Quick Wilco wine kit review

[Spectre]

It's a bit cooler in here than I'd have liked and it took about three weeks for a 30 bottle kit to ferment out fully. It went right down to 0.990 specific gravity so it looks like a more tolerant yeast to the WineWorks kits I've been doing. There definitely wasn't any vigorous fermentation though. I used Wilco brewing sugar.

I fermented the Spicy Cabernet Sauvignon and it has a definite apple taste to it. Bit thin body wise but it is one of the cheaper kits and therefore less concentrate is supplied.

I think I'll try the next one with standard sugar.

 

[D 8 RCS]

Have you tried another wilko kit using ordinary sugar yet Spectre ?
I've just bought a wilko kit and was wondering whether to use ordinary sugar or the wilko sugar (which looks like more like castor sugar to me).

 

[Spectre]

Not yet! I think the spicy aspect of that wine gave it a bit a an odd taste for me. I'd definitely try normal sugar with the next one though. It's not as good as a £37 Wineworks one but there is far more juice in those.

You can "invert" the sugar yourself using citric acid (or lemon juice) by heating it. Search for how to invert sugar, it might save some cash .

 

[D 8 RCS]

I see Wilco also sell small bottles of grape extract separately so I suppose you could "top up" the concentrate in the kit.

 

[Spectre]

They do (£2.50), I've got a demijohn on the go with a litre of juice and one of those in to see what it comes out like. It's still very dark, I suspect I was using too much juice in my earlier supermarket juice wines.

 

[digital worldz]

Reading through Wurzels guide I think he says no more than 2 (or is it 3) litres of juice per gallon