Wine kit instructiuons don't make sense!

[Basic Brewing]

Hello,

Emboldened by recent home brew beet kit success I have ordered a 6 bottle / 7 day wine kit - quality!

I bought it online and am impatienlty awaiting delivery, ( I appreaciate impatience and homwbrew are not now good partners). Here's the thing, I found the instructions on the manufacturers website and they say this:

Day 0 – Fermentation1. Clean all equipment with Steriliser (follow instructions on Steriliser).2. Fill a Fermentation Vessel to 5 litres with hot water. (temperature less than 53oC)3. Add the Sugar into the hot water, stirring until completely dissolved.4. Add the Concentrate Pack into the Fermentation Vessel and stir for 30 seconds. Rinse using a small amount of cold tap waterthen add to the Vessel. In the case of the grape juice crystallising, immerse the pack in warm water to clear for 5minutes5. Top up the Fermentation Vessel with cold tap water to 4.8 litres and stir for 30 seconds. Check the Starting Gravity using anHydrometer.6. Add Pack A: Yeast/Nutrient into the liquid, stir for 30 seconds then tightly fit the lid..7. Leave the Vessel to ferment at room temperature (20o-25o C) for 6 days. We recommend the Vessel is placed on a tray or worksurface in case of excessive Fermentation. After 6 days, check the specific gravity using a Hydrometer. If the specific gravity isless than 0.996 - proceed to instruction 9. Fermentation can take long...

Or is it me?

Thanks.

 

[RichardM]

It's not just you. The other "wrong" thing is saying you should clean the equipment with steriliser. You clean with cleaner and then sterilise with steriliser.

 

[Basic Brewing]

It's not just you. The other "wrong" thing is saying you should clean the equipment with steriliser. You clean with cleaner and then sterilise with steriliser.

Thanks for the sanity check.

Do you think 2. Fill a Fermentation Vessel to 5 litres with hot water. (temperature less than 53oC)3. Add the Sugar into the hot water....

Should be:

Put sufficient hot water to disolve the sugar in to the fermentation vessel?

Thank you.

 

[matt.]

Thanks for the sanity check.

Do you think 2. Fill a Fermentation Vessel to 5 litres with hot water. (temperature less than 53oC)3. Add the Sugar into the hot water....

Should be:

Put sufficient hot water to disolve the sugar in to the fermentation vessel?

Thank you.

Yes.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Fill a Fermentation Vessel to 5 litres with hot water.

I have made many wine kits and have read instructions similar to that before i think they have given you instructions for 23 litre kit by mistake.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Should be:
Put sufficient hot water to dissolve the sugar in to the fermentation vessel?
Thank you.

Pour approximate 2 litres of boiling water into a pan dissolve the sugar let it drop to 30c then pour into the DJ.

You could use cooler water but i always found the sugar dissolved far quicker in the boiling water it also sanitises the pan and whatever you stir it with.

 

[RichardM]

Thanks for the sanity check.
Do you think 2. Fill a Fermentation Vessel to 5 litres with hot water. (temperature less than 53oC)3. Add the Sugar into the hot water....
Should be:
Put sufficient hot water to disolve the sugar in to the fermentation vessel?
Thank you.

Yes, otherwise you would have to wait along time for the temperature to drop to 20 centigrade

 

[Chippy_Tea]

It's not just you. The other "wrong" thing is saying you should clean the equipment with steriliser. You clean with cleaner and then sterilise with steriliser.

This is another bug bear of mine with kit instructions (to be pedantic) we don't sterilise we sanitise.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If you haven't already seen this have a look -

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...ne-how-to-guide-and-recipes.49462/post-456519

 

[jof]

And don't fill the demijohn to the top at the start.
Top it up to say 4/5 to give some space for the yeast to foam up.
Then top it up after a few days when it's not bubbling so much, as you don't want to be messing about cleaning out the airlock on day 2.

This can be a big problem if you put your wine in the airing cupboard similar warm location.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Another tip don't fill the DJ higher than this it makes degassing much easier and if the fermentation is vagarous it wont go through the airlock and make a mess.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

And don't fill the demijohn to the top at the start.
Top it up to say 4/5 to give some space for the yeast to foam up.
Then top it up after a few days when it's not bubbling so much, as you don't want to be messing about cleaning out the airlock on day 2.

