Solomon Grundy 7 day Strawberry and Cherry wine HELP!!!!

[Ma5on]

Hi all,

I'm having issues clearing my Solo Grundy Strawberry and Cherry wine kit, I'm a beginner and probably should have only done one kit but the wine is for a party so I thought id do two separate kits (6 bottle versions)

I'm having issue with the final stage of the the kit, its the clearing stage. I degassed as per instruction and then added the fining agent as per instructions (for both kits)

Its not clearing after 2 weeks and the air lock has a very slow bubble, so it seems there is carbon dioxide in there perhaps? (I'm unsure)

I'm beginning to think that I added the fining agents before I had full degassed the wine.

Can anyone help? suggestions any thing? pleaseeeeeee.

I haven't tried moving it to a cold place yet as sugegsted in a few posts, would a fridge do? or is that to cold? I have tried to degas again on Friday (29/05/15) but its still the same. another suggestion I researched was to move them to another DJ ?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I thought I should also add that its been longer that 7 days near on 3 weeks because I didn't want to rush the process.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If you have not degassed it thoroughly it can slow down clearing but at 3 weeks a would have expected it to clear, give it another go and shake the he'll out of it a few times a day with your hand over the neck and release the CO2 every few shakes, have a look at the wine degassing the easy way thread in the how to forum.

 

[Ma5on]

Hi Chippy_Tea,

Thanks for the advise, I started doing that yesterday and ill do it again tonight, seems mad that it hasn't cleared and im unsure if its advise to add more fining or not?

I think im going to try and put them in the fridge tonight for perhaps 2 days and see how that goes then I might try and syphon them into another DJ.

Would this be something you would also try?

Regards,
Anthony

 

[Frogbrew]

Did you add the stabiliser?

 

[Ma5on]

Hi Frogbrew,

Yes I've added everything within the packaging I believe there was a stabiliser yet.

Is this an issue?

Regards,
Anthony

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Hi Chippy_Tea,

Thanks for the advise, I started doing that yesterday and ill do it again tonight, seems mad that it hasn't cleared and im unsure if its advise to add more fining or not?
Anthony

If you are sure you have got the CO2 out then i guess it cannot do any harm adding more finning, i use KwiK Clear its the best and fastest of the finings i have tried, Youngs Clear It is also good but has a short shelf life once opened, you can get a syringe from the chemist as you only use a very small amount.

If you intend to make wine regularly a home made wine degassing wand makes the job quick and easy, here is a guide - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=48971

 

[Frogbrew]

If you have a wilko nearby their two part wine finings are good at £1, single use. Will clear it in 24hrs usually. Stirr only gently when adding though.

 

[Ma5on]

Hi Chippy Tea,
I will 100% be making one of your home made wands for my next batch... I'm pretty sure I have got rid of all the CO2 but there are still bubbles coming out of the air lock?? (could this mean there is still CO2?)

My wine is in the fridge at the moment and I'm hoping this will sort it out.

Hi Frogbrew,
I cant seem to find the wine finning you are referring to I can only find the beer finning ( http://www.wilko.com/homebrew-accessories+equipment/wilko-beer-finnings-30ml/invt/0253121 )
can you get me a link if that's not to much hassle for you?

I hope this works guys I don't have time to sort another batch for the party

I appreciate your time in replying.

Thanks
Anthony.

 

[Frogbrew]

They don't seem to be listed online but they are in-store. I recently used the beer finings you linked for one of my wows which cleared it perfectly in 2 days, only added half the pack to a demi.

 

[Tay80]

I would say wilco definitely have the finings in store my local always has plenty but not much ale yeast its also good stuff the gervin Nottingham yeast, I agree with chippy about de-gassing the gas holds up the sediment I swirl my wine a few times a day it just releases the gas

 

[Ma5on]

Hi frogsbrew and tay80,

Appreciate your comments, ill pop down to wilkos tomorrow and grab a packed, ill half it and put half in each DJ and hopefully that will sort it. I ordered some of the VinClear off ebay for £2 so is that any good? just as good as the wilkos stuff? I want to keep it for future use as a sort of back up, will use to wilkos one on these two batches tho cause I need them to clear asap.

I've put the two DJ's in the fridge (the miss isn't happy haha) and the air lock seems to not be bubbling at all or very lightly at the least. does this mean the carbon dioxide has gone and perhaps it might start clearing now without any additional fining?

This might be totally off I'm new to all this brewing but could it be that the stabilisers didn't work? or that there wasn't enough stabiliser added?

I don't think ill be getting these kits again the wilkos one I did before came out perfect with minimal effort and tasted great.!

Thanks

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Vinclear works but is no where near as good as kwik clear and has a short shelf life once opened.
Kwak clear and youngs clear it are the best and fastestI i have used.

 

[Ma5on]

Hi agian,
When you say vinclear has a short shelf life do you mean once its in the wine or once the packages is open? i brought a small little sachet that will be enought for both my DJ's so i wont have any left over to put back on the shelf if you see what I mean.

Where can i get this kwik clear or youngs? doesn't seem to be any on ebay.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I used the liquid vinclear, powder will be fine but will probably be no better than the liquid, the two part finings seem to work the best, as for where to get them that depends on whether you have a decent home brew shop in the area, I had to get kwik clear online as I cannot get it here, it's more expensive that way but as it has a longer shelf life once opened than clear it its worth the extra.

 

[Ma5on]

Right so little update, I added the Wilkos finning and they didn't clear it anymore than it already was. So what I did was filter it with the Harris MKIII filter and it's come out beautiful. The wine tastes not bad either worked it out to be around 10% which isn't what I hoped for me not to bad. Thanks for all your advise guys really appreciate it.

If anyone is considering these kits I would personally say stay away if your a begineer and go with the Wilko kit, if your abit more knowledgeable with homebrew wine then I'm sure it wouldn't be as difficult as I've made it for myself.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Thanks for the update, if you would like to move away from kits to something much cheaper that gives great results have a look at this - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49462


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