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When brewing a beer kit it is a good idea to aerate the wort as much as possible before adding the yeast. Is the same true for wine kits?

I made something similar to what you've got Chippy (although without the extra bends) and have used it on the last few wine kits (before that just stirred with a spoon) which is why I was confused as to how he is getting away with not degassing. At what stage do you start running the risk of...

Hi all, a colleague of mine has been brewing Wilkos wine kits for a while and I decided to ask him how he degasses his wine. He asked what I meant and when I told him he said he has never had to degas his wine and never had fizzy wine. So is it not a requirement? His kits take 20 or so days...

I didn't shake the keg at all. The carbonation is spot on for an ale but I don't think this would be any use for a lager. I bottle my lager in 500ml Coopers PET bottles with carbonation drops as it carbonates a lot better than it would every do in a keg.

Its clearer and lighter than it appears in the photos. They don't do it justice. Also look at that head! :)

I kegged a wherry kit a few weeks ago now and as an experiment I decided to try and make a clearer beer by not priming the king keg first. I racked it into the keg and added CO2 from one of the small capsules the. Left it for a week inside to let any remaining conditioning happen as normal. I...

Okay so still can't put my finger on the taste, but it was more tart I guess. It may have not been quite right but it still all got drunk and the good news is that I opened another box last night and it is perfect. Really soft red but with plenty of body. This means it must have been an error...

I can't comment on filtering but I've found the first few pints from a keg are a little cloudy (not with the top tap king keg obviously) but then it clears up and shouldn't be a problem. I'm not au fait with the science behind carbonation but upside down may work. I wouldn't shake the beer...

I will have another taste when I get back and see if I can more accurately describe it but I've definitely learned my lesson regarding sanitising the bags. If nothing else it would have removed it as an option when fault finding. I guess I got complacent from being lucky with the previous bags...

Loaded up a batch of Cantina Merlot/Shiraz into 4x 5L bag-in-a-box and had a glass from the small amount left in the FV. It was lovely, the best yet of the Cantina kits I've done. Had a few glasses from one of the bags over the weekend and it seems to be getting worse and worse :? not as soft as...

Hi Glentoran Mark, I use a King Keg with CO2 injector but to be honest the CO2 injection doesn't really carbonate the beer as it is injected through the top. It's mainly for pushing the beer out through the top tap to prevent sediment coming out. I think you really need a Corny keg in order to...

Where do you get your labels from Andy? Was thinking of doing the same thing for a Beaverdale kit I'm about to start (mainly I just bag in a box as we get through the Cantina kits pretty quickly) but was unable to find a website that allows you to design your own labels that offered them for a...

Much better idea than adding a different yeast. Will do this next time I do a Wherry. Coopers English bitter to do next though. Going to use cooper's beer enhancer 2 instead of sugar and dry hop with 20g of Styrian Goldings hops after a couple of days in the FV. Hopefully it will be nicer to...

No worries. Remember to sanitise anything that will come into contact with the brew (pretend that everything has ebola on it and make sure to get everywhere with the sterilising solution). Lazyness at this stage may ruin it and it sucks, when you've waited a few weeks, to have to bin a brew...

Hi Jonathan, An airlock is not essential for beer fermentation you can just place the lid on top of the FV and click down in two positions so that the CO2 can vent out. A layer of CO2 is produced quite quickly and this will protect the beer from nasties. As for the hydrometer readings I...

Hi all, Finished a cantina cab sav and cantina pinot grigio and been very impressed with the result given the speed from kit to mouth (cab sav is all gone and started drinking the pinot last night). I have also bought a beaverdale shiraz that I intend to bottle and age for at least 6 months...

I'm happy enough to drink it with a nose peg on but not sure my girlfriend would have the same dedication to the cause :) I read about that too Chippy_Tea, something called reduless I think. Had a very quick look but couldn't see a supplier in the UK. My problem with sloshing it about is...

I've just read that stirring with copper wire or adding clean pennies can help so have had the idea to add a length of copper piping from homebase to the kegs tap so that it runs through the pipe and into the glass. Any idea as to whether this will work at all or would I be wasting my money...

Thanks Jonny, good to know it will be alright. I will just have to make sure I pour guests pints in another room and keep the windows open :wink:

Hi all, Seems I, well my cider, has a case of the rhino farts. Unfortunately I kegged it before reading up on what the smell was and how to get rid of it. When I syphoned it off and got a mouthful it tasted delicious despite the smell so I assumed it would be alright. I always make a couple of...