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I am interested in knowing how old the PN was when everyone loved it. I have 2 double batches of AJ kits aging now, Petite Syrah and Barolo, and plan to (try to) leave them alone until they are at least 2 years old. It would be nice to start drinking them earlier...

I would taste the juice before throwing it out. If it tastes ok, make it. I got some chardonnay concentrate from a friend who owns a boutique winery near Lodi which was very brown in color. It turned out fine.

The tartness is normal for a high end red kit wine when it is young. I like to think the degree of tartness indicates the potential of the wine. I did a MM Masters Valle de Sol which came around at 2 years and is quite good now. It was very tart until the 2 year point. I have a CC Showcase...

I like the way you drink, er, think, Bart!

+1, Steve. I never stabilize until about day 20, even if the SG is .990 on day 6.

I had the exact same experience, Mike. I think it took about 22 months and then the Zin was excellent!

Hi, Larry. Welcome to FVW forums. It sounds like you are following the instructions pretty closely. Keep in mind they are written for bottling in the bare minimum amount of time so the manufacturers can claim "make wine in 4 weeks" or similar. That is good for attracting people to the hobby of...

Hi, Cassidy. Welcome to the forum. Decimals are tricky. Your SG is 0.995. That is a good ending SG. Many on this forum routinely leave the must/wine in primary for 14 days and then stabilize. Don't worry about "gross lees." That is a term which applies to grape winemaking much more than kit wine...

Let your wine sit in secondary at least the number of days called for in the instructions, Alex. Even if the SG is stable for 10 days. Degassing will be easier and it is never a good idea to rush through steps in wine making. I believe that people who preach about relying on the hydrometer are...

Welcome to the forum, Tagheuer. The instructions for the Impressions kits need very careful reading since they cover either the addition of raisins OR the addition of the GP. My instructions indicate to: 1 Add the grape pack to the primary bucket on day 1 along with the bentonite and yeast 2...

More like 26 months if you ask me!

Tony, you crack me up! Good on you.

Well, that's a pretty good trade, of course! I'll be interested to read about early "impressions" of the Amarone after using both raisins and GP. That is my plan.

I have 4 impression kits waiting to be made and I just looked in one of the amarone kits, no labels. Did the Ren kits stop coming with labels? Wah.

It's been awhile since these q's have gone unanswered, Bob. The Amarone will turn out better if you let it sit for awhile before bottling. I would suggest bottling in February or March. As far as the extra sulfite, add the 1/4 tsp if you will be saving some of the bottles for more than a year...

I'd wait until this weekend and then rack, degas and add the KM, Tom. Then, in 3 or 4 weeks rack off the sediment which should have dropped out and you are good for 3 months of bulk aging, or so.

1/4 tsp will add about 30ppm of free SO2 to 6 gallons of wine at bottling. That should be plenty. I don't use campden tablets so no advice there. I always dip my corks in SO2 solution. Cheap insurance. For the lifespan, I would have to guess your Crushendo kit will improve in the bottle for...

It must be me, Rick. I can't get that link to fully load for some reason. Same thing that happened to me yesterday when I tried. I get the pdf format but the page stops loading before I can see any verbage.

This is where I see the problem creeping in. "per instructions" can be interpreted to mean as soon as the SG drops to range called for by that manufacturer. If you read the instructions carefully, that isn't the intent. They say to wait the specified number of days, THEN check the SG. If it is...

Looks good, Tom. I haven't made this kit, but the 2 Renaissance kits I did make turned out excellent. Expect to wait 1 1/2 to 2 years before the kit drinks well. As far as the hydrometer use, you already have your initial SG which can be used to calculate the final ABV. I recommend that you...