Solomon Grundy 7 day Peach Wine Review

As my first venture in wine making, I started off with a Solomon Grundy peach wine. The kit says it's ready to drink in 7 days, which I think is partly true.

The kit instructions are generic for all their wine kits (I also got the strawberry kit with identical instructions), which caused some confusion, mainly when it said to add the sweetner sachet. After some research, I found that the sweetner sachet isn't needed or included for the flavored wines. However, along with the concentrate juice and add back sachet (which is coloured and flavored), all the sachets are clearly marked.

Mixing the wine together was an easy enough process following the instuctions, even for a first time brew like me. The instuctions suggest the fermenting can be done in 4-5 days using temperatures between 20-28'C. I found that fermenting the wine at a near constant 26'C it had finished in 3 days with a reading on 0.992 on the hydrometer. Unfortunately because this was my first venture into wine making I didn't take a reading at the start. This was mainly because i was following the instructions to the letter, which didn't mention anything about taking a starting reading, however, I'll also put it down to a lapse in concentration on things that I had read online on how to brew. Also, the instructions say to add between 660-770 grams of sugar for the fermentation. Because I wanted a sweeter wine, I used 770 grams, but it turns out it just affects how much alcohol is in the wine and not the sweetness. It would have been beneficial for the instructions to mention that, especially for someone who is new to home brewing.

The kit recommends degassing the wine over 2 hours, then to add the clearing agent. After several days the wine hadn't started clearing, so after doing some research I left the DJ in a cooler place (about 14-17'C) and it started clearing. However, moving the wine to a cooler place to clear was another thing missed out in the instructions.

After the wine has cleared, the instructions say to add sugar, shake and then it's ready to bottle/drink. They recommend to only add half the sugar if it's your first go at the kit in case it's too sweet, personally, the misses and I both like sweet wines so I added the full amount of sugar. The wine is drinkable, but the flavour is very sharp, so I've racked it into another DJ to age for a bit first.

I think after the wine has aged a little bit and loses some of the sharpness, it could turn out to be a very nice, sweet wine, but I'll have to wait 4-8 weeks to find out the final outcome.

My final thoughts is that the kit is very good for a first time brewer, and the only thing that I would change in the kit is rather then do generic instructions, have the instructions tailored for each kit.

One final thing, I also made the strawberry wine kit from the same company, and my thoughts are exactly the same for that kit, although I'm having clearing problems with it, but that maybe my own fault as I may not have degassed it properly, but I'll post more about that when I have it sorted.

I hope this review helps people who are maybe thinking about trying the kit, but I'll post an update when the time comes to bottle/drink it.

nice review :thumb:

Most wine kits I've done have really improved with a month or more in the bottle.... worth the wait, but does mean you have to plan your brewing well ahead :lol: :lol:

As an update to this review, both the strawberry and peach versions of this kit are amazing! They are both great tasting, no harshness and no off flavors. I'm about to order the strawberry kit again as it really is that good! Highly recommended, especially if you prefer a medium-sweet wine.

My first post here I thought id give my thoughts on this kit. :

Ive made a few SG 30 bottle kits and I find the excessive strength is because of the 'Wine compound' sachet they include. It kind of tastes like pear drops and seems to be an artificial flavouring. I tend to just add 1/4 of it or not add it at all, then the wine is better, smoother and less intense. It means that when new the wine is a little weak, but if you intend to let it mature a bit the wine is nice in the long run.

Welcome rovex :

I know it's a different wine but I took issue with Ritchies (who market SGrundy) because of their advice on back-sweetening.

Silly of me I know but I made the bilberry wine sweeter than I like. Their instructions advise adding 430g of sugar to the wine when finished.

I tested the gravity before stabilising and it was 0.992. I followed the instructions, adding amongst other sachets one of bilberry juice. I didn't taste or test the gravity of the wine before adding sugar. I imagined it would still be around 0.992. Given that I added about 5oz sugar (roughly 1/3 of what they advise) I thought it would get to around 1.000 - 1.002 but was shocked to find it at 1.011, which is too sweet for my taste.

So I can now either a) wait until bilberry season then blend with a new bilberry wine, b) add a little brandy (I already oaked it anyway) to make a port-style wine or c) hope the missus likes it that sweet.

Moral of the story? I'll always test and taste myself before back-sweetening, rather than follow instructions on this.

Hi all,

I know this is a very old post but I'm having issues clearing my Solo Grundy Strawberry and Cherry wine kit, I'm a beginner and probably should have only done one kit but the wine is for a party so I thought id do two separate kits (6 bottle versions)

I'm having issue with the final stage of the the kit, its the clearing stage. I degassed as per instruction and then added the fining agent as per instructions (for both kits)

Its not clearing after 2 weeks and the air lock has a very slow bubble, so it seems there is carbon dioxide in there perhaps? (I'm unsure)

I'm beginning to think that I added the fining agents before I had full degassed the wine.

Can anyone help? suggestions any thing? pleaseeeeeee.

I haven't tried moving it to a cold place yet as the original post at the top suggested, would a fridge do? or is that to cold? I have tried to degas again on Friday (29/05/15) but its still the same. another suggestion I researched was to move them to another DJ ?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.