Looking at doing my first wine kit

[mmaguy41]

Just a few questions, should i use a separate fermenter from the ones i use for my beer? Also are shop bought used screw cap bottles ok to use? if so how long can i age the wine in them? Can you leave them as long as corked bottles? Any kit reccomendations would be great too im looking at doing a 6 bottle kit first to get started. Cheers

 

[RobWalker]

give it a good wash to stop smells transferring. you want to ferment with very little headroom for wine so you can't do say 1/2 gallon in a 5 gallon fermenter...it'll almost definitely get infected or oxidized. you can use a 5 litre water bottle from tesco etc if you need a cheap vessel.

I use screw caps, they tend to suck after 3 uses or so, but otherwise they're fine as long as they're airtight. dunno about ageing, mine never last as I age in the DJ :p

it's worth doing some small bottles too. morrisons sell 4 250ml bottles for £1, fizzy flavoured water. single servers :thumb:

you should get 6x wine bottles and about 300ml more out of a 4.5L batch.

 

[mmaguy41]

Ive got some 5l djs that i thought id try a 6 bottle kit in, so headspace wont be a problem, just want to see how the wine is recieved first as its mostly for my parents and in laws

 

[RobWalker]

great. go for it! you may consider a wow for an early wine brew too, it's a cracker.

viewtopic.php?f=48&t=10179

 

[CycoSymz]

I've done 4 Wilko's kits and they've all turned out really nice.


A glass of Wilko's Merlot

This has turned out really nice. Will be bottling the batch tomorrow.

 

[oldbloke]

Just be aware the timings on the kits tend to be optimistic

 

[mmaguy41]

Yeh thats something i have learned with beer too, im in no rush to have it ready. I didnt take the 7 day thing seriously