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.

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.
>
>

Duck Redbeard wrote:
> 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?

I've heard it recommended that if it's your first wine kit you should
follow the instructions to the letter. Everything is already
pre-balanced for 6 gallons; by concentrating the wine, you'd also be
concentrating all the additives (nutrient, finings, etc.).

The kit will contain all the ingredients you need - wine concentrate,
yeast, finings, etc. The yeast in the pack should be fine.

Vintners Reserve Chianti should already have an oak pack in it. If
there isn't one in the package, return it to your seller for a refund
or get a new pack from him.

The only thing I would change would be in the racking. The first kit I
used instructed me to add isinglass as a fining, wait x number of days,
and then bottle right from that carboy without racking first. I got
some lees (and some isinglass) into some of the bottles. I now rack off
the lees back into the primary and then bottle.

One thing my LHBS recommended was to use a different plastic primary
fermenter for wine. Although the fermenter is of course food-grade
plastic, it will impart some flavour to the must or wort from previous
batches, and often wine doesn't go well with beer or vice versa.

Good luck and enjoy your wine!

wd41

Duck Redbeard wrote:
Duck,

One of the regulars on this NG, Lum Eisenman, has written a book and
made it available online. Here's the link:
http://www.geocities.com/lumeisenman/

Jack Kellar has written another good book too:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp

--
Mike MTM, Cokesbury, NJ, USA

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FWIW, I wish I'd skipped the potassium sorbate addition in my first wine (a
kit). Out of the gate and 12+ months afterward, this wine was horrific and I
actually instructed people to dump it. Consider that this was after I'd
given it as Christmas gifts (I guess the personalized labels worked because
nobody was too PO'd).

About two years ago I dug into the cellar for "older" wines and found the
last remaining (hopefully so) bottle of this plonk. I doubtfully opened it
and found, to my delight, a wine that had aged quite well and shrug its pot.
sorbate characteristic.

To make a long story short, if I would do it all over again, I'd bulk age
longer, skip the pot. sorbate pack and bottle 6 months after they told me
to. The taste of the pot. sorbate was just too [prevalent for me to enjoy
the wine whatsoever.


Patrick

"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.
>

"duck"
If this is your 1st venture into winemaking FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS that came
with the kit. Once you taste the finished wine then you can make
adjustments.
Find a local HBS or some local Wine Clubs, ( I have one here in South
Jersey) there you will get a wealth of info. If you go to some club mtgs I'm
sure you will taste some of their homemade wine.
just a thought.
Tom


--

Home of the
MOON RIVER BREWERY
and
DELANCO VINEYARDS
"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.
>

"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.

Famous last words!

>What is the quality I should expect from a "Vintner's Reserve - Chianti"
>concentrate kit?
>
I have got good results from white wine kits but been disapointed with red
wine kits. But that is personal.

> 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?
>

Make the wine as per instructions. At least for the first few batchs. Then
you might experiment a bit. The only modification I would make is that if
you are bottling dry, leave out the potasium sorbate.

Ray