Recent content by Bohemiana

FYI--Regarding what specifically makes kits different in ABV, I got this answer on Amazon from a seller (ABC Cork Co) of ABC Crafted Series... The light bodied kit is 4.8 L which makes a light kit and the heavy bodied kit is 16 L

I read that Tweaking thread before we started tweaking--my husband and I started doing kits straight but since then we've made about 5 different wine kits in various ways by adding wood chips, fruit rind, dried fruit, etc. It's fun and MUCH more interesting than just going with the straight kit...

We made some Fontana wines over the summer but this time when I looked on Amazon to purchase another kit (Sauvignon Blanc) from ABC Craft I noticed I need to choose if I want light, medium or full bodied and the prices go up. I noticed someone on this thread indicated the light body kit has less...

UPDATE to the above-- #1--We did NOT put glycerin into the carboy for the shiraz...thank goodness! The taste without it is very good but we experimented after bottling by putting 1/8 t. glycerin into it just to experiment--didn't taste nearly as good with the glycerin. We've decided to only add...

UPDATE to the tweaking-- We just bottled half of our kit (described above). Both halves were in carboys with their oak for 3 weeks to compare the oak flavors. The half we bottled today was the one with 1/2 c. medium French toasted oak--WOW! It is so good! The oak is just enough to add interest...

FYI--we took a bottle of our newly bottled cheap chardonnay (tweaked with 1 T. of grapefruit zest and dried apricots in primary) and we added 1/4 tsp. of glycerin to the bottle...it was much better! Prior to the glycerin experiment, the taste was too tart for a chardonnay. And, since we didn't...

Questions about adding glycerin... #1-- We have a good shiraz ready to bottle. It's good as it is but has anyone filled one bottle and added just a touch of glycerin to see how it would improve it? Is there any way that adding 1/4 cup of glycerin to the 6-gallon carboy could turn a good wine...

Wow! Thanks! There's an interesting Italian Valpolicella grape kit for $42. We might try that! Those are really good prices! We've never made a kit that doesn't have everything in it to stabilize, etc. The instructions say you need to add sugar. I would have no idea how much to add. What did you do?

How much would you use? A pound of grapes for a 6-gallon batch? Could I do something similar with fresh cooked pear chunks? I assume the cooked fruit goes into a cheesecloth. Do I need to add anything else like pectin or something with it into the primary?

Funny you should post this response...I was just researching that topic! I found some food grade glycerine on Amazon. I think it's a great idea to try! Thanks!

Here are our results from tweaking our ABC Crafted Chardonnay... We purchased from Amazon for $45 for a 23 liter kit. --In the primary: We followed the instructions but we added 1 tablespoon fresh grapefruit zest (in a bit of cheesecloth) and 8 chopped up dried apricots (in cheesecloth). I did...

I got great info from the tweaking cheap kits thread!

We haven't bottled our shiraz but it's in the carboy and we tasted it--I'd say it's pretty good--better than if we hadn't tweaked it. We had put 6 oz. of dried tart cherries and 6 oz. dried sweet cherries into the primary. (We boiled the cherries together for a few minutes to reconstitute them...

Regarding "best wine kit of america" on Amazon...I haven't tried it but I can't even find it on Amazon. Can you post the exact link? I'm curious to look into it. We are currently making two cheap Fontana kits we got on Amazon and I'm looking into buying another cheap kit by a different company...

"Move it?" You mean move it into the carboy (secondary) what ever the specific gravity is? "Oak any time" but "do one step at a time"? That's sounds contradictory. So, we should to the clarifier step first, and two weeks later do step 2 to add oak, correct?