We’re delighted you’ve chosen a Beaverdale kit to craft your very own wine. Before you begin, please ensure you have all the kit contents and required equipment listed below. Happy winemaking!

Beaverdale Wine Kits

What’s in Your Kit

  • Grape Juice Concentrate Bag
  • Bentonite Sachet (white and rosé varieties only)
  • Oak Chips (some varieties only)
  • Wine Yeast Sachet
  • Stabiliser Sachet
  • Wine Finings (Kieselsol)
  • Wine Finings (Chitosan)

Equipment Required

Optional

  • Wine Pipette/Thief (for taking samples)
  • Wine Degassing Tool & Drill
  • A second carboy for polishing — see our 23 Litre Glass Carboy

For Bottling

You can also reuse old wine bottles with screw caps as long as there are no cracks or chips.

Stage 1 — Preparation

This is one of the most important parts of winemaking. Thoroughly clean and sanitise all equipment and anything that comes into contact with your ingredients throughout the process, to reduce the risk of unwanted microbes contaminating your wine.

  1. Clean and sanitise your primary fermenter, lid, airlock, and mixing paddle/spoon with Handcraft Supplies Cleaner & Sanitiser or other suitable product, following the instructions on the packaging.

Combine Ingredients

In these steps you are creating a grape ‘must’ — the technical term for unfermented wine — by adding back the water that was removed from the grape juice during the manufacturing process.

  1. Pour the contents of the Grape Juice Concentrate bag into your sanitised primary fermenter. To open the bag, insert a blunt instrument to ease the cap off, or push it off from the inside. Alternatively, cut a corner of the bag with sanitised scissors before carefully pouring the contents into the fermenter.
  2. Rinse the empty bag with good quality warm water and pour into your fermenter.
  3. Top your fermenter up to 23 litres with good quality cool drinking water. Stir thoroughly. Check the temperature of the grape must is between 20–25°C (68–77°F) before proceeding.
  4. Take a sample of the grape must using a sanitised syphon or wine pipette/thief. Use a hydrometer to measure the Specific Gravity (SG) and record it. It should be between 1.076 and 1.084.
  5. White and rosé varieties only (for reds, jump to Step 7): sprinkle the contents of the Bentonite sachet onto the surface of your grape must, wait 15 minutes, then stir well.
  6. Sprinkle the contents of the Oak Chips sachet (if included) onto the surface of the grape must and stir well.
  7. Sprinkle the contents of the Wine Yeast sachet onto the surface of the grape must to start fermentation. Do not stir.
  8. Fit the fermenter lid and insert the airlock half-filled with boiled and cooled water, ensuring everything is airtight.

Stage 2 — Fermentation

During fermentation, the yeast consumes the sugars in the grape must and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide (CO₂) as by-products. CO₂ is the gas you see bubbling out of the airlock. When the airlock stops bubbling, this is a good indication that fermentation is complete — however, always confirm using a hydrometer. Keep your wine out of direct sunlight throughout fermentation.

  1. Place your fermenter on a washable surface (in case of spillage). Leave your wine to ferment at a constant temperature between 20–25°C (68–77°F) — 10–15 days for whites and rosés, 15–20 days for reds. Keep out of direct sunlight.
  2. To check fermentation has finished, repeat Step 5 to measure the SG. If the SG is 0.996 or below, you are ready to proceed. If above 0.996, leave your wine to ferment and check again each day. Note down your Final Gravity. You can calculate the approximate ABV by entering your gravity readings into an online wine ABV calculator.

Stage 3 — Clear Wine

This stage removes dead yeast and other particles to create a crystal-clear wine with a clean flavour profile. The wine is cleared in a carboy as the shape minimises headspace, reducing the chance of oxidisation, and the clear material allows you to easily see when the wine has cleared. Always keep your wine out of direct sunlight when clearing.

  1. When you are sure fermentation has finished, clean and sanitise your carboy, bung, airlock, mixing paddle/spoon, and syphon. Transfer the wine from the primary fermenter to the carboy, leaving the sediment behind. Don’t worry if a small amount of sediment is transferred.
  2. Add the contents of the Stabiliser sachet to the wine.
  3. Stir the wine vigorously for 10 minutes using the handle end of your mixing paddle/spoon to remove all gas. Alternatively, wine can be degassed using a sanitised degassing tool attached to a drill on medium speed for 2–4 minutes, reversing the direction every 30 seconds. Note: it is important the wine is thoroughly degassed at this stage otherwise the wine will take a long time to clear.
  4. Once the wine is degassed, add the contents of the Wine Finings (Kieselsol) sachet and stir gently. Fit the bung and airlock half-filled with boiled and cooled water and leave for 24 hours.
  5. After 24 hours, remove the bung and airlock and add the contents of the Wine Finings (Chitosan) sachet to the wine and stir gently. Re-fit the bung and airlock and leave the wine to clear for 3–7 days.

Stage 4 — Polish Wine

Once the wine is clear, it is transferred off the sediment and left to settle, reducing the chance of sediment entering your wine bottles. Ideally transfer the wine into another carboy, but if you don’t have one, your primary fermenter will be sufficient.

  1. The wine should be clear after 7 days. If not, leave for a further 7–14 days to finish clearing.
  2. Once clear, clean and sanitise your primary fermenter, lid, airlock, and syphon. Carefully syphon the wine from the carboy into the fermenter. Be extra careful not to disturb or transfer any sediment at this stage.
  3. Seal the fermenter with the lid and fit the airlock half-filled with boiled and cooled water.
  4. Leave the wine for a further 2 days to allow for a final polishing stage to ensure the wine is crystal clear.

Stage 5 — Bottle Wine

The final step before you get to enjoy your wine. Bottle ageing is an optional but important stage to allow the chemical composition of the wine (the phenolic compounds that affect taste, colour, and mouthfeel) to mature.

  1. Clean and sanitise your syphon, bottles, and corks or screw caps.
  2. Syphon your wine into bottles stopping at the neck of the bottle. Be careful not to disturb or transfer any remaining sediment from the polishing stage. If the sediment is disturbed, stop syphoning, refit the lid and airlock, and allow the sediment to settle for 1–2 days before continuing.
  3. Seal bottles with corks (using a corker) or screw caps. If using corks, store your bottles upright for 3–5 days to allow the corks to expand, then store them on their side to keep the corks moist.
  4. Your wine is now ready to drink but will significantly improve after 4 weeks in the bottle and will continue to improve beyond this. If ageing your wine, allow at least 6 months for whites and rosés and at least 12 months for reds. Always store your wine in a cool, dark place.

Enjoy!

When you’re ready to open a bottle, bring it to the perfect serving temperature — 7–12°C for white and rosé wines, and 15–20°C for red wines. Open, pour, sip, and enjoy.

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