EXPIRED Cornucopia Fruit Wine Kit Raspberry Merlot £14.16 Amazon.

Tiptop

autumngirl wrote: »

To those who mentioned heating their wine in front of a radiator instead of using a purpose-made heater.... Do you have your radiators on for most of the day?

I'm really tempted to try DIY winemaking but my heating isn't really on very often so I don't think I could keep the temperature constant. (Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question!)

My heating is only on all day at weekends and then the evenings during the week when I'm not in and it's on a thermostat to keep the house at a regular temperature. The wine I've made has turned out fine just doing this.

Anthony.S_2

Many thanks Clairibel for posting the links.

Temperature control is the key to consistency when brewing.
It doesn't have to be complicated and could be as simple as wrapping your bucket (FV - fermenting vessel) in an old blanket/duvet/sleeping bag.

There are many great tips on the various UK brewing forums.

ragz_2

Thanks all, have ordered the Italian Barolo one, I doubt it will be as nice as my blackberry wine, but I won't have to spend hours getting spiked by brambles for only 5 bottles of wine!

Beat the minimum price per unit idea (quick, panic buy wine kits!)

loubieloula

i have made the white and rose here
http://www.averysmallholding.co.uk/?p=111

i'm a novice but its very drinkable! I got demi john's on freecycle and a fermentation bin for £2 in a charity shop. main other bits i bought were an air locks with rubber bung (remember to half fill these with water i didn't know i had to do this first time round!) also if you're splashing out on a syphon try and get an automatic one

Anthony.S_2

I've not seen it mentioned here but uk.camelcamelcamel.com is great for tracking Amazon prices.
Search for Paklab to track these wine kits (or anything else on Amazon).

Today the Semillon Chardonnay is £19.26
Italian Barolo is £16.13
Apple Riesling is £15.29

Shame the equipment has gone up in price.

scottishf

Ok, got my fermentation bucket with airlock and lots of 2 litre plastic bottles. Where's the cheapest place to get a big plastic spoon ?

ragz_2

scottishf wrote: »

Ok, got my fermentation bucket with airlock and lots of 2 litre plastic bottles. Where's the cheapest place to get a big plastic spoon ?

No idea, I use my wooden ones.

MillicentBystander

scottishf wrote: »

Ok, got my fermentation bucket with airlock and lots of 2 litre plastic bottles. Where's the cheapest place to get a big plastic spoon ?

HeHe...about £3.40 delivered on ebay. Mine came with the Amazon starter set (what a bargain at less than £19 that was, in fact it's still a bargain at £34!) but if I hadn't got one I think I'd go down the ragz route and use a wooden one out of the cutlery drawer!

Mel1979a

Can anyone tell me do you need to add sugar to these kits? Also am i best to use bottled water or can i get away with tap water?

summersnearlyhere

No they do not need sugar adding and you can use tap water, or we do and ours is okay. These kits are an absolute bargain to say they come with the labels, corks and shrink caps for the bottle tops (30 of each of these 3 items alone is about £15 on Amazon). Just can't understand how the prices changes so quickly. The original Cornucopia Fruit Wine Kit Raspberry Merlot mentioned in this thread is now £63!. We ordered Coruncopia Apple white wine this week for about £15 and that is now £30?
Happy brewing