Hadn't realised it'd been quite so long since I last left any random waffling on here!
So anyway, a few years ago when my dad was having a clearout due to his move overseas I ended up acquiring his old wine making equipment. Nothing overly exciting - just the usual stuff that you need to make some wine! I've been meaning to use it for ages but never seemed to have the time; then I did my own temporary location overseas to a "dry" country. Last week though I was in my local Wilkinson's store and noticed they were having a sale on some of their wine making stuff. Included in the offer were kits.
The kits come in 2 variants - there is the beginner's kit which includes a few extra bits of kit such as a demijohn and a "wine in a box" setup for the first time maker. You also get a can of grape gloop and some sachets of things like yeast and nutrients. You can also buy just the gloop and sachets without the equipment. Given I had the equipment already I just got the gloop-in-a-can version. You also need to make sure you have a sterilization agent (not sure if that is in the beginner's kit or not) and some sugar. They advise you buy brewing sugar "as an addition to beer and wine kits for a faster and cleaner fermentation". The cynic would probably decide that this is just so they can make more money as it is more expensive than everyday granulated sugar, but a lot of home wine makers say that works just as well. I did go for the brewing sugar this time, and the only difference I noticed from ordinary sugar is that this stuff seems a lot more powder-like and less like the small crystals of ordinary sugar. There is also a very simple set of instructions with the sachets. The kit is desined to make 6x 750ml bottles of wine.
I think I probably spent most of the time today on sterilizing equipment. Once that was done the starting of the wine is a very simple process of pouring the grape gloop into the demijohn and topping up with 1800ml of cold water and then adding 450g of sugar. At this point I could have taken a reading of the original gravity which would later give me a measure of the alcohol content of the wine. Unfortunately, the siphon tubing I have was not that clean and looked like it had a little mould growing in it. I've left the tubing to soak for a few hours to see if it is salvageable. If not, I'll have a look in Tesco tomorrow or head back to Wilkinson's during the week to get a replacement. The instructions say that the expected ABV of the completed wine should be around 12%.
The final step is to add the contents of sachets 'A' and 'B' which contain dried yeast and something called "Nutrafine". Give it all a gentle shake then fit the demijohn with a rubber bung and airlock and leave somewhere warm (20 to 25 degrees Celcius) to start fermenting. Mine is currently sat in the airing cupboard and is starting to show signs of activity. This time of year is probably not idea since the general temperature isn't that great, but just means it may take a little longer to finish fermenting than the kit states (they give a time of 21 days.)
It doesn't look that apetizing at the moment. The liquid is quite dark and a little cloudy and with lots of bits of yeast floating in it. The colour should mellow a bit on Monday at the next step which is toping it up to 4.5 litres. I'll post and update then!
For anyone that wants to try for themselves, the Wilkinson's range is available online at http://www.wilko.com/kitchen/homebrew/icat/homebrewing and the kit I am using is http://www.wilko.com/wine-homebrew-kits/wilko-chardonnay-wine-making-kit-6-bottle/invt/0022679