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Thanks for the pointer. 30L kits are a bit overkill for me though ...

Is it just me, or have these disappeared off the face of the earth ?

Been brewing a 5L Beaverdale Chardonnay kit, which I've had good results with before. After trying with and without oak, decided we like oak, so added the chips (sawdust !). Checked the wine after 10 days, and it was down to 992 (it's been warm) and tasted pretty good. For some reason, I...

Well, s.g. stayed a tad under 990, I cleared, filtered and bottled the wine. 5 bottles in the cupboard, and we had enough left for 4 glasses - or 2 nights ;) SWMBO is in raptures over this wine, and says it's one of the best she's tasted - and that includes shop bought (although neither of us...

That's what I thought, but the tiny taste I had was ... lovely. I suspect this could be the best red I have ever made ....

Finally got the nerve to try a red again, after sounding advice off here, and my LHBS. Wanted to make a Beaverdale "Barolla"( Barollo). Took advice of using a 10L bucket, rather than demijohn, to prevent fierce bubbling, and to use a custom yeast - "Vintners Harvest: SN9". I was concerned...

It's not sold as a "7 day" kit ... just says something like wine should be ready between 2-3weeks.

Got myself a brand new 6-bottle Barola kit, from my favourite LHBS. Sadly it's not that "L", so I rarely get to go there. Anyway, I digress. After the disaster that was the Merlot I am very keen to get this one spot on. So here's my thinking ... 1) santise everything to operating theatre...

This website: http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-stuck-5 seems to suggest allowing air to get to the yeast for the first part of the fermentation. Anyone else heard of this ?

Checked the s.g. a week on. Still 1.007 :( Checked temperature, which seemed a touch high at 25 (no need for the heating mat). So I took it off, and cooled it down to 20C. Added some stuff I was given a while ago for a stuck fermentation ... mixed it well in. As of now - no bubbles...

Well, it costs nothing to leave it (although it may get overoaked !). I don't add any sugar - the Beaverdale kits are just-add-water.

Hi All ... after a break, I've started making wine again. Particular favourite is the "Barola" from Beaverdale (6 Bottle). Anyway, thought I would try the Shiraz 6 Bottle from Beaverdale. Put it on 2 weeks ago, and it was fermenting nicely. Airlock stopped bubbling last Thursday. Went...

Is the reason for siphoning everything everytime to prevent oxygen being mixed in with the wine ? If so, would members recommend siphoning to fill bottles, or would pouring be OK ?

I put a 6 bottle Beaverdale Barolo on yesterday. It started slowly fermenting last night, and seemed OK at lunch. Maybe, unwisely, I put it on a 2 DJ heating mat with a DJ of water on the other side. (I was hoping it would keep the temperature even ) Anyway, just got back from wiping down the...

Up till now, I have made up solutions with BruClens (or whatever the replacement is ... WWP ?) to sterilise/sanitise demijohns. However, since I have discovered StarSan for sanitising beer bottles, it seems it should also sanitise demijohns ... or is there a reason I shouldn't ? I kept some...

Following the success of the Carbernet Sauvignon, I decided to make up a 6 bottle Beaverdale Chardonnay kit. Since Mrs and I both like drier wines. Thought I would experiment and leave the oak chippings out for a change. Started last Friday - put it on a brewmat as I usually do. Come this...

Just bottled my latest 6 bottle kit, and struggled a bit with corking ... I have a two handled (red) hand corker. You pop a cork in the chamber, place around neck of bottle, push down and ... well this is the thing. The metal plunger, which pushes on the cork (I use plastic corks) is smaller...

Following this post http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=37434, I finally bottled the wine last Friday. As luck would have it, we fancied a nice red yesterday dinner (bolognese) so despite saying we'd wait a few weeks, broke out a bottle. Thankfully, it's not sweet - has a...

Having tasted and enjoyed some English (white) wines, I wondered if anyone knew of a vineyard that will sell grapes (or ideally a kit) for winemakers ? Ideally Midlands based ... We visited a lovely vineyard a few years back that sold a marvellous selection of whites ("Dora" was one). Sadly...

Well, cleared, filtered and bottled, so lets wait. A cautious sip confirms it's not too sweet, and quite complex.