Cellar 7 red wine kits

[tonyhibbett]

I have been offered these at a special price of £27 plus delivery. The few reviews I read suggest these are no better than the cheaper (£20 from Tesco direct plus £3 for sugar plus £3 delivery if not collected from store) Winebuddy kits and definitely inferior to California Connosseur, (£43 plus delivery, sugar included). Cellar 7 claims 50% grape concentrate, which suggests significantly better than Winebuddy, which is effectively 20% grape concentrate (1 litre to 4 kg sugar), while the ratio is not specified with the Cal Con. kits, which are significantly better than the Winebuddy in terms of body, depth of colour and, after a few months, flavour, while the Winebuddy is quicker to produce, immediately drinkable, perfectly acceptable as a light, undistinguished table wine which only moderately improves with time.
I'll probably take the plunge anyway, but if anyone can shed more light on Cellar 7 reds, I'd be grateful.

 

[pdennehy]

Hi iv done two cellar 7 kits now and they are much much better than the wine buddy. The first I followed the instructions to the letter the finished wine was good but I felt lacked boddy but did improve with age. So after several other kits I have returned to a cellar 7 kit from what iv learned I brewed it short at 20 litres and the end result was excellent like a different wine alot more boddy ok still not as good as a premium kit but still very drinkable straight away. My next beaverdale will be brewed short to see if any improvement can be made. Wine buddy only have 1lt of juice cellar 7 have 5.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Many thanks. Were these reds, and if so, which ones? I'll probably go for the cabernet sauvignon for direct comparison.
I always make 30 bottle kits to almost exactly fit a 20 litre polypin. The whites are fine, sauvignon blanc being the better of the two.
5 litres at 50%, as claimed, means 2.5 litres of concentrate, 2.5 times that of Winebuddy, so makes the Cellar 7 seem like pomace wine really. I made some from real red grapes this year. After second pressing, soaked the grape skins, stalks and pips in water, (half quantity of juice extracted initially) for 2 days, pressed it and added enough sugar to double the sg, effectively 50/50. The result was a light bodied red wine, immediately pleasant to drink, unlike the main brew, which was very harsh. I put this down to tannin, but was wrong. Logically, there should be more tannin in the pomace, from the higher proportion of stems and pips. The harshness was due to the high acid content of the initial free run juice, not the pressings! Subsequent experiments suggested that turning juice into concentrate removes significant amounts of acid, along with subtle flavours, and up to 80% of the water. My precious, free run, organically grown red grape juice was actually rubbish!
The groundsman at Leeds castle told me this about the produce of their vineyard in Kent. It ran contrary to what I thought I knew to be the case, but now it makes sense. This is England, not the Med!

 

[tonyhibbett]

Kit arrived today. Great credit to the supplier, Brew UK. It came just 2 days after ordering, £4.71 P&P., Parcelforce 24, which, even at last year's prices, would cost over £14!
It's 7 kg so 6 litres, not 5. This is 20% short of the Cal. Con. at 7.5. The vendor claims it's 50% concentrate. Thats 3 litres, the equivalent of about 55% grape juice in the wine, which is pretty good for the money, and triple the amount in Winebuddy.
It's a Young's product, like Winebuddy, and you get the same yeast/nutrient, stabiliser, finings 1 and 2, but not 3, and no flavouring or oak chips, plus a sturdy re-useable 6 litre container to store some of the wine to mature in bulk, and the box to keep it dark.
I'll get it started today, using plain tap water (hard) and will add 30 g oak chips, pushing the overall cost to £35.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Ready to bottle in 7 days? Yes.
Depth of colour? Good.
Acidity: pH 3.5; 4 ppt (sulphuric).
Better than Winebuddy? Yes.
Good cabernet sauvignon? Not really, yet, but very similar to cal. con. barolo at same stage.
Definitely worth paying that bit extra and waiting that bit longer.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Brew Uk know their trade. Having lured me into Cellar 7, they now emailed me to say they've dropped their price on Cal. Con. kits before I've even had the chance to bottle their previous offer. They deliver faster than I can produce. The Cellar 7 is very good after just 9 days. Couldn't resist it!