Warning: If using a glass carboy, always handle it carefully. Do not lift it by the neck and avoid impact with hard surfaces. Never fill glass vessels with scalding hot liquids. Immediately discard any fermenter or carboy 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 Platinum Wine Kits

Also see our SG Wines Classic & Gold 30 Bottle Instructions and SG Wines 6 Bottle Instructions.

What’s in Your Kit

  • Grape Juice Concentrate Blend
  • Wine Yeast & Nutrient Sachet
  • Stabiliser Sachet
  • Wine Finings A
  • Wine Finings B

Note: No added sugar is required for Platinum kits.

You Will Also Need

For Bottling

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. Hold the bag of Grape Juice Concentrate Blend securely above your fermenter. With one of the bag’s corners positioned in the opening of the fermenter, carefully cut the corner so the juice pours into the fermenter. Rinse out any remains with cold water and pour into the fermenter.
  2. Top up to 23L with lukewarm (20–25°C) water and stir.
  3. Use a hydrometer to record the Starting Gravity.
  4. Check the liquid temperature is between 20–25°C before adding the contents of the Wine Yeast & Nutrient sachet 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 1.000 or below, you are ready to proceed. If above 1.000, leave your wine to ferment and check again each day. 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 mixing spoon, syphon, and carboy & bung.
  2. Syphon your wine from the primary fermenter into your carboy, leaving the sediment behind.
  3. Stir your wine vigorously for 10 minutes to remove all gas. If using a carboy, 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 carboy bung/fermenter lid with an airlock half-filled with boiled and cooled water.
  4. Add the contents of the Stabiliser sachet and stir vigorously for 1 minute. Stabiliser gives off gas when added to wine — do not inhale. Leave to stand for 1 hour.
  5. After 1 hour, add the contents of Wine Finings A and stir gently for 1 minute. Leave to stand for another hour.
  6. After 1 hour, add the contents of Wine Finings B and stir gently for 1 minute.
  7. Leave your wine to clear in a cool place (ideally on a raised surface for later syphoning). Clearing should take 2 days if thoroughly degassed at Step 12.
  8. After 2 days, check clarity by drawing a small sample from two-thirds of the way down the carboy 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. Clean and sanitise your bottles and corks or screw caps.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 and rosé wines at 7–12°C and red wines at 15–20°C. Open within 12 months of making.

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