Hfxhomebrewer
Junior
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2014
- Messages
- 3
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Hi, I have never made wine but have made several beer kits, and the idea of making my own wine appeals to me. I do have certain constraints I have to work around, and for me kits are the best option at this point. Maybe not forever, but definitely for now.
My question is, has anyone made the wine kits from Costco? Are they good? Bad? More importantly can they be improved by adding things, or changing certain components of the kit such as yeast? I did read somewhere these kits are 'ok', and let's be real, I am not expecting supreme quality wine but I would hope to make something at least as good as what I can buy at the store. I would normally spend $12-15 for an everyday wine here in Nova Scotia, so I would hope to make something of similar quality if I make a kit. Can low end kits achieve this? I should also mention I am willing to age the wine for 9 months or so before drinking it, I am not looking for something I can drink right away.
I feel like wine is all about the ingredients but beer is all about the process. Am I setting myself up to miss my goal if I don't get one of the high end kits?
The Costco kits are on sale right now where I live for $50 and make 60 750ml bottles of wine. Kind of hard to ignore but I defer to your experience. These kits include grape juice concentrate, corks, labels, finings etc but no skins and as far as I can tell no oak. I am looking at these kits in comparison to the cheapest kits the LHBS offers, which are $60 and make 30 bottles. I have tried some of the wine made by such a kit and it tasted precisely like $2 wine, which is why I am wondering if I can do anything to improve a low end kit or not?
Thanks for any advice you can offer!
HFX
My question is, has anyone made the wine kits from Costco? Are they good? Bad? More importantly can they be improved by adding things, or changing certain components of the kit such as yeast? I did read somewhere these kits are 'ok', and let's be real, I am not expecting supreme quality wine but I would hope to make something at least as good as what I can buy at the store. I would normally spend $12-15 for an everyday wine here in Nova Scotia, so I would hope to make something of similar quality if I make a kit. Can low end kits achieve this? I should also mention I am willing to age the wine for 9 months or so before drinking it, I am not looking for something I can drink right away.
I feel like wine is all about the ingredients but beer is all about the process. Am I setting myself up to miss my goal if I don't get one of the high end kits?
The Costco kits are on sale right now where I live for $50 and make 60 750ml bottles of wine. Kind of hard to ignore but I defer to your experience. These kits include grape juice concentrate, corks, labels, finings etc but no skins and as far as I can tell no oak. I am looking at these kits in comparison to the cheapest kits the LHBS offers, which are $60 and make 30 bottles. I have tried some of the wine made by such a kit and it tasted precisely like $2 wine, which is why I am wondering if I can do anything to improve a low end kit or not?
Thanks for any advice you can offer!
HFX
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