Other Solomon Grundy

[RevA]

Hi
Does anyone have any experience with the Solomon Grundy kits?
I assume it is pretty cheap as it is marked a seven day kit start to finish.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Wow, I doubt prison hooch doesn’t ferment that fast!

 

[Grape Expectations]

It's an old thread but I just started my first ever wine kit using one of these. This is my 17th batch of wine (I started out in Jan 2023) and every other time I have made it from pure orange juice. I had no idea these kits were so cheap which is why I never even thought to look at them.

I got the SG "Chardonnay Style" Gold kit that makes 30 bottles. It was £27.50 delivered.

Here's what's in the kit after weighing and measuring everything:

- 1300ml grape juice concentrate in a large plastic bag.
- 10g Yeast
- 50g Nutrient
- 30g Finings A
- 100g Finings B
- 10g Stabilizer
- Pouch of "add back" flavouring.

It's 1.5 days into it and it's bubbling away nicely. I split mine into five 4.5L bottles (I just don't have a 30L bucket and I ain't lugging one of those around!). It all went smoothly once I figured out what to put in each of the 5 bottles (3.65L of diluted juice +1160g sugar = 4.5L). I'm making this with a lot more sugar though to get it up near 18% ABV. It's meant to be 10.5% ABV but I'm only making wine to save money so I always make it as strong as I can.

Had a taste of it before (although it's probably not even at 2% ABV yet) and I can tell it's going to be a lot better than the wine I have been making from pure orange juice.

These kits have numerous advantages to me like, hardly any foaming, the juice starts off a lot clearer etc. The kit only has 10g yeast and it's about half what I normally use but, it seems to be multiplying perfectly fine. A good amount of CO2 is coming off it after 36h.

I started it off at 1.126 SG although it's meant to start at around 1.076 SG.

The start gravity of 18.25L of diluted juice was 1.027 SG so, this SG juice isn't all that sweet (that SG would only ferment to about 3.3% if no sugar was being added). I added 5.8 KG sugar in total (not the 4 KG suggested that makes it 10.5% ABV) and that ended up bulking the 18.25L up to the final 22.5L.

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi Grape Expectations, and I know that this is a sidebar issue, but making wine from orange juice is - in my opinion - never going to make a delightful drink: the amount of acid in the juice- not the strength but the volume (the TA, not the pH) is off the roof. You want to make a good orange wine, you use the zest - not the whole peel but the surface part of the fruit. No white pith (very bitter). You might zest a dozen large oranges per gallon. You COULD perhaps add a pint of OJ but not more. I would use water and so about 2.5 lbs of honey for each US gallon . And if you could find orange blossom honey (does not taste of oranges) that would be great. If you were not interested in making this into a mead you could simply use about 2 lbs (a scant 1 kg of table sugar. You could use your preferred yeast or D47 or RC212 if they are available.