Warning: Always handle glass demijohns carefully and avoid impact with hard surfaces. Never fill glass vessels with scalding hot liquids. Immediately discard any fermenter or demijohn that appears to have formed cracks or other defects.

Recycling tip: Your old commercial wine bottles can be reused to bottle your finished wine. Check they’re not cracked or chipped before cleaning. Soak labels for 15 minutes in hot, soapy water to remove them.

SG Wines 6 Bottle Wine Kits

Country Range

Classic Range

Gold Range

What’s in Your Kit

  • Grape Juice Concentrate Blend Pouch
  • Wine Yeast Sachet
  • Yeast Nutrient Sachet
  • Acid Regulator Sachet
  • Stabiliser Sachet
  • Flavouring Add-Back
  • Wine Finings A
  • Wine Finings B
  • Sweetener Sachet (Classic Sweet White Wine only)

You Will Also Need

For Bottling

Sugar Required

Wine Style Granulated Sugar (Sucrose) Brewing Sugar (Dextrose)
Red Wines (12–12.5% ABV) 600g 800g
White and Rosé Wines (10–10.5% ABV) 670g 890g

See our Brewing Sugar 1kg (Dextrose).

Stage 1 — Clean and Sanitise

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

Stage 2 — Mix Ingredients

  1. Pour 1L of boiling water into your fermenter and add the correct amount of granulated or brewing sugar for your wine style (see table above). Stir until all the sugar is dissolved, then cut open the Grape Juice Concentrate Blend pouch and pour the contents into your fermenter. Rinse out any remains with cold water and pour into the fermenter.
  2. Top up to 4.6L with cold water and stir until everything is mixed.
  3. Use a hydrometer to record the Starting Gravity.
  4. Check the liquid temperature is below 26°C before adding the contents of the Wine Yeast, Yeast Nutrient, and Acid Regulator sachets to the liquid. Stir thoroughly.
  5. Fit a grommet into the hole in your fermenter lid and secure the lid, making sure the seal is airtight. Half-fill an airlock with boiled and cooled water and insert it into the grommeted hole. Alternatively, fit a plain (undrilled) fermenter lid, ensuring it fits neatly on the rim but DO NOT completely seal it, as CO₂ gas needs to escape during fermentation.
  6. Keep the remaining sachets in a safe place for later use.

Stage 3 — Ferment

  1. Place the fermenter on a washable surface (in case of spillage). Keep at a constant temperature between 20–25°C for 5 days. A heat pad or brew belt may be useful in cooler months.
  2. After 5 days, take an SG reading using a hydrometer. If the SG is 0.992 or below, you are ready to proceed. If above 0.992, leave your wine to ferment and check again each day. Note down your Final Gravity. Note: if you do not have a hydrometer, wait until the airlock stops bubbling and taste the wine to make sure it is completely dry before continuing. Fermentation will take longer below 20°C.

Stage 4 — Clear

  1. Once fermentation is complete, clean and sanitise your syphon, mixing spoon, airlock, and demijohn & bung.
  2. Syphon your wine from the primary fermenter into your sanitised demijohn, leaving the sediment behind.
  3. Add the contents of the Stabiliser sachet to your wine. Stabiliser gives off gas when added to wine — do not inhale. Add the Sweetener sachet as well, if included.
  4. Stir your wine vigorously for 10 minutes to remove all gas. If using a demijohn, use the handle of your spoon to stir. Alternatively, degas using a degassing tool attached to a drill on medium speed for 2–4 minutes, reversing direction every 30 seconds. Note: thorough degassing is essential at this stage, otherwise the wine will take a long time to clear. Always protect the wine during subsequent steps by fitting a bung/lid with an airlock half-filled with boiled and cooled water.
  5. Once completely degassed, add the contents of the Flavouring Add-Back and Wine Finings A and stir well. Leave to stand for 12–24 hours.
  6. After 12–24 hours, add the contents of Wine Finings B and stir gently for 10 seconds.
  7. Leave your wine to clear in a cool place (ideally on a raised surface for later syphoning). Clearing should take 1–2 days if thoroughly degassed at Step 13.
  8. Check clarity by drawing a small sample from two-thirds of the way down the demijohn using the syphon tube. The sample should be crystal clear when viewed in a wine glass. Do not proceed until the wine is completely clear.

Stage 5 — Bottle

  1. When your wine is completely clear, clean and sanitise your syphon, bottles, and corks or screw caps.
  2. For the varieties listed in the sweetening table below, clean and sanitise your primary fermenter and continue to Step 20. For all other varieties, jump to Step 21.
  3. Syphon your wine into your primary fermenter, leaving the sediment behind, and add the recommended amount of granulated sugar to sweeten the wine (see table below).
  4. Syphon your wine into your sanitised bottles, being careful not to transfer any sediment. Stop at the neck of the bottle and seal with corks (using a corker) or screw caps.
  5. Your wine is now ready to drink but will significantly improve after 3–4 weeks and will continue to improve if stored in a cool, dark place. Serve white, rosé, and fruit wines at 7–12°C and red wines at 15–20°C. Open within 12 months of making.

Sweetening Recommendations

The below is a recommendation only. Add sugar in increments, tasting after each addition to find the optimum sweetness for your taste. Stir thoroughly after each addition until the sugar is fully dissolved.

Wine Variety Recommended Sugar Addition per 4.6L
Country Peach 250g
Country Apricot 500g
Country Cherry 270g
Country Elderflower 400g
Country Strawberry 160g
Country Bilberry 430g
Gold Chardonnay Style 22g
Gold Piesporter Style 36g
Gold Zinfandel Rosé Style 80g

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