Wilko Cold water !!!!

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APINTA

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My wife has decided to join the wine making crowd so we went into wilko to buy a wine kit she chose a 6 bottle kit. So we got it home and started to read the Instructions in the wilko kit. This what it said ) "Empty the contents of the can into a glass demijohn then add 1.8 litres of COLD WATER!!! then 450g of suger plus the yeast" ) Now I have never heard of starting wine with cold water!!! but waited at first the yeast seem to work but with in 24 hours nothing no bubbles or froth we did follow the next instructions which said add warm water to the mix but that seems not to do nothing the Demijohn is siting on a heat mat. Has this wine gone bust or should leave it alone and wait the starting SG was 1040. P.S. when mixing the sugar etc in the cold water when I added the yeast it told me to add a sachet of Nutrafine Like I said never heard cold water to start a wine kit before
 
We made a couple of the Wilko kits back in 2013 and in both my reviews below it says to use cold water.
DO NOT top up on day 3 as the instructions tell you leave it until day 5 when it has calmed down a lot, many members here have found if you top up on day 3 you will be cleaning up a big mess at some point thereafter as it leaves the DJ through the airlock in quite a spectacular way.
When seeing the mess your other half will not be as amused as you are at how vigorous these wines are, mine certainly wasn't. asad1

Wilkinson Black Cherry kit
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/wilkinson-black-cherry-kit.34999/


Wilkinson Strawberry wine kit
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/re-wilkinson-strawberry-wine-kit.34998/
 
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Might there not be a problem with using water straight from the tap if it contains a lot of chlorine / chloramines?
 
Might there not be a problem with using water straight from the tap if it contains a lot of chlorine / chloramines?

I don't think wine suffers from chlorine/ chloramines the same way beer does i have always used tap water and never had a problem.
 
Hi Apinta

I made up a Wilko's Elderflower on 11th March with the 1.8 litres of cold water etc. It was 3 days before it showed any signs of starting. The instructions said it would ferment out in '7 - 10 days' and it's still going strong today, so not exactly what I expected. Fermentation is at least regular though.
 
Kit instructions can be taken with a pinch of salt when it comes to time it'll be finished when all the sugar has been eaten. :laugh8:wink...
 
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