Wilkinson Black Cherry kit

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Chippy_Tea

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I picked up this kit and a Strawberry for £4 each in the recent sale, at that price its as cheap as a WOW. :thumb:

The juice is in a tin can with the ingredients inside the lid behind a cardboard doughnut.

You start this kit with only 1.8 litres of cold water, you then add the ingredients sachets and 450g of sugar, on day three you are advised to top up to 4.5 litres, i did this and on the next day it came out of the airlock, if i make this kit again i will wait a couple of days longer before topping up.

When fermentation has finished you add a sachet of flavouring and swirl the DJ.

24 hours later you add finings and stabiliser and wait another week before bottling.

I bottled this last night and it tasted great, i was not 100% clear so i will leave it a until it has cleared before i try it again. (need the DJ's for may latest WOW variant)

If you just want to bung everything in the DJ and leave it alone this is probably not the kit for you as it takes several steps to get to the end result.

I will add more to the thread when it has cleared.
 
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I made this a couple of months back.

The kit was simple enough, but the end result had absolutely no taste of black cherry!

However, left for a month, it did make a perfectly nice red wine. So all's well I suppose...

Hope you have more luck with yours!
 
We had a couple of glasses of this last night and as you say its hard to say what it does taste of, , it is drinkable and at £4 (in the sale) cheap enough, i would definitely not pay £8 for this kit.
 
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Hi yes managed to get this kit in the sale well three to be honest lol made one and like you said was volcanic in the first stages and when i make the next wikk def wait to top up as it was everywhere but does taste good have laid 4 bottles down for later
also made the elderberry this was the same as the black cherry very fierce n the initial fermant but tastes ok can imagine with some aging will taste good
 
Hi We started this kit off 3 weeks ago today and it is still bubbling away. We also had volcanic similarities when we topped up. Do we just have to wait until it stops fermenting of its own accord? Still need to add the flavoring, wine stabiliser and finings. Is there any hope? :pray:
 
Do you have a hydrometer?

If not you will have to wait until it stops bubbling before adding the flavouring, how many seconds between each bubble?
 
Any ideas on how to make it more black cherry-y ?
Like others i took advantage of the sale and have one sitting awaiting my attention! :)
 
It had stopped for me, only to restart after I had put in the flavouring! :(

I did this yesterday. I'm now pondering whether I should put in the stabiliser now or leave it a few days. I'm leaning towards stopping now.
 
Chippy_Tea said:
Do you have a hydrometer?

If not you will have to wait until it stops bubbling before adding the flavouring, how many seconds between each bubble?

No, we don't have a hydrometer and there's about 4 seconds between bubbles.
 
At Four seconds between bubbles is still going fairly strong, You will have to wait until it stops completely or at least until it only bubbles every few minutes.
 
Chippy_Tea said:
At Four seconds between bubbles is still going fairly strong, You will have to wait until it stops completely or at least until it only bubbles every few minutes.

Thanks - will try and be patient
 
I too bought this kit in the sale, also got the elderflower kit. I'm not one for kits but at that price thought I'd give it ago. I wouldn't buy it again, it's palatable but not even a hint of black cherry. Going to try a fresh black cherry to compare.
The Elderflower kit is lovely though.
 
Just started this kit on day 2. I added 2 litres of Cherry Juice instead of the water to try to boost the cherry flavour. Early days but the gas coming off smells lovely
 
Interested by the modern feedback on this kit. We did this kit several times a few years back and it was loaded with Cherry taste...you've got me worried now that the one bubbling away downstairs won't be as I remember :hmm:
 
Its cheap enough but IMHO its not very nice. (i was going to say it was **** but obviously others will like it)
 
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