm storing in a dark room will it...