Wine Kits

[Ernest T Bass]

I have a friend that is going to start making wine and he ask me what kit he should start with. I have only made two kits and both were given to me, so I don't know what to recommend. I have read on here that Cosco Kits were not very good, I don't want him to get discouraged by making a bad kit. He will need everything needed to make the kit. What kit do you recommend and who to buy from. He wants to make a Red Wine. Thanks for any help.
Semper Fi
Bud

 

[richmke]

If I were to do it all again, for my first kit, I would:

Pick an Island Mist kit your friend thinks he might like.
Follow the directions, with the following adjustments:

1) In the process of mixing to 6 gallons, add 3 pounds of sugar to boost the alcohol level. Dissolve the sugar, in batches, in the water as it is added to the kit. for instance - 2 cups of sugar into 1 quart of water. heat a little and stir. Pour into primary. Repeat until all sugar is used up. Finish filling the kit to 6 gallons.

2) Add 1/2 of the F-pack into the primary. Mix well before pitching the yeast. Store the rest of the f-pack in the fridge until the proper step. Note: The kit may still be a little sweet. It is a matter of personal preference.

3) Buy the pre-made labels for about $6.

The IM kits are:
1) cheap kit to learn with (make mistakes)
2) Makes a wine that is drinkable early
3) Even if it is not a favorite, most people will enjoy the wine when sitting in the backyard on a summer evening. Also a great gifting wine to casual wine drinkers.

My wife's favorite is: Green Apple Riesling.

 

[bkisel]

I would recommend either a Winexpert Vinters Reserve or an RJ Spagnols VdV kit. Both series have a good selection of reds and will IMHO make a decent wine that your friend can enjoy before half his /her life passes by. I personally would not recommend any tweaks; I'd suggest your friend follow the directions to the letter.

Good luck!

 

[cpfan]

Bud:

Sounds like your friend needs 2 things....

1) an equipment starter kit. recommend one with a 6 US gallon glass carboy, and a floor corker.

2) a wine kit. Since you are in TN, I'll assume that your friend is as well. Costco USA doesn't sell wine kits as far as I know. Talk to your friend about what specific red they would like (ie Merlot, Cab Sauv, Chianti, ...). The Vintners Reserve and Vino del Vida kits mentioned by Bill/bkisel are good choices because they include all the additives that will be required and have pretty good instructions. I would avoid Williams kits because they are lacking additives and have sparse instructions.

Steve

 

[knockabout]

I thought the WE Luna Rossa was an early drinking affordable pleasant red.

 

[Ernest T Bass]

Thanks, That's a great help. Who would you recommend to buy from on line that knows what they are talking about and can help walk him thru the purchase of the kit and equipment?
Semper Fi
Bud

 

[richmke]

If you can find a local store, you are better off going there.

 

[cmason1957]

We have two sponsors of this site that I have dealt with, who can answer many questions and help guide a newbie in their first wine making efforts, Doug at Brew and Wine Supply, and Stephanie at Design2Brew. They both know what they are talking about, since they both make wine and beer as well as sell the products.

 

[Dhaynes]

I second the recommendation to start with an Island Mist kit because they are quick to make and quick to drink and always give good results. You can drink them immediately after bottling but it's best to wait at least a month. Now that we have built up a supply we usually give ours a minimum of 3 months or more. We add the three pounds of sugar up front but we don't try to dissolve it first. We just fill our primary to the 6 gallon mark and then just pour in the sugar. We have a drill mounted wine whip that we use to stir it in and make sure it dissolves. We do not add any of the fpack to the primary. We always wait and add all of the fpack at the end but then we prefer sweeter wines.

The Exotic Fruit White Zin is one of our favorites and doesn't need much aging time at all. The Pom Zin is good too but it needs more time to age. All of the IM kits we have done have had a white wine as the base but there are several with Pinot Noir, cab or Sharaz as the base if your friend likes reds.

Almost any online wine making store will have a prepackage starter equipment kit with all of the essentials. We got ours from Midwestsupplies.com It came with the primary bucket, Better Bottle carboy, hydrometer, thermometer, etc. things that were not part of the basic kit that we purchased right away were 1) Drill mounted three prong de-gasser /wine whip expensive $50 but worth it, 2) auto siphon $10, 3) Floor corker $70 well worth the cost. While these three items are not strictly necessary they do make for a lot less work and a much more enjoyable experience.


