I thought home brewing was a much cheaper option.

[country joe]

Hi,
Coming from an area where there are no homebrew shops, i have to rely on line,
I like the idea of wine kits, especially the Beaverdale range, they appear to get decent reviews,
but its the postage you have to pay, normally averages £4.95 and for the 6 bottle kit £12.45
£17.40 which isn't too far away from £18 which would work out at £3 a bottle.
You could buy 6 bottles at this price from any major supermarket.

 

[MarkCL]

I think for a lot of us it's not necessarily about how cheap we can do something, more as to the sense of satisfaction that you made something yourself that can even, in some delightful cases, turn out as good or better than you can buy. Where wine making is concerned the sky really is the limit - you can turn pretty much anything into wine, so you don't have to do the kits. Have a look in the wine section in this forum and that should give you a good idea of the huge possibilities for making cheap, yet good quality wine, a lot of which you'll never see in a shop anyway

If you're really wanting to do the kit wines though then maybe you ought to consider bulk buying in order to qualify for free delivery? A fair few online brew shops do that if you spend enough and the kits usually have decent best before dates on them so you'll still end up with a better deal long term. Anyway, good luck with whatever you do end up brewing :thumb:

Cheers,
Mark

 

[BIGJIM72]

Some companies will do free delivery for a larger order. Want a cheaper wine? Go foraging for summer fruits or make some WOW.

 

[oldjiver]

For white wine the boxed fruit juices from supermarkets, grape apple, orange, etc, make good plonk and are dirt cheap. They are called WOW here (worzels orange wine). Try a few of them. I havent been able to make a good red from anything but pure grape juice though.

 

[dangerman]

It's way cheaper mate, you just need to shop around and avoid the six bottle kits. Here's a winebuddy kit on eBay, 30 bottles (or 11 fizzy drinks bottles is what I use) for £22.49. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wine-budd..._Home_Garden_Food_SM&var=&hash=item3f2689f1c6

You've got to spend about £3.40 on sugar too, but it's still less than a quid a bottle. Merlot is my favourite one.

Actually, this is the first kit I used and I was amazed how quickly and easily (and how nice) is turned out. You make your money back on all your kit on your first batch. Second batch is 100% saving. The wine does turn out a bit thin though. I like it, but next time I think I'm gonna try some extra tanning - I'll bung a few tea bags in with it. I've always got one of these in the house ready to go. If there is a party coming up you can get the whole family leathered on this one kit.

 

[Moley]

Home brewing can be a much cheaper option, although several “but”s could be attached to that statement.

If you want to make white or pink wines then supermarket juices can produce very acceptable wines for around 60p a bottle.

If you are prepared to go foraging then you can make some very full bodied red wines in the region of 30-40p a bottle, but you've got to spend time picking and preparing that fruit and then have rather a lot of patience.

If you want to make full bodied red varietal grape wines then kits are probably your only option, and you get what you pay for. 6 bottle kits are a waste of time and money, you have to scale up to the 30 bottle kits.

Regarding beers, you can use a budget kit and produce something drinkable for around 50p a pint, or you can use a premium kit and make something really quite good for around £1 a pint, or you can spend a hundred or so on equipment, six hours on a brew and produce something absolutely fantastic for 25p a pint.

It's your call.

 

[country joe]

Thanks all, for the 30 bottle kits, would i just need the demijohns and Bottles,
I take it, i would need 5 Demijohns?

Been looking for the recipes for the supermarket juice, but cant find any, anyone give me a link?
Have now found them.

 

[oldjiver]

Thanks all, for the 30 bottle kits, would i just need the demijohns and Bottles,
I take it, i would need 5 Demijohns?

Been looking for the recipes for the supermarket juice, but cant find any, anyone give me a link?
Have now found them.

Simple one.... 1 ltr Apple Juice, 1 ltr white grape juice, 800gm sugar, wine yeast (BV7 worked well for me) pectic enzyme.

 

[LeithR]

oldjiver's recipe is a great and simple one, I have a few of these on the go att and have done others in he past. Just don't forget to add sufficient water to the mix to bring the brew up to the shoulder of the DJ initially and once the fierce ferment is passed top up to just below the neck of the DJ.

