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Raize: The headspace is bad, but only if you are planning to bulk age. If you are going to follow the instruction leave it and don't worry. Even in standard 23L carboys it is usually about a litre of headspace and the instruction explicitly says that it is normal and no problem. If, however, you...

I am not sure which Select kit did you use? Selection Pinot Noir or Selection International New Zealand Pinot Noir? Also a question to others which of these 2 would you prefer? Anybody tried to do both of them and has opinion? Thanks

In my view most WE kits are heavily oaked. When I add extra tannin it sometimes become too overwhelming. Do people who add tannin here put it instead of oak coming with kit or in addition? The second thought is that often oak coming with kits is of low quality and no match to barrels or good...

Pacific Quartet was extremely good, it was a LE of 2009. Next year WE had Pacifica White. A similar blend, also a very good wine, but to my taste the Quartet was better. I think they had made the Quartet before 2009 and it was so popular that they did it again. It is off-dry and I think a tad...

Shiraz/Viognier was a limited edition in WE range of 2010. I did it then, it was very good straight out of the carboy, then it turned into sweetish rubbish for more than 1 year and finally, at about 2+ years, it became very pleasant. I just finished the last bottle a week ago. Unfortunately RJS...

OK, I proceeded with the tannin waited 2 months and tried it. The tannin definitely masked the kit taste and added some body, so it was a good idea. I still have 26 bottles left so might experiment further. It is 20 months, it is better start improving and losing the kit taste now. Anyone else...

Bloody hell, that's impressive! Wookey

Earl, Very little, standard dosage is about 5-6 grams per batch. so for on bottle is 0.15-0.2 gram. I have a small scale with 0.1 gram resolution, but usually just add small amount on the edge of knife. Wookey

As a general note about the "Kit Taste". There is no definition of that, few people say they can taste it in every wine made from kit even after 2-3 years of aging, some other people say they cannot taste it at all. Most, myself included, taste it only in red kit wines and it tends to dissipate...

Derunner, Well, excessive sulfur usually gives a burnt rubber or matchsticks taste, can it be what you have? There is dimethyl sulfid which gives taste of canned corn, but it appears from infection. In any case it is better to wait a little and see before dumping it. It can go in couple...

Hello Tom, First thing, white wines usually do not have "kit taste". What you describe looks more like oxidation. When ethanol is exposed to oxygen it first converts to Acetaldehyde which gives the wine a bit metallic taste, if it is exposed further it will convert into acetic acid which will...

Earl, Mine is about the same age as yours. I believe at the bottling time it was much thicker than now. I hope if I hit it with good tannin it will improve the body and nose. Other than that, I agree that it has Primitivo taste which I like it very much. Wookey

Tan'cor Grand Cru is tannin. You can read a bit more on the website of its producer: http://www.laffort.com/en/tannin/209. Now, in wines made from grapes, you want less grape tannin, but probably more wood (oak) tannin. But in wines made from kits you may want grape tannin as well as it is often...

OK, tried a third bottle of Primitivo. It has improved since 2.5 months ago. The kit taste is less evident now, the nose is better too. The body is still weak and doubtful it is going to improve much. I am considering opening one bottle adding tannin Grand Cru or Richie, close the bottle and let...

Allergic reaction to amines is not hangover. People suffering from it have headache even if they had only one glass of red wine. But they can drink much more white wine without any consequences. My friend has it and he can drink 2 bottles of white or rose wine in evening and feel great next day...

Billy, If you just added metabilsulfite, you should be fine. It prevents growing of bacteria and wild yeast, but does not harm cultured yeast. If you do wine from grapes you usually add it in must to kill everything in it and then add yeast and it does not stop them from fermenting. If you...

Billy, I did the same kit and it definitely went lower than 1, to more standard for a dry wine 0.994. I would recommend rising the temperature a bit and allow it some time. What was your starting gravity? Mine was quite high 1.100 even before adding the skin pack. I even asked KenRidge if I...

Mike, There were some complains in this forum, look, for instance, at bzac kit tweaks thread. But it is not the point of my post. I am sure that the kit producers select the oak to better work in a short time of primary fermentation. So it is likely that there is no point of using the same oak...

I actually like this year KenRidge LE's. I am going to order 4 kits. And surprisingly they are not so expensive in the UK. I did Founder's Brunello and it turned out great. My retailer sells Founder's series for 95 pounds + 5 pounds flat rate for delivery. The same price is for this year LE's. I...

As no one answering, seems, it is a good field for experiment. I will divide the kit in 5 parts one is used for oaking in primary, the other in secondary, the third is to age for 1 month on oak and the fourth will not use any oak but only the oak tannin (I think Tan'cor Grand Cru or similar)...