WineXpert 2016 Dessert Wines

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Anyone interested in a case of RJ's Coffee port? Started September of 2014. It's too sweet for our tastes, the wife and I simply don't care for it. PM me if interested, shipped to you for free. I'd rather ship it to someone who might appreciate it, rather than dump it.

All the kits with f-packs are too sweet for my taste. I add anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3 of the f-pack into the primary while fermenting. You get most of the flavor, and a boost in the alcohol.
 
Anyone else notice they must have added yeast nutrient or something to the chaptilization pack? My Chocolate Raspberry fermented really well this year.
 
@richmke

I see that you pre-ordered the RJS Raspberry Mocha last year.
Wondering if you can share any notes about that port, if you really made it.

Goods/bads/taste? Does it taste more like chocolate or?

Thanks.
 
I see that you pre-ordered the RJS Raspberry Mocha last year.
Wondering if you can share any notes about that port, if you really made it.

Sorry, but due to not having enough carboys (and picking up a few pails last year), the Raspberry Mocha is one that I am just getting around to making.

I did finish the Coffee Port (with the tweaks of adding some instant coffee, and beans into the bottle). For fun, I added 3 tsp of Hershey's Cocoa to a 350 ml bottle, and let it sit for a month. It blended really well, and made a great chocolate coffee port. My wife prefers it to the straight coffee port.

I am now testing regular Hersey's Cocoa vs. Special Dark (which is Dutch Process Cocoa).
 
Did anyone try the Red Velvet? It sounds intriguing, but don't want to end up with 3 gallons of something that nobody liked. Note that I currently have Red Velvet Oreos and Red Velvet ice cream in the house, so I wouldn't need much convincing.
 
I was also considering that kit as well but didn't end up getting it.
 
I can't find a single review of the kit. I might have to be brave and try it out and report back, I guess.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
 
Go for it and let us know some feedback [emoji4]
 
Labelpeelers had it for $65, so I went for it. Will report back with progress updates.
 
That was a really great price, you probably grabbed the last one.
 
Looks like you can still add it to your cart at that price if anyone else is feeling brave.
 
The kit showed up a couple days ago (it made it from Ohio to MD in slightly less than 24 hours after stopping for less than 10 minutes (if the timestamps are to be believed) at one of the shipping facilities) and was wondering if people do any yeast swaps on their dessert wines or if they need the power of 1118 to chew through all the sugar. I'm hoping to get to the homebrew store this weekend to pick up a couple things and figured I'd grab it then.
 
The kit showed up a couple days ago (it made it from Ohio to MD in slightly less than 24 hours after stopping for less than 10 minutes (if the timestamps are to be believed) at one of the shipping facilities) and was wondering if people do any yeast swaps on their dessert wines or if they need the power of 1118 to chew through all the sugar. I'm hoping to get to the homebrew store this weekend to pick up a couple things and figured I'd grab it then.

I always use EC-1118 and both packets in the kit.
 
Ok. I'll go with that. I'm going to start the blueberry lemonade tonight and then the red velvet once the bucket is freed up.

Thanks!
 
Did you open the red velvet box, if so what's your impression overall in juice and all, what came in it aside from usual stabilizers? How's the f-pack?

Pics?
 
Not yet. I'll open it up tonight and snap a couple pictures while I'm working on the BB lemonade and post them.
 
Here it is. There are two packets of 1118 like you mentioned. 30g of toasted oak and 400g chaptalization pack. The fpack is smaller than I would have thought, but I guess the dessert wine kit is half the volume of a regular kit.

Are the dark spots in the chaptalization pack consistent with what others who have done these seen? Looks a bit off to me, but I really don't have anyone of knowing if that is normal or not.

20170608_214833a.jpg
 
I did a quick search and found this on a homebrew supply Facebook page from September 2016..

"We have been informed by Winexpert that the chaptalization packs in this year's dessert wines have been changed. You'll notice that the included pack has brown speckles in it. Winexpert has said that this is due to a new blend of sugars for this year, the speckling is to be expected and is not a reason for concern."
 
Yep, I wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks for the pics. Sounds like a good kit, get the VSOP brandy for later on....
 

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