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    Cellar Craft S African Shiraz racking

    Just go ahead and rack it. when you do add 1/4 teaspoon of kmeta when you rack it and it will protect it just fine - just make sure you top up the carboy nicely if you end up a bit low. With kmeta additions and small airspace at the top of the carboy I have never had problems.
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    WineXpert Suggestions for 1st premium kit

    I have made both the Stag's leap merlot, and the Lodi ranch 11 before they were called "eclipse" - (I have an eclipse lodi ranch 11 on the go now). If you're more inclined to wait and be patient, I'd say to go for the Lodi ranch 11 Cab.. The Stag's leap Merlot is very good, and doesn't take...
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    a pretty good night for a monday

    Well, it did.. but the one on the right is a cheap kit carboy topper that I was sipping after going through the four commercial bottles with a few friends. The one on the left is a particularly nice wine :)
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    a pretty good night for a monday

    Although I'm ashamed of the bottle on the right. I can keep up with the stuff in the middle...
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    Other Looking for favorite Reisling *KIT* for the lovers of sweetness...

    Ok, so here's the deal.. I never make anything myself that isn't pretty much dry. I'm just not a fan of sweet wine, and neither is my better half. Since I know we won't drink it, I just don't make it. (I'm sweet enough already... I like my wine like my women, red, mature and well rounded...
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    Don't cork screwcaps : Photo

    I dunno about don't buy them to begin with - there's some awfully nice wine being produced in screw tops. My solution (for example with one of my favorite aussie wineries - D'Arenberg) is when I buy commercial wine to consume at home, it always has corks, and I reuse the bottles - but if I...
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    if you are tired of looking at snow....

    And we sure do up here in the great white north - although it's finally starting to go. Another friday at home.... Ate dinner, marked quizzes, kmeta'ed topped, and stirred my australian chardonnay which just started it's battonage... Stirred my Eclipse cab bubbling in the primary... and now...
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    Cellar Craft Early Reds

    Wine Experts Luna Rossa is not bad for a fuller bodied one (no grape pack) that seems to be ready a little earlier. I actually tasted then bottled this one after only 6 months and it tastes pretty good.
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    Moving to secondary

    I normally don't stir unless I'm dealing with a fruit wine recepie that calls for it, but I make mostly reds and want it to fall out, and with my ferment room and temperature I'm fortunate enough that I really never have issues with stuck ferments. I also tend to ferment my reds to dry in the...
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    Vanilla beans, oak and other additions

    Oh, in case you care - chianti is normally "lightly" oaked - Italian DOC chianti is aged in enormous oak barrels that are normally reused for decades and decades and only scraped out every few years. the result is that the wine doesn't get a lot of oak flavor to it - unlike traditional (small)...
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    Vanilla beans, oak and other additions

    Yes, it's possible to over oak, but it depends on your taste. Some people like a lot, and some like a little - since it's harder to take it out than put it in, most of us start with a bit and move up the scale. I normally add the small oak to my kits in the primary (the "dust" or small...
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    WineXpert Making my first Kit.

    Let's see - you can get good juice for 48 bucks a pail. I make kits - don't get me wrong, I make good wine with them. but where I am it's pretty much the only option - and I have to pay around 90 to 130 bucks usually to get a good kit that's mostly juice concentrate and not just a bag of...
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    RJ Spagnols Cru Select New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

    I did this last year - see My Last year's post on Wine Experts Selection International Australian Chardonnay I tried it after seeing it talked about here - essentially it is put 1/4 tsp of kmeta in after fermentation has stopped in the secondary, top up well, and then *gently* stir up the...
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    "Sticky" Wine Diamonds from WE Luna Rossa Kit == Carboy Workout!

    I did this kit last year and had it bulk aging for about 6 months. As it happens, last weekend, I did a bottling run, and Bottled an Amarone and a Meritage blend that had been sitting for 14 months or so. Took a taste of this one, decided it was good and bottled it too.. I've had Wine...
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    WineXpert Making my first Kit.

    Explain to me why you want to make kits again? :)
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    WineXpert Making my first Kit.

    No, he won't - looking at the price list It appears those juice buckets are 23 litres == 5 Imperial Gallons == 6 USA gallons. Don't forget that mad king George rewarded his loyal subjects in the 1780's with bigger pints for their beer.
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    WineXpert Making my first Kit.

    I'm calling you nasty names right now in my mind.. I wouldn't want you to hear it.. (says the guy from alberta where there are no grapes within a thousand kilometers :( )
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    Moving to secondary

    Aside from having it interfere with your racking wand - no big deal. I normally add oak cubes (if the kit comes with it) when bulk aging, but put the chips or shavings in in the primary. they'll pretty much dump whatever tannins they are going to dump right away so I wouldn't worry about them...
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    RJ Spagnols Cru Select New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

    Mine came with Lalvin ec-1118 - It's just into the secondary. Once it finishes it will get battonaged for about 6 weeks before I stabilize and let it sit. Can't really say how it will turn out, other than the nice grapefruity smell of the juice so far leaves me hoping for good things.
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    WineXpert Making my first Kit.

    In my experience - no, that's not realistic in a 28 day kit.. I'd more or less echo Rocky's advice to you on kits - at least a 16 to 18 litres worth of juice and a grape pack - and those will be relatively expensive kits. If you really like oak, I'd also planning on adding some. I have...
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