Other Beyond The Box

[BlueWave]

Does anyone use wine kits strictly as a source of quality juice tossing the kit additives and yeast and proceeding as if making wine from fresh grapes?

 

[dcbrown73]

The juice that comes in the kits (like WineExpert) has already been treated and pH balanced, etc.

The rest of the packets are usually the same stuff you use anyhow. They just provide it with the kit for convenience.

I believe some Juice buckets are not treated though. (I'm sure some are)

 

[bkisel]

Does anyone use wine kits strictly as a source of quality juice tossing the kit additives and yeast and proceeding as if making wine from fresh grapes?

Welcome to the forum!

Though I've not done it myself I've read here on the forum where folks will sometimes swap out the yeast, skip the bentonite and skip the clearing agents.

 

[heatherd]

Does anyone use wine kits strictly as a source of quality juice tossing the kit additives and yeast and proceeding as if making wine from fresh grapes?

I typically keep the bentonite, omit the sorbate (in a dry wine) and clearing agents, and swap the yeast.

 

[BlueWave]

Thank you for the input.

 

[Noontime]

We usually use a different yeast depending on the varietal (although you should use one that's appropriate for use with concentrates). The yeast that comes with the kit is usually a neutral and robust yeast like EC-1188. Different yeasts will add different flavors and aromas, so it can be fun to experiment (although sometimes they are not as good as if we had used the neutral yeast).