FAQS
Q) Can I make wine with my beer making equipment?
A) The quick answer is YES, most kits can be used to make beer, cider or wine. Many wine recipes will use demijohns but a food grade bucket will do the same job, the main difference being that you will require a second container as wine will need to be "racked off" often more than once. With most beer kits you will ferment in the bucket and then syphon straight to barrel or bottles, with wine you will rack off leaving sediment behind and may need to repeat this several times so you will need more than one food grade bucket or demijohn.
Q) Can I re-use my Screw Top Wine Bottles?
A) Yes, you can re-use Screw Top Wine Bottles by using Novatwist Screw Caps (pack of 12) Fits most screw top wine bottles with a 30mm diameter top. Simply push on and screw to seal. No extra tool needed. The shroud is tamper evident and remains on the bottle when the cap is unscrewed.
Q) Can I use Wine Corks in screw cap wine bottles?
A) Not recommended as screw cap bottles have thinner glass around the neck. The force used to insert the cork may crack the bottle plus the necks of these bottles tend to be slightly wider resulting in a poor seal and potential wine spoilage.
Q) How strong will my beer be?
A) As with any home brew kits, the percentage of alcohol is determined by the quantity of ingredients in relation to the quantity of water.
So if you make a typical 1.7kg single tin beer kit and 1Kg Sugar up to 40 pints, you will achieve approx 4.5 % abv, regardless of the variety.
If you would like this stronger, simply add more sugar/enhancer, decrease the amount of water, or a combination of the two.
If you were to make this kit to 32 pints with an extra 1/2 kilo of sugar, you should achieve around 5.5% to 6% abv.
Q) How strong will my wine be?
A) As with any home wine kits, the percentage of alcohol is determined by the quantity of ingredients in relation to the quantity of water.
So if you make a typical wine kit and follow the instructions, you will achieve approx 11% - 12% abv, regardless of the variety. If you would like this stronger, simply add more sugar or Grape Juice Concentrate, or decrease the amount of water, or a combination of the two.
Q) How to insert my Balliihoo Traditional Champagne Cork?
A) These mushroom shaped Champagne Corks are designed to be inserted into most standard Champagne Bottles with a 17mm - 19mm top diameter by either pushing them in by hand or gently tapping them in with a rubber mallet. They can be secured with the champagne cage/wire. Champagne Foil Capsules can be added for a truly professional finish.
Q) What is Brewing Sugar?
A) Brewing Sugar is Dextrose (often called Dextrose Monohydrate) It ferments easier than regular Granulated Sugar (Sucrose), and so increases yield and gives cleaner flavours.
Here's The Technical Part! - Household Granulated Sugar is Sucrose (which is a Disaccharide) Brewing Sugar is a (Monosaccharide - so only has one molecule of Glucose) - Whilst both are 100% fermentable, because Brewing Sugar only has the one Glucose Molecule, yeast can go straight to work fermenting, whereas with the Household Granulated Sugar (2 Glucose Molecules) the yeast has some additional work to do first, in breaking down the bonds of the sugar molecules, which it does using an enzyme called invertase.
Q) Can I Freeze Glass Bottles And Jars?
A) We do NOT recommend the use of glass bottles or jars for freezing, this is because whatever you have inside your jar or bottle will swell and increase in size during the freezing process, and the glass can then be prone to breaking. If you must freeze glass, it is essential that you leave a large enough gap (certainly well below the shoulder of your jar or bottle)