The general consenus on kit wines is that their is little difference
between the results of carboy aging & bottle aging. It will get
better over time as Dave said, just doesn't matter carboy or bottle.

Having said that, the most important attribute of a good winemaker is
PATIENCE. Cutting short a holiday in order to bottle wine is (excuse
my comment) STUPID. Yes the instructions say to bottle in 28 or 42 or
whatever days, but bottling in 35 or 55 or 85 days is no big deal.

Last year we started a good Shiraz kit in Feb or March and bottled in
November. It is a VERY NICE wine. A couple of people that we have
shared it with, have made the exact kit. One actually just started
their second one.

I suggest, racking off sediment about 2 weeks after adding the
clearing. Then bottle at your leisure. Check the air-lock regularly.

Steve

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:41:59 -0700, wrote:

Hi, I've been making 6 gallon "KIT" wine for a year and a half. I've
made 7 batches: 2 white, 2 red, 2 kool-aid (mist-type) and 1
sparkling.

In all cases, I followed the instructions as written and all but two
(which are too young to try) are quite pleasing.

My question is about bulk aging after the clearing step, is there any
benefit to aging the wine in the carboy or should I just go ahead and
bottle? I am mainly interested in aging red wine kits. My father
wants me to make him some Cabernet, he usually drinks two buck chuck,
so the bar isn't real high. But I would like to know about carboy
aging.

The instructions make it seem so frantic that you bottle the wine at a
certain time and I am so afraid to mess it up. I've made my husband
cut trips short because we had to rush home and bottle. Can I just
rack it, put the airlock back on and bottle at my leisure?

I am not ready to try my hand at real grapes, so this is just a "KIT"
question. I enjoy reading the other posts and have gotten many good
tips. Thanks.