What's in your Carboy? I just bottled a batch of Merlot and another batch of Chocolate Raspberry Port. The Merlot was made from a Vintner's Best ingredient Kit, which is the best quality for the price in home wine making (~$70 makes 30 bottles of wine). Of course, if you spend more money, the wine gets even better as you get more juice with your kit and that basically leads to a superior wine with a fuller body. But I generally stick to the Vintner's best kits and I have not run into anyone that does not rave over the wine I make. The batches that just came out of my carboy has sat for a while and tastes pretty good right now, but they will surely get better with some aging in their bottles. My family and friends love the port - I have to stash it away or they will drink it all! My beer stock is low and I will be making a Traditional European Boch next. This will be the first time I'm using liquid yeast (usually you get a dry packet of yeast in the Brewer's Best kits). The dry yeast work out just fine, but I was told by a friend that competes nationally in hombrew, that the key to GREAT beer is using liquid yeast. I'm going to try it out and I will let you know. Share a story about your hombrew - I would love to hear from you. Make your own Beer or Wine? Visit www.makingbeerisfun.com or www.makingwineisfun.com, which are both divisions of Top Shelf Specialties.