Sent from my iPad using Wine Making

 

[SBWs]

For starting out a good one would be this one from Amazon They come with corks, shrink wrap and all the chemicals needed. Can't beat the price and free shipping.

These along with the mist kits are sweeter wines so if your friend doesn't like sweet stay away from these.

 

[heatherd]

My suggestion would be for your friend to make what he or she likes to drink. The mist kits are good quick drinkers and tend to be sweeter. If they like a big, bold, dryer red, and are willing to take a few months to get there, then there are other kits that will fit that description in the mid range of price.
Heather

 

[GaDawg]

My suggestion is to make an early drinker of wheat ever he likes, then make one to age, and repeat until he has a stock of wine.

 

[wineforfun]

I guess I am in the minority. For my first kit, I went with a high end kit. RJS WS OVZ. I figured if I am going to take the time to make it, I wanted to make it worthwhile. While they continue to get better with age(at the 15month mark now) I have drank them along the way(3 month, 6 month, etc.) with good results.
I had been making numerous variations of dragon blood and other recipes from WMT and other locations before I ever tried a kit.
Just my .02

 

[richmke]

I guess I am in the minority. For my first kit, I went with a high end kit. RJS WS OVZ. I figured if I am going to take the time to make it, I wanted to make it worthwhile.

I figured I would make a lot of beginner's mistakes, which I did on my first few kits, and I would rather ruin a cheap kit than an expensive one.

Some of the mistakes would affect long-term aging (oxidation), and the cheaper kits are early drinkers and minimize that problem.

 

[wineforfun]

I figured I would make a lot of beginner's mistakes, which I did on my first few kits, and I would rather ruin a cheap kit than an expensive one.

Some of the mistakes would affect long-term aging (oxidation), and the cheaper kits are early drinkers and minimize that problem.

What type of beginner mistakes are you talking about? and what type that would affect long-term aging?

 

[zalai]

I agree with Wineforfun . Ernest T Bass has lots of experience to help his friend if he has any question . Don"t by less than a 16 L kit .

 

[richmke]

What type of beginner mistakes are you talking about? and what type that would affect long-term aging?

Oxidation is the main problem. On my first kit, I whipped it with drill way too long. That introduced oxygen, rather than beating out CO2. Didn't have anything to top off the carboy.

Other problems include potential contamination when starting the flow of wine when racking, and lots of spill problems when bottling. The All-in-One solved a lot of problems. Too much / too little K-meta over time (how often to rack and how much k-meta to add with which racking). Which corks to use. Cheap corks that come in the beginners kit are fine for quick drinking wines, but I would never use a #8 First Quality cork for wine that will stay in the bottle for years.

When you are starting out, doing each step is a major event. What equipment do you use? Preparing equipment for 1st time use (like thoroughly cleaning new marbles). Sometimes you don't realize you didn't do it right until it is too late, and you remember for the next time (forgot to sanitize tubing between wines when racking a bunch of batches on the same day).

 

[wineforfun]

Oxidation is the main problem. On my first kit, I whipped it with drill way too long. That introduced oxygen, rather than beating out CO2. Didn't have anything to top off the carboy.

Other problems include potential contamination when starting the flow of wine when racking, and lots of spill problems when bottling. The All-in-One solved a lot of problems. Too much / too little K-meta over time (how often to rack and how much k-meta to add with which racking). Which corks to use. Cheap corks that come in the beginners kit are fine for quick drinking wines, but I would never use a #8 First Quality cork for wine that will stay in the bottle for years.

When you are starting out, doing each step is a major event. What equipment do you use? Preparing equipment for 1st time use (like thoroughly cleaning new marbles). Sometimes you don't realize you didn't do it right until it is too late, and you remember for the next time (forgot to sanitize tubing between wines when racking a bunch of batches on the same day).

I gotcha. Yeah, I started with 1gal. batches, then moved to 2-3gal. Started out making dragon blood and a few recipes from the purple book I received with my kit. All that helped me with cork, K-Meta, bottling, etc. by the time I did a kit.
I didn't make a kit until I was a year into things so I opted for the higher end ones.
With that said, I take my kit and ferment it in an 8 gal. primary, then rack it into 2-3gal. carboys. Mostly because I don't want to deal with all the degassing issues I read about on here and also because I will usually tweak one of the carboys with extra oak, tannins, etc.