Wine kit brewing

I_am_LOST

So I did a quick google search and any of the generic instructions for wine kit brewing say to siphon off the wine into a secondary at various stages of the process, some instructions needing 4 or 5 transfers.

I have basic equipment for beer kit brewing; I only have one fermenter so any beers I do I just do a primary and let the sediment settle at the bottom of the bottles :pac:

I was just wondering - as I don't know anything about wine kits - could I do one with only a primary fermenter, as I do with my beers?

I don't want to order a wine kit only to read the instructions and not have the proper equipment.

BeerNut

I've only ever done one, small, wine kit, but I did find it quite fiddly with all the transfers. I have a fair few 5L demis so it wasn't a big problem.

Why not just order an extra fermenter or two when you're ordering the kit?

Khannie

You definitely need at least a second fermenter. Finished my first kit recently. Moderate success (i.e. god awful ). There is one part that involves quite a bit of stirring to remove air bubbles shortly before adding clarifying agents. If you were still in primary, this would make absolute muck of your wine.

Welease

I make quiet a lot of the 30 bottle wine kits and I would definely suggest ordering an extra fermenter when you send in your next order. I've never had to do more than one transfer, but you definately do need to transfer.

Better to spend the few extra Euro than ruin 50 quid worth of wine kit.

redser7

Khannie wrote: »

You definitely need at least a second fermenter. Finished my first kit recently. Moderate success (i.e. god awful ). There is one part that involves quite a bit of stirring to remove air bubbles shortly before adding clarifying agents. If you were still in primary, this would make absolute muck of your wine.

Kind of related to my own post yesterday ... why would it make muck of your wine? That's what I'm a bit worried about. Have started stirring to degas in the 30 lt primary. Will it oxygenate the wine and ruin it?

redser7

oh - I think you mean if there was no transfer you would still have sediment.

Khannie

redser7 wrote: »

oh - I think you mean if there was no transfer you would still have sediment.

Yep.

sharingan

The transfer removes a *lot* of sediment. The differences in clarity between single fermenter to bottle, and fermenter 1 -> fermenter 2 -> bottle is huge. I also don't use any filters or other gadgets.

I am not a hardcore wine brewer, but I like making honey wines out of foraged ingredients and spare fruit.

redser7

Welease wrote: »

I make quiet a lot of the 30 bottle wine kits and I would definely suggest ordering an extra fermenter when you send in your next order. I've never had to do more than one transfer, but you definately do need to transfer.

Better to spend the few extra Euro than ruin 50 quid worth of wine kit.

Hi Welease - I just finished a 6 bottle kit to practise on, I'm new to all this. Had the first bottle last night and happy enough with it. But want to move to 30 bottle kit now. Try as I might, with 2 transfers I still got sediment in the last bottle. Do you filter at all? Or just sacrifice a good bit of wine? How many bottles would you end up with in the 30 bottle kits?
I got all my equipment free when a local chap died and there is a filter included. It's this one ...
http://www.homebrewkits.co.uk/wine-filter-kits-mk3-vinbrite-683-p.asp

But it doesnt have filters. Any tips/advice? For example it looks like you let the wine drip out the end but wouldn't that oxidise the wine as you're supposed to transfer it gently down the side of the demijohn.
Thanks a lot