 

[Aleman]

Any chance of moving this to the wine forum

 

[wilsoa1111]

agreed cost of reds is a bit dear with £50 for 30 bottles- probably £2 a bottle by time add all the bother and corks etc- can buy a v nice bottle for £6... maybe 3x the price but i dont get through 30 bottles of red wine a year, maybe 12 max ? so not really economic for me, still bargains can be had every now and then...

however i did make a rather nice warm mulled elderberry wine that was drinkable immediately from the dried ones, which did work out rather cheap and certainly more kick than the supermarket stuff, still to see wether the normal stuff from the batch turns out any good (leaving to mature in a crusted port kinda way)

 

[Moley]

Any chance of moving this to the wine forum

Done :thumb:

 

[screamlead]

I've never bought any wine kits ever as the fruit in Turkey is dirt cheap often free and i have made some stunning wines both fizzy and still. No home brew shops so i make my own malt too. The only things that do cost me are yeasts and hops all of which i have to get sent here or brought out. I've also made 100's of litres of ciders and wines from juices and t bags - they sky's the limit really.
I buy my sugar in 25kg bulk sacks too. :

 

[MandiNKel]

It's as cheap as you want it to be, I can make 6 bottles of wine for as little as 50p per bottle!
Kits aren't the cheapest option as half the work is already done for you, so you have to pay the price for it!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Been looking for the recipes for the supermarket juice, but cant find any, anyone give me a link?
Have now found them.

If you missed this one there are plenty of supermarket recipes here - viewtopic.php?f=41&t=39846

WOW guide - viewtopic.php?t=10179

 

[dangerman]

Home brewing can be a much cheaper option, although several “but”s could be attached to that statement.

If you want to make white or pink wines then supermarket juices can produce very acceptable wines for around 60p a bottle.

If you are prepared to go foraging then you can make some very full bodied red wines in the region of 30-40p a bottle, but you've got to spend time picking and preparing that fruit and then have rather a lot of patience.

If you want to make full bodied red varietal grape wines then kits are probably your only option, and you get what you pay for. 6 bottle kits are a waste of time and money, you have to scale up to the 30 bottle kits.

Regarding beers, you can use a budget kit and produce something drinkable for around 50p a pint, or you can use a premium kit and make something really quite good for around £1 a pint, or you can spend a hundred or so on equipment, six hours on a brew and produce something absolutely fantastic for 25p a pint.

It's your call.

I agree. Brewing is a fairly open game. You can make cheap **** stuff, ok good value stuff or I think you can spend too much on a brew that doesn't represent good value.

I am curious what equipment one might need to make really high quality beer for 25p a pint.

Thanks all, for the 30 bottle kits, would i just need the demijohns and Bottles,
I take it, i would need 5 Demijohns?

Yes and no. You could use them if you want, but if you don't already have them then buy two 23ltr brewing buckets from Wilkinsons for about £8 each. Or If you do have five demijohns hanging around you could just buy one bucket and syphon into your demijohns.

 

[PD]

quote
I am curious what equipment one might need to make really high quality beer for 25p a pint.

any all grain brew will produce beer in this price range. Quality wise its up to the brewer and thats the fun bit.

 

[dangerman]

quote
I am curious what equipment one might need to make really high quality beer for 25p a pint.

any all grain brew will produce beer in this price range. Quality wise its up to the brewer and thats the fun bit.

I was chatting to the bloke at LoveBrewing the other day, I spotted he had big whole grain kits for sale of Old Peculiar (one of my faves) amongst others. He said that he wouldn't bother, they're really hard work and he thinks that buying the malt in a kit is easier and stinks the place out less.

But you'd recommend it? What extra kit would I need to buy?

 

[PD]

do you know how to brew all grain ?

it is some what involved and quite a bit of extra equipment is required. but in my mind its the ultimate method of making beer...its what the hobby of beer making is about.
there are various degrees of all grain brewing notably BIAB and 3 vessel.
Have a read in the how to section.

all grain kits are just a way where companies make up the graind and hops for a spefici type of beer to save you the bother, however they charge for that privelidge...its cheaper to buy bulk

 

[dangerman]

Good tip, thanks mate. Might stick with easy for now but I'll probably work towards it over the next few years.