Recently a poster mentioned that Costco sold Wine Kits. I was in a
Costco here in Calgary the other day and noticed a wine kit promotion.
They were selling kits thst featured 23 litres of must. One of the two
"Limited Collection 2003" Opus V kits was an Italian Barbaresco. Being
a sucker for full bodied Reds I bought the kit. At $72.00Cdn the price
seemed pretty good.
I'm ready to start the kit now and noticed some strange instuctions.
After sprinkling the yeast on the must the instructions say to stir
the yeast into the must after waiting ten minutes. The other strange
instruction called for stirring the wine after racking to the carboy
for secondary fermentation, calling this step an initial degassing.
Both of these steps seem designed to rush the fermentation and would
appear to be unnecessary. Any thoughts on these steps?

I have purchases to same 23 litre pail in the Barolo style...from Costco
here in Vancouver. I was disappointed with the result...these pails of "
sterile must" are no better than a regular run-of-mill 7 litre box kit you
can buy for about $32.00.....When I contacted the Company they refused to
tell me how much of this kit was just pure water....!!! I also didn't like
the strange instructions it comes with...!! well you live and learn....
"rob davis" > wrote in message
news:401aa5bd.46353465@news...
> Recently a poster mentioned that Costco sold Wine Kits. I was in a
> Costco here in Calgary the other day and noticed a wine kit promotion.
> They were selling kits thst featured 23 litres of must. One of the two
> "Limited Collection 2003" Opus V kits was an Italian Barbaresco. Being
> a sucker for full bodied Reds I bought the kit. At $72.00Cdn the price
> seemed pretty good.
> I'm ready to start the kit now and noticed some strange instuctions.
> After sprinkling the yeast on the must the instructions say to stir
> the yeast into the must after waiting ten minutes. The other strange
> instruction called for stirring the wine after racking to the carboy
> for secondary fermentation, calling this step an initial degassing.
> Both of these steps seem designed to rush the fermentation and would
> appear to be unnecessary. Any thoughts on these steps?

Seems like a rather damning review but i appreciate the input.
Hopefully the limited collection kit is of a better quality. I'm going
to start it off tomorrow and hope for the best. Did you follow those
"strange instructions?" I didn't think the 23 litres was all juice, as
it says right on the pail that the kit was from concentrate. I would
think that having 23 litres of must is strictly for convenience. If I
end up with a half decent Barbaresco at $2.40 a bottle, it would be
preferable to the $16 it costs at the liquor store. I can always use
more "pizza wine."
On Fri, 30 Jan 2004 19:55:14 GMT, "Great Dane" >
wrote:

>I have purchases to same 23 litre pail in the Barolo style...from Costco
>here in Vancouver. I was disappointed with the result...these pails of "
>sterile must" are no better than a regular run-of-mill 7 litre box kit you
>can buy for about $32.00.....When I contacted the Company they refused to
>tell me how much of this kit was just pure water....!!! I also didn't like
>the strange instructions it comes with...!! well you live and learn....
>"rob davis" > wrote in message
>news:401aa5bd.46353465@news...
>> Recently a poster mentioned that Costco sold Wine Kits. I was in a
>> Costco here in Calgary the other day and noticed a wine kit promotion.
>> They were selling kits thst featured 23 litres of must. One of the two
>> "Limited Collection 2003" Opus V kits was an Italian Barbaresco. Being
>> a sucker for full bodied Reds I bought the kit. At $72.00Cdn the price
>> seemed pretty good.
>> I'm ready to start the kit now and noticed some strange instuctions.
>> After sprinkling the yeast on the must the instructions say to stir
>> the yeast into the must after waiting ten minutes. The other strange
>> instruction called for stirring the wine after racking to the carboy
>> for secondary fermentation, calling this step an initial degassing.
>> Both of these steps seem designed to rush the fermentation and would
>> appear to be unnecessary. Any thoughts on these steps?
>
>

I've not tried those kits, but it seems all kits are not created equal. Some
brands were very good. Others seemed to be glucose-laden puple water that made
really poor wine.

> I have purchases to same 23 litre pail in the Barolo style...from Costco
> here in Vancouver. I was disappointed with the result...these pails of "
> sterile must" are no better than a regular run-of-mill 7 litre box kit you
> can buy for about $32.00.....

My cousin buys these or some other kit from Cosco and makes them
with 19 liters. He says they turn out pretty good. But if what
you say is true, about them being equililent to $32 - 7 liter
kits then even that doesn't make sense. They may have different
kits from time-to-time though.

Don

.. The only reason for buying the 23 litre "sterile must" and pay about $
72.00 (can) for them at Costco...would be if your water at home is so bad
you cant use it for making wine...!!!I was told by an Prof. Wine maker that
all wine kits comes with yeast/sorbate/potassium etc ...for making 23
litres....and if you reduce it say to 18-19 litres then all of the additives
are out of whack...!!!!
"Don S" > wrote in message
om...
> > I have purchases to same 23 litre pail in the Barolo style...from Costco
> > here in Vancouver. I was disappointed with the result...these pails of "
> > sterile must" are no better than a regular run-of-mill 7 litre box kit
you
> > can buy for about $32.00.....
>
> My cousin buys these or some other kit from Cosco and makes them
> with 19 liters. He says they turn out pretty good. But if what
> you say is true, about them being equililent to $32 - 7 liter
> kits then even that doesn't make sense. They may have different
> kits from time-to-time though.
>
> Don

> . The only reason for buying the 23 litre "sterile must" and pay about $
> 72.00 (can) for them at Costco...would be if your water at home is so bad
> you cant use it for making wine...!!!I was told by an Prof. Wine maker that
> all wine kits comes with yeast/sorbate/potassium etc ...for making 23
> litres....and if you reduce it say to 18-19 litres then all of the additives
> are out of whack...!!!!

There's no question that is true and probably very true
for a high end kit. I sometimes wonder about how true it
might be for some of the low end kits that seem pretty thin.
Never was there a truer acronym for wine kits then YMMV or
perhaps it should be YMMVG - Your Mileage May Very Greatly.

Don