Recent content by Hordak

I almost exclusively use synthetic and have wine 4yrs old with them and no problems.

I use synthetic corks on my higher end kit wines and have never had a leak plus I can store the bottles upright in the box with no issues and they last. They are a small amount more than agglomerated at my local LHBS l.

I use Tannin Riche and/or Quertannin finishing tannin's and either oak staves or cubes in all my red wines to some degree depending on the type. Both should go in near the end before you bulk age for 3 months. When ready to bottle just rack and then bottle.

I rack to carboy (removing all skins), add K-Meta (I don't add the sorbate as I don't sweeten), sometimes I make a second tannin addition like Tannin Riche, Biotan, or Quertannin and then make sure the carboy is topped up. Over the next few days I degas using my vacuum pump or you can just stir...

I'm with Jumby, the French oak spirals are the way to go for your better wines you want to make. I suspend them with unwaxed/flavored floss and get a perfect seal with my airlock bung.

EM is not going to make your wine less dry but will make it taste better (smoother and a bit more complex) at an earlier time. The oak will mellow the longer you age it. If your wife prefers off dry then I would recommend you bottle "your" portion of the wine first and then sweeten the latter...

I use the same Mosti Grapepacks and now split them in half and one pack lets me add to two kits. My local store recommended this as the pack is quite large and it has been positive.

Twice now with dried skins from an RJS RQ kit I've done a "cold soak" for two days then added yeast and did the extended maceration. First one turned out very well, just started second the other day.

I've blended 25% of a cheaper Amazon Merlot kit with 75% of a mid grade Cab Sauv kit and added a Mosti grapepack. I think I did a 6 week extended maceration. They've only been in the bottle for 6-8 months but I'll try one soon and get back to you. At time of bottling the initial taste was...

I have used the AllGrape packs a number of times. Sometimes I split them between two kits and sometimes I use just one per. I thought I read somehwere they use Merlot grape skins in the pack so they are pretty flexible what they can be used in. I would definitely use the grape pack with EM to...

I did an extended maceration and about seven months total till bottling three months ago and after the recent comments how good it was I had to try one bottle. I am thoroughly impressed at this young age. It isn't super dark but after reading up on Australian Grenache and learned it has color...

I did the Eclipse Zinfandel per instructions a few years ago and I think it needs more tannin up front. If it was me I'd add a tsp of FT Rouge and a tsp of regular wine tanning in the primary and do an extended maceration ferment of anywhere from a month to two months depending on your...

I would only add raisins and preferably Zante currants to an Amarone but none of the other wine kits. As many have said before I would use decent wine tannins and fermentation tannin's which could be FT Rouge, Biotan or Tannin VR Supra. I typically use a tsp of generic wine tannin and a tsp of...

Yes, I always use wine conditioner and then also two cans of frozen raspberry concentrate or similar to sweeten the DB

I have never had off flavors or any issues with leaving red wine in primary for a month. I now use Fermonster 7Gal fermenters for my Reds and leave them minimum 6weeks. I stir daily for the first 10-14 days then leave completely undisturbed. There is always a layer of naturally created co2...