How will wine kits compare to beer kits for quality?

[Chippy_Tea]

PS - not been on here for a good while.. Hope you are all keeping well.

Coronavirus is bringing many members back to the forum and hobby

 

[MisterBoy]

If it helps and for what it is worth. I have now made just over 70 x 30 bottle kits. My advice would be to avoid the cheaper ones like Winebuddy. I was not over impressed with California either. Beaverdale are nice and I recommend them but for something nicer still I suggest the Kenridge Classic kits. There are other more expensive high end kits that I have not tried. You DO get what you pay for. Just had 2 of these delivered for £93. The decent suppliers are just getting back to some sort of normality. Delivery takes longer but hey ho....... worth the wait. Enjoy.

PS - not been on here for a good while.. Hope you are all keeping well.

That's a lot of wine!

I was hoping to get Beaverdale but couldn't source any, so took a punt on Cantina Cabernet Sauvignon - seems this is one notch lower on the cost/quality scale but the reviews on this site seemed fairly positive. I'd be happy with any sort of table-wine, nothing special. If it goes OK I'd certainly try something more up-market, the cost/bottle is so low it makes beer kits seem quite pricey!

 

[Vinotinto]

That's a lot of wine!

I was hoping to get Beaverdale but couldn't source any, so took a punt on Cantina Cabernet Sauvignon - seems this is one notch lower on the cost/quality scale but the reviews on this site seemed fairly positive. I'd be happy with any sort of table-wine, nothing special. If it goes OK I'd certainly try something more up-market, the cost/bottle is so low it makes beer kits seem quite pricey!

Beaverdale out of stock with Creative but drop another 8 squids for the Kenridge. In stock.

 

[MisterBoy]

Never bought from Creative... my order should be arriving tomorrow fingers crossed so we'll have 1 or 2 beer kits and the wine all bubbling away this week.

 

[MisterBoy]

A quick update - I bottled it a week or two back and while it's not anything special, it's definitely drinkable. Kind of like a table wine plonk. Even the day after I bottled.
Two notes:

1. I racked my wine - I'm used to this from beer - but I do get a small amount of sediment in each bottle. It seems quite sticky, I have to rinse the bottles much more to get it out! I'm used to sediment in the beer but I don't use finings so is this part and parcel of home-brew wine, or does it suggest I could've done better? The wine itself seems fairly clear, it's fallen out in the bottles.

2. The wine is quite rich and not the watery mess I'd feared (11.5%), the only negative is a sort of sharp almost fizzy note. It's reduced a lot since I tasted the fine from the FV but I wondered is this a feature of my wine kit, or of wine kits generally, the way a lot of kit beers have a sort of 'kit taste'?

 

[Ebob01]

Out of interest when making the kits do people follow the instructions exactly or make in the normal way?

For example I've seen some which say to shake the dj to Degas every day for 3 days without racking off the lees, then at finings to the shook up cloudy wine.

Would it be better just to rack, degas with a wand, then add the finings?

 

[Ebob01]

A quick update - I bottled it a week or two back and while it's not anything special, it's definitely drinkable. Kind of like a table wine plonk. Even the day after I bottled.
Two notes:

1. I racked my wine - I'm used to this from beer - but I do get a small amount of sediment in each bottle. It seems quite sticky, I have to rinse the bottles much more to get it out! I'm used to sediment in the beer but I don't use finings so is this part and parcel of home-brew wine, or does it suggest I could've done better? The wine itself seems fairly clear, it's fallen out in the bottles.

2. The wine is quite rich and not the watery mess I'd feared (11.5%), the only negative is a sort of sharp almost fizzy note. It's reduced a lot since I tasted the fine from the FV but I wondered is this a feature of my wine kit, or of wine kits generally, the way a lot of kit beers have a sort of 'kit taste'?

1. If it's left to clear or finings are used it should be clear with compact sediment at the bottom, best to rack into another container first before into the bottles. Do you have a siphon with a sediment trap? Should be straightforward to get clear wine in the bottle.

2. Sounds like it has trapped CO2 in it, there are various ways to remove if you look on here, most people use a drill attachment degassing wand. There is s sticky thread about making out of a hanger.