Wine Buddy/Youngs 6 Bottle Merlot

Brilliant for getting started with your homebrewing, easy to follow instructions, just make sure you have the full kit to get started, just search for this brand and starter kits for all you need. Wine Buddy/Youngs 6 Bottle Merlot

I am a beginner at home-brewing and having had success with a beer-making kit I thought I would try wine-making. I made the wine in a demijohn and not as the instructions suggest. The fermentation was crazy for a couple of days and bubbled a lot from the airlock. I should have fitted a cover over the demijohn as splashed quite a bit. It all settled down after a couple of days but it took 7 weeks for the airlock to stop bubbling. The instructions said check the specific gravity after 6 days but as bubbles were coming out of the airlock frequently I assumed it must still be fermenting. The temperature in the room where it was kept was a fairly constant 22 degrees Celsius so not the possible reason for slow fermentation. I expect that the specific gravity would not have been low enough at that point but I am no expert. I did not want to risk exploding bottles so just waited and waited - it was about 7 weeks when the fermentation bubbles stopped. The specific gravity was correct so I then followed the instructions and bottled the wine. The colour was dark red in the demijohn. I only was able to fill 5 and a half bottles due to the sediment level etc. The taste was excellent and somewhat sweet - which was to my liking. It tasted much the same as a shop-bought wine but perhaps sweeter than usual. The flavour may improve after storage time. The instructions need improvement to suit beginners such as myself. There was no proper explanation of what 'clear' meant. I thought it was the visual clearness, seeing through the demijohn but it was to do with the sediment being settled to the bottom. The worst thing about this was the sheer time it took to make. It saves a little money on shop-bought wine if you exclude the equipment costs but not much to make it that worthwhile. I am undecided whether to make more again. I can only give it four stars due to the exaggerated product claims.

I've been experimenting with various kis and I've found this to be one of the best. Just remember you do need to buy items including 1kg of sugar. However is very easy to brew. The fermentation is very vigorous so make sure you put your demijohn into a bucket or basin. I found the clarification takes longer than advised but its worth the wait as the flavour is excellent. Recommended.

Whilst an acceptable drink after the seven days was "improved" by waiting another couple of days and racking again and also was able to fill five bottles and "a glass for the brewer" :-)

Not my favourite but good. It could be me not doing it correctly, so have got 1 more to see.

was my first attempt with a kit produce was drinkable ...easy to follow instructions ..but with practice im sure will be better ,,trying different variations but was good to start with kit like this ,you do need a hydrometer and an airlocked fermentation vessel ...cheap brewing kit is best as get the meter bucket syphon fermenter vessel etc then get buckets etc as needed for more brews

Followed all the instructions to the letter but after 7 days I got a very light looking and tasting red wine but with an abv of 18%

This was a first attempt at home brew and it was very successful. Produced a slightly sweet Merlot that went down very easily. Have laid a bottle down to see how it matures