Wine kits - worth a go?

[GalBrew]

The issue with wine kits, and a lot of home made cider, is that they fail to go through malolactic fermentation, this is critical for converting malic acid to lactic acid and results in a far smoother, less "sour" product. Sour is probably the wrong word, but lactic acid is a more smooth mouthfeel/tasting acid than malic acid. Some of the premium kits may have already had the malic acid converted...... not sure.

If you make cider from kits or bottled juice, buy some malo culture from one of the site sponsors and pitch it toward the end of fermentation.

Speaking of MLF, does anyone use a chromatography kit to determine MLF completion? If so where can you get them? I've had little luck finding them in Oz.

 

[TimT]

Allow me to put in a word of recommendation for the simplest of all wines - the sugar-based Country Wines. Don't even need a kit. Their trick is simply dissolving the sugar in water, and usually at some point adding some kind of a garden ingredient - eg, boiling the water and steeping elderflowers in it overnight, or whatever. The results can be surprisingly good, and they're an excellent starter for wine brewers.

 

[Bribie G]

Fruit wines of all sorts can be excellent, I once made prickly pear wine from a stand of cactus growing near Bargara and it turned out like a 12% version of tawny port. In the UK, Dad used to make plum wine, rhubarb wine and elderberry wine, really just for the price of the sugar. Got the Vicar pissed on more than one occasion (back in the days when Vicars would do the rounds).
I was planning to do a huge batch of lychee wine but the Rosellas ate the lot.

 

[Blind Dog]

Elderflower wine was my first ever deliberate home made alcohol, was surprisingly nice for such a simple recipe after a year or so in the bottle.

 

[TimT]

Elderflower wine is beautiful.

Parsnip wine, too, is supposed to be one of the best wines you can make, oddly enough. I haven't tried that yet.