This can be a big problem if you put your wine in the airing cupboard similar warm location.

I used to top up after a few days but as i said in post #11 its good to have a gap for degassing especially if you are using a degassing wand, we have to top up after racking so for me its not required until then.

 

[Basic Brewing]

I have made many wine kits and have read instructions similar to that before i think they have given you instructions for 23 litre kit by mistake.

It is titled ' 6 bottle 7 day fruit kit' BUT I'm rerading it online from the manufacturer's website. I wanted to see if I had all I needed before the kit is delivered later today. I should give them the benefit of the doubt in case the delivered instructions make more sense.

 

[Basic Brewing]

Another tip don't fill the DJ higher than this it makes degassing much easier and if the fermentation is vagarous it wont go through the airlock and make a mess.

View attachment 109639

Thank you for this advice. The only thing I've made in my DJ was turbo cider many years ago!

 

[Clarence]

Hello,

Emboldened by recent home brew beet kit success I have ordered a 6 bottle / 7 day wine kit - quality!

I bought it online and am impatienlty awaiting delivery, ( I appreaciate impatience and homwbrew are not now good partners). Here's the thing, I found the instructions on the manufacturers website and they say this:

Day 0 – Fermentation1. Clean all equipment with Steriliser (follow instructions on Steriliser).2. Fill a Fermentation Vessel to 5 litres with hot water. (temperature less than 53oC)3. Add the Sugar into the hot water, stirring until completely dissolved.4. Add the Concentrate Pack into the Fermentation Vessel and stir for 30 seconds. Rinse using a small amount of cold tap waterthen add to the Vessel. In the case of the grape juice crystallising, immerse the pack in warm water to clear for 5minutes5. Top up the Fermentation Vessel with cold tap water to 4.8 litres and stir for 30 seconds. Check the Starting Gravity using anHydrometer.6. Add Pack A: Yeast/Nutrient into the liquid, stir for 30 seconds then tightly fit the lid..7. Leave the Vessel to ferment at room temperature (20o-25o C) for 6 days. We recommend the Vessel is placed on a tray or worksurface in case of excessive Fermentation. After 6 days, check the specific gravity using a Hydrometer. If the specific gravity isless than 0.996 - proceed to instruction 9. Fermentation can take long...

Or is it me?

Thanks.

Typically cretinous instructions. Why don't you tell us which kit it is or or give us a link to the instructions?
6 x 75cl bottles of wine is 4½ litres.
If you put 5 litres of water in your fermentation vessel and add the sugar then your vessel is overfull to start with. So you've got to have a second vessel into which you pour your juice (say a litre), add the sugar solution (5 litres), rinse the original pack with some cold water and then top up to 4.8 itres with more cold water. You've already got more than 6 litres and a demijohn contains only 4.5 litres!

Excessive fermentation? It WILL overflow if you use a demijohn as it's already over-full by about 20%. The fermentaion is noral- not excessive, but unless you use oversize fermenters or disregard these instructions you're going to waste some of your wine as well.

Complete idiots. They should be named and shamed. To think people pay good money for rubbish like this.

 

[Basic Brewing]

Typically cretinous instructions. Why don't you tell us which kit it is or or give us a link to the instructions?
6 x 75cl bottles of wine is 4½ litres.
If you put 5 litres of water in your fermentation vessel and add the sugar then your vessel is overfull to start with. So you've got to have a second vessel into which you pour your juice (say a litre), add the sugar solution (5 litres), rinse the original pack with some cold water and then top up to 4.8 itres with more cold water. You've already got more than 6 litres and a demijohn contains only 4.5 litres!

Excessive fermentation? It WILL overflow if you use a demijohn as it's already over-full by about 20%. The fermentaion is noral- not excessive, but unless you use oversize fermenters or disregard these instructions you're going to waste some of your wine as well.

Complete idiots. They should be named and shamed. To think people pay good money for rubbish like this.

Confusing to say the least!

I shall wait until I've seen the instructions actually sent. If they are the same as online I'll certainly post a link.