Wilko's 30 bottle deep red Merlot Review

Gassman · May 15, 2013

I am not sure what Alstar will say about his but I am disappointed with mine compared to the more expensive kits I purchased elsewhere

I asked some advice a few times about this brew as it did not seem to start to ferment and was actually in the fv for over 3 weeks and not the 7 days or less stated on the can

I had to throw in more yeast after it did not start and more nutrient ( dont forget I am a complete novice so this is from a learner point of view) and even then it would start then stop then start again and with a constant temp of 22 degrees and 3 other brews fermenting strongly next to it.

Racked twice and two lots of finings added at different intervals and even put through a filter kit I would not say it has cleared to what I would expect and looks more plummy colour than what I thought it should be but going by the name of it then maybe it is supposed to be that way.

I tasted as it was bottling and seems ok for a cheapo but with all the messing racking etc it has gone from 30 bottle kit to a 21 bottle kit

All in all I will not bother again and will stick to the kits that cost more money

**muffti** · May 17, 2013

I have made this for the second time, and it is OK but still comes out looking like a Rosy, and not deep red as described. I thought I would try it again encase I had bought a wrongly labeled one. Do any kits come out like a proper dark red?

CycoSymz · May 17, 2013

**muffti** said:
I have made this for the second time, and it is OK but still comes out looking like a Rosy, and not deep red as described. I thought I would try it again encase I had bought a wrongly labeled one. Do any kits come out like a proper dark red?

I made a Cellar 7 Cabernet Sauvignon and that turned out really dark and fruity like a true red wine.

Stamford Hillbilly · May 18, 2013

Gassman said:
I am not sure what Alstar will say about his but I am disappointed with mine compared to the more expensive kits I purchased elsewhere

I asked some advice a few times about this brew as it did not seem to start to ferment and was actually in the fv for over 3 weeks and not the 7 days

Yeah mines is slow too. Its fermenting alright but taking ages & I want to drink it not watch it. So why do Wilkos state seven days? Even in a Dubai furnace in mid summer I don't think seven days is long enough.

Flyer4u · May 18, 2013

Hi. I have made 2 Muntons Cab Sav bought from Wilkos and they came out very nice. Deep red and quite tasty. They both took a month to complete. I was impressed at Â£1.35 per bottle. So much so that they go very quickly.

Gassman · May 19, 2013

Just checked the shed and the colour is only what I can describe as a dirty dark plum colour

alster · May 21, 2013

Sorry it took so long for me to review this kit after asking to do so.

I've done two of these now, neither are what I'd call Red Wine so not a great start. I brewed the first one adding 4 litres of red grape juice but then after being disappointed with it. I messed about with it after fermentation trying to get some colour and body into it and ended up affecting the taste in a negative way. So i'll not try that again, anyone who advised me not to do it Thanks but I just had to try.
The next one again brewed using 4 litres of RGJ in place of water again thin and light in colour but at least it tastes like wine. All in I'm pretty disappointed with the resulting product from this kit and am not likely to buy it again. I will try a couple of the more expensive kits suggested as I want to brew a genuine red wine that I'd be happy to be served in a pub or restaurant and as yet I'm not even close.

mattrickl06 · May 21, 2013

From my limited experience the Beaverdale kits are excellent : cheers:

theboylloyd · Jan 26, 2014

I started one of these 7 days ago supplementing 2L for red grape juice, and as the above posters say it takes longer than advertised! Mine though got going very quickly and has been bubbling the airlock like crazy since day 2 (Held at 22oC), it is slowing so I suspect around day 12-14 I can rack it and get a look at the colour.

Hoping for good things! (Not a Rose!)

Dave

coyspurs · Jan 26, 2014

Just a thought, if a review of a product is going to be carried out, would it not make sense to review the product as is rather than adding other ingredients etc to it?

narmour · Jan 27, 2014

coyspurs said:
Just a thought, if a review of a product is going to be carried out, would it not make sense to review the product as is rather than adding other ingredients etc to it?

If the reviewer has made alterations to the product which improve the taste / body etc of a cheap kit, it is useful to know what alerations can make it better. Most people who make kits will take it as read that a cheap kit on it's own is not going to be very nice, so it is useful to know what alterations work and what isn't so effective at making them palatable.

From what I can gether from the rest of the thread, some reviewers had tried this kit as is and were disappointed. The most recent reviewer then offered some alterations. Surely this is useful as we have already established that this kit is a bit of a stinker?

coyspurs · Jan 28, 2014

Point taken narmour! I have made this kit and it turned out really good and was the red that converted my wife to drink and enjoy red wine. As stated in a previous post it is not a deep red and takes a while to ferment out, but did not have any problems with it at all. Have made a Kenridge Merlot since and although there is a difference in overall quality, i.e. bigger body, smoother flavour, the colour difference was not a long way off the Wilko one.

theboylloyd · Feb 19, 2014

I bottled half of my kit today, having left the other half to bulk age in DJs. Here's a couple of pics of the wine, remember this was supplemented by 2 litres of RGJ at the outset.

The wine is fairly palatable for a 1 week old, I imagine it will be ok after a couple of months. I'll perhaps post an update in a couple of months.

Good luck to future users of this kit.

leebrew · Apr 5, 2014

hello! has anyone made wilkos floral shiraz blush??? did it taste sweet to you as well?? thought i'd give this kit a try to see what its like.

i prefer to make belvino kits but liked the sound of this wilkos kit.

TimG · Apr 28, 2016

theboylloyd said:
I bottled half of my kit today, having left the other half to bulk age in DJs. Here's a couple of pics of the wine, remember this was supplemented by 2 litres of RGJ at the outset.

The wine is fairly palatable for a 1 week old, I imagine it will be ok after a couple of months. I'll perhaps post an update in a couple of months.

Good luck to future users of this kit.

Hi, I bought one of these kits a few weeks back and I had all these problems. The wine like yours can only be described as a dark rosÃÂ¨. I complained about it and was referred to Muntons, I had a good conversation with a gentleman and he advised it was a bad batch. They sent me a new kit which I can already see is so much darker in colour, however in nearly 4 days it had only dropped from 1090 to 1070. I've started stirring it now and has dropped to 1050 in 1 day. I'm now fairly optimistic it will produce a reasonable drop of wine.

Wilko's 30 bottle deep red Merlot Review

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

Gassman

Well-Known Member

muffti

New Member

CycoSymz

Active Member

Stamford Hillbilly

Active Member

Flyer4u

Active Member

Gassman

Well-Known Member

alster

Active Member

mattrickl06

Regular.

theboylloyd

New Member

coyspurs

Active Member

narmour

Landlord.

coyspurs

Active Member

theboylloyd

New Member

leebrew

New Member

TimG

New Member

Similar threads

Latest posts

Wilko's 30 bottle deep red Merlot Review

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

Well-Known Member

New Member

Active Member

Active Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Regular.

New Member

Active Member

Landlord.

Active Member

New Member

New Member

New Member

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!