Duck,

(Your name IS Duck, isn't it?)

I also started by home brewing, which I've been doing for more than 20
years. Just started winemaking last year. In both cases, I got started by
reading several books on the subject then conversing with people who knew.
Back then, it usually meant face-to-face conversation with a limited few.
Now, It means groups like this one where you have contact with many people
of varying degrees of experience.

My suggestion would be to go to one of the on-line wine supplies stores (or
to a physical one nearby) and buy a book or two. Not only will you learn
the various techniques and the science behind them, but you'll get many
recipes that will take you immediately beyond the extract kits. My wines
have always been from my own fruit picked in my own fields. There's
something special in that.

I actually bought and read about 4-5 winemaking books, but here are the
books I used most frequently:
Winemaking
Anderson, Stanley F. and Anderson, Dorothy, Harcourt, Brace & Co. 1989
Isbn: 0-15-697095-3 (paperback)

First Steps in Winemaking
Berry, C.J.J., G.W. Kent, Inc, 1987
Isbn: 0-900841-83-4 (paperback)

John Price


"Duck Redbeard" > wrote in message
. ..
> I am a home brewer (all grain beer) and I am venturing into wine making.
I
> doubt I'll go beyond extract kits, but I want to give it a try. What is
the
> quality I should expect from a "Vintner's Reserve - Chianti" concentrate
> kit?
>
> I am not new to the fermentation sciences, I have been brewing since '95,
> including 3 years pro. And with my wife's help, I have learned to
> appreciate wine. Is there anything I should do in addition to what the
kit
> might direct me to do? Is there a preferred yeast for this wine? Should
> there be oak additions? Extended fermentation periods? Multiple rackings
> (how many should I do for a clean wine?)? Would it be a bad idea to
> reconstitute it to only 5.5 gallons instead of the 6 gallons?
>
> --
> Buy a man a beer and he wastes an hour.
> Teach a man to brew and he wastes the rest of his life.
>
>