Wine Kit Overview

I have been making wine kits now for over a year. This was a good introduction to learning the process and has resulted some good tasting wine. To date I have made the following kits:

• Gewurztraminer
• Zinfandel/Shiraz
• White Merlot
• Australian Chardonnay
• Diablo Rojo
• White Merlot
• South African Chenin Blanc
• Coastal Red
• Coastal White
• Coastal White Raspberry Infused
• Italian Sangiovese
• Zinfandel/Shiraz

Each kit will make approximately 30 bottles. The costs are between $50-$150 which equates to $2-$5 per bottle. The lower end wines would be similar to buying a $10 bottle and higher end being $20 from a store.

Each Kit comes with:

• Fruit juice bag
• Possibly F-packs (add after fementation)
• Yeast
• Bentonite - removes charge particles from the wine
• Metabisulphate - kills wild yeast and bacteria
• Sorbate - stops fermentation
• Fining Agent - used for clearing
• Detailed instructions

The wine process takes about 4-5 weeks from start to finish. The wine is drinkable right away but recommendations would be to rack it for 3-6 months prior to drinking. Happy wine making!

Cold Clearing

I am in the process of clearing a couple of homemade wines ( 1 gallon of banana, 1 gallon of potato/onion) and tried a new technique as they were still really hazy over a few weeks. I initially stabilized with Metabisulphite and Sorbate, then followed by using a Sparkalloid (wine clarifier). 3 weeks later, there was sediment that fell to the bottom of the carboy but still the haze. My friends at @midwestbrewing suggested to try to clear the wine by exposing to colder temperatures. I put the two one gallon carboys in my garage which held a temperature of 30-40 F over the most of the month of February and it began to clear the wine. With the onion/potato wine, it became more and more transparent over time. The banana wine slowly started to clear top to bottom - see the picture below where 3/4 of the carboy was clear. I definitely will be using this technique in the future.