"BKBooth" wrote in
m:

Hi all, I want to make a batch of wine from a kit or other simple
method. what is a decent kit? and can I use 5gal plastic water jugs as
a fermenter? I have used them for beer but don't know if wine may have
a different effect due to acidity etc. My LHBS has several kits in the
$ 40 to 50 range. I want to do a blackberry merlot or a peach white
wine. any help and suggestions appreciated.

Earlier in the year I made a batch using the Alexander's Sun Country
Cabernet kit. Tonight I took a bottle to my homebrew club meeting, and the
guys actually loved it. I got comments that it was more balanced and
mellow than one of the other guy's concorde wine that he made the "non-
kit" way and which had also been aging for 3 years.

Hi all, I want to make a batch of wine from a kit or other simple method.
what is a decent kit? and can I use 5gal plastic water jugs as a fermenter?
I have used them for beer but don't know if wine may have a different effect
due to acidity etc. My LHBS has several kits in the $ 40 to 50 range. I want
to do a blackberry merlot or a peach white wine. any help and suggestions
appreciated.

Be careful -- the types you mentioned are typically more of a "wine
cooler" kind of thing (less than 10% abv). We see posts in this
newsgroup on a regular basis from people who bought them thinking they
were "normal" wines (full-bodied and 12-13% abv) and were
disappointed. They aren't necessarily bad, just make sure you know
what the product is before you purchase it...

Most kits are 6 US gallons, so 5 US gallon water jugs will have one
obvious drawback. Also, if you plan to bulk age for longer than the 4
weeks or so that your kit recommends, you should really use glass (I
believe I've read that the plastic will allow oxygen into the wine).

Whatever you do, save some for at least a year or 18 months. If the
kit is half decent at all, you should notice huge improvements from
the aging.

Cheers,
Richard

"BKBooth" wrote in message om...
Hi all, I want to make a batch of wine from a kit or other simple method.
what is a decent kit? and can I use 5gal plastic water jugs as a fermenter?
I have used them for beer but don't know if wine may have a different effect
due to acidity etc. My LHBS has several kits in the $ 40 to 50 range. I want
to do a blackberry merlot or a peach white wine. any help and suggestions
appreciated.