I'm looking to buy a starter kit that would allow me to make red wine but I have no idea where to look to find one. I've found a whole bunch of websites which advertise kits, but I find the choice quite bewildering and haven't the slightest idea what to buy.
Can anyone recommend a company in the UK which has a good starter kit at a reasonable price for someone with absolutely no winemaking experience? I don't need anything too fancy, but good instructions would be a help.
Dave - I'd recommend the Brew King (now Winexpert) Vintner's Reserve Chianti kit. This is a "4-week" kit, which is the less-expensive end of their range of products. You'll have to track down a local retailer, but I would think that the Vintner's Reserve kits should be readily available in U.K. They come with standard but reasonably complete directions. This is not a terribly impressive wine by competitive standards, but just about everyone I've ever served it to really likes it. I don't know why, exactly. But it has been so consistently popular that I end up making a batch every 4 or 5 months, as sort of the "house red". You'll probably want to try the premium end of the product line soon enough, but this is a reasonable place to start.
The kit (concentrated grape juice) comes with instructions and yeast. You need to provide containers to ferment in (food-grade plastic pail, larger than the kit capacity) and to age for at least the 4 weeks (longer is better) that can be sealed to keep air away from the wine. Normally people use glass carboys (6 gallons US, should be about 5 Imperial(?). About 23 liters.) with a rubber stopper and airlock. That's about all you need to start; it would be helpful to have a hydrometer to check specific gravity before you start, and 6 to 10 feet of plastic tubing to siphon the wine from one container to another. Stores that sell homebrew or winemaking supplies often have a collection of these things for beginning winemakers.
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