Wine kit

It is often the case that a vigorous ferment will overcome the fermentation lock as yours did. A good idea for the future is to cut a plastic fizzing drinks bottle in half and then you can put it over the top of the fermentation lock in case of a minor eruption. It is an extremely good idea to locate your fermenting musts in an area that is not surrounded by your favourite furnishings. There will always be a situation sooner or later where an accident will occur and you will have a spoiling result --- especially with red wine! if you have a utilities room that is not overheated that might be a good place.beware of having your fermenting must in a place which it too warm. Do follow the recommended temperature in your instructions -- cooler is better than warmer---- it will just take longer to ferment out if it is cooler

You don't say whether this is your first kit (we all had a first time you know) and I expect that you are wanting to drink this wine this Christmas time. The kit is at the cheaper end of the kit wines available at about £18 I would really strongly suggest that next time you go up one level to round about £30/£40 per kit -- Beaverdale, Grande Maison Reserve and so on. You will be amazed at the increased quality in the end product especially in red wine kits. The latest red wine kit that I bought in UK cost me £100 for a 23 litre/5 gallon(imp) kit!

Now to check the state of your wine for having cleared. The easiest way is to siphon off just a glassful ( wineglass not pint glass) and examine it against a suitable lit background. Do not put your siphon tube all the way to the bottom of your carboy. If it is clear then you can bottle it for imminent consumption. It is often difficult to see through red wines in 5 gallon carboys ( a little laser will do it). I am assuming that you have added finings and had not been moving the carboy around That being the case almost certainly the wine will be clear. If it hasn't cleared then keep it in a cool place for another couple of weeks ( I would suggest also that you top it up with some similar wine also) Could you tell me what the final Specific gravity is? Are you able to check this? If not it doesn't matter and don't worry about it.

Do you have a second carboy of the same size? I hope so because it is a very good idea to rack from the existing carboy into the clean one -- carefully ensuring that none of the lees at the bottom of your carboy are disturbed and go into the new vessel. Just be very careful and don't worry about wasting a bit of your wine. This helps a lot when you are bottling so that then you don't have to worry about the lees any more Then you can do one of two things

or

1. Dissolve a couple of crushed campden tablets in a little of the wine and then add to the new carboy.. Top up the new carboy with wine of a similar type ( from the supermarket!) to about 1 inch of the bung and let it sit for another month before bottling --- and then bottle it. It will be much better!

Hope that helps. It is a bit brief and basic.

Yes and yes.

That works out at £6 - £8 per bottle. Isn't that a tad expensive for home made wine?

Did the above and it is clear, but it tastes like alcoholic blackcurrant juice. It is the Merlot btw.

Not on this occasion, no.

Ok, did that.

Did this but without the tablets (as the wine is clear).. I added a part bottle of a good Merlot to top up in the clean demijohn. I will leave it a few days then syphon it off into bottles.

But why does it taste so strange and would my not using boiling water at the beginning cause any problems?

Thanks.

Ah I presumed you had made a 23 litre/5 gal imp kit -- make 30 bottles just over £1/bottle -- say £1.50 when you have bottled and labelled it! if you continue making wine I really do suggest that you upgrade to making

There is no need to used boiling or more correctly cooled boiled water,

To be blunt it is a fairly basic kit ( if your original link was correct it is a " GM Standard Wine kit) -- and you cannot expect it to compare with a commercially produced wine. However if you were prepared to bottle it and then keep the 6 bottles for a couple of months , even with an inexpensive kit wine, you would be surprised on how much better it tastes. However enjoy you new wine for what it is -- your own wine made by yourself! Excellent!

Forgive me but it sounds as though you have jumped into it just to produce some cheap wine for Christmas. If you had made it last summer and kept it until now it would be quite drinkable. I have been making wine for some 30+ years now and my first attempts were pretty basic. I do remember that my first Blackberry wine was drunk at about 2 months old. Now I would keep it for 2 years. My Strawberry I drink quite young at about 1 year old. My fortified elderberry at any time over 5 years!

I already have the 5gal Chianti (red) and a 1gal Chablis (white) just waiting to get started. What I am waiting for is warmer weather to maintain temperature during fermentation. At this time of year it is impossible unless I keep the heating on all day.

Ok, I will crack a bottle open at Christmas, then open another after a couple of months or so, and so on..

No, I started out making what I hope will turn out to be a pear wine, using the fruit from a pear tree in our own back garden. I have two demijohns and one bottle full. The two demijohns contain wine of a completely different colour, and as yet, have not cleared. Here

I realised this would be a long process, so I bought the small kit to try out and enjoy sooner.

I must get organised to enable me to "slowly build up a reserve of older wine" as you say.

Mike.

At what point did it come out the airlock? Most kits suggest fermentation in a bucket until SG drops to about 1.010. Then it is put under an airlock with a head space. At what point did you put it under the airlock and how much air space did you leave?

I assume that you instructions left out the part about not fermenting on carpet! ;o)

Ray