winbuddy and youngs and wilkcos

hello every one i hope some one can help me if i buy some wine kits from winebuddy,youngs,wilkcos i know they are the lower end of the kits but ive got no job so money is tight if i make wines as told in kits are they good tasting but can i impove them buy adding somethink like Young's Definitive Grape Juice White 245grm or chang the kit yeast if will impove do i still add all the sugar if no how can i know how much i am new here so thank you all paul:|

One of the cheapest wines you can make is from juice drink, this thread shows you how http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49462




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I have made the wilko cabernet sauvignon and it was totally undrinkable until it was 3 months old when it suddenly became quite good. Also have loads of there pinot grigio in bottles at the moment and its getting better but I am not to impressed at the moment, I would say its as good as some of the cheapest commercial wine and its around 3 months old now (when it was very young it was not as undrinkable as the CS). Adding grape juice (or concentrate) will improve the body of the cheap kits, I think in the youngs case its in 2 sizes and you add the smaller one to a 6 bottle youngs kit in place of sugar and the larger one to a 30 bottle kit. The oly other kit wines I have done are the beaverdale range which are over twice the price but I think you get what you pay for in terms of the end product.
If you want cheap & ready to drink fast I recommend you try fruit tea bag wine as described here -

1 Box (20) Fruit 'Tea Bags'
2 litres Grape Juice
2lbs sugar (or thereabouts)
1tsp Citric Acid
1/2tsp Grape Tannin
GP Yeast & Nutrient

I've used 1 box Twinings Cranberry, Raspberry & Elderflower bags and Sainsbury's 100% Pure Pressed Red Grape Juice (not from concentrate, no preservatives, 3 for £2) but you could use any fruit infusions bags and red or white grape juice as appropriate.

Infuse the bags for 30 minutes in 2 pints boiling water.
Boil 2lbs sugar (or thereabouts) in 1 pint water.
I measured the SG of the grape juice at 1.068 and calculated that 1lb 12ozs sugar would give an OG of 1.110, and have read somewhere that boiling the sugar inverts it and makes it more fermentable.
Wring the bags out as best you can without splitting them and pour infusion liquor and sugar syrup into a bucket, add grape juice, allow to cool, add Citric, Tannin, Nutrient and Yeast and let it rip. After the initial whoosh has subsided, pour into a DJ and make up to 1 gallon.

Dead easy, and I cost that at around £3.50 per gallon or 60p a bottle at around 13% ABV.

PDB , Forget the cheaper ones and go for a Beaverdale or similar , you will get 30 bottles for about £40 , so only £1.33 a bottle, less than a half of beer in a pub or half the price of 1 glass of pub wine and its consistent with no sugar or anything else to add the BDale Pinot and the Chardonnay ARE VERY VERY NICE !!!

Tom saying avoid all cheap kits is a little short sighted, i have just finished a WiineBuddy sauvignon blanc kit and we were impressed with the finished wine at the price, other members also had positive things to say about it, the thread is here - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49149

I think you get what you pay for with wine kits the cheap ones produce a drinkable wine even quite a nice one, the mid range like beaverdale can produce a wine that will impress people and the top end kits can produce wine as good as any once aged a bit.

pdb said:

hello every one i hope some one can help me if i buy some wine kits from winebuddy,youngs,wilkcos i know they are the lower end of the kits but ive got no job so money is tight if i make wines as told in kits are they good tasting but can i impove them buy adding somethink like Young's Definitive Grape Juice White 245grm or chang the kit yeast if will impove do i still add all the sugar if no how can i know how much i am new here so thank you all paul:|

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You can mess about to your hearts delight, add a couple of cartons of pure grape juice, add some honey etc but remember to make notes cos if you make a superb wine and forget what you've added you'll be kicking yourself. :-D

I have made the wilkos cab sav and maybe my standards are lower than the other people on here but I thought it was fine and drank mine within a couple of weeks. i now have another on the go and no doubt they would improve with keeping but i thought it was fine. I didn't add anything other than the kit ingredients as stated. If its your first time and you are short of cash I would give it a go.

I have seen Beaverdale kits but what makes are top of the range please?

vicusplum said:

I have made the wilkos cab sav and maybe my standards are lower than the other people on here but I thought it was fine and drank mine within a couple of weeks. i now have another on the go and no doubt they would improve with keeping but i thought it was fine. I didn't add anything other than the kit ingredients as stated. If its your first time and you are short of cash I would give it a go.

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I think you have hit the nail on the head, the OP is after a cheap kit as money is tight so the likes of Wilkos own and WineBuddy are perfect for him, the cheapest wine (to my knowledge) is WOW and its many variants.