Homemade wine

doddsy

LOOYATES wrote: »

Gooey blob, i made some today, how long does this need in the bottle till its nice???? thank you, patsy:beer:

Hi there, my blackberry wine is best kept for 12 months, the taste does improve over time. You can use it sooner but its a bit 'rough' then!
hth
doddsy

GooeyBlob

Excellent! Did you use blackberries on their own or did you add any other fruit?

Most wines are drinkable as soon as fermentation is finished, but if you leave a bottle or two a little longer it's always better. I usually put one bottle away for a while every time I make a gallon, so always have a few really good bottles stashed away. The more patient you are the better the end product, but generally I find that any rough edges have disappeared after 6 months or so. For elderberry I'd leave it much longer, anything up to two years.

I can't see sediment causing any major problems, though my fermentation bin has no tap and I syphoned the wine from the top into bottles once fermented. You could always do that if your tap clogs. I knew one lazy winemaker who used to dip a sterilised plastic jug into the bin and fill his bottles with a funnel. Then again, he wasn't interested in the taste - just the effect.

LOOYATES

i did!! i got carried away and put a load of elders in as well, my secret blackberry place has a big elder in as well, all the bottom ones were ripe, with green above so ill go back next week, im sitting here now with my demijohn bubbling under my airhockey table as im typing, i did try winemaking a few years ago and was quite nervous, so gave it up but your post made me start again, thank you!

tiff

I'm desperately trying to get hold of demijons on freecycle, might go to a few charity shops tomorrow if I get no replies. I've been reading up on wine making the last few days and feel that I have got the jist of it now.

The only thing I'm not sure of at this stage is what do you do with the airlock? I mean does it matter how much water you put in it? You then put it in the bung on top of the demijon and watch it bubble away?

LOOYATES

My book says fill it half way mine actually have a little line on, i wouldnt buy any demijohns tiff, just spread the word about that your after some, people always have tonnes in their attic or shed.;)

doraexplorer

have decided this evening i am going to make some too, never done it before .. a few questions ... can i use any fruit ? strawberries? pineapple?

also once its been in the demijons what do i do next regarding getting it in the bottle. and also getting it nice and clear ....

does it have to be hot can i keep it in t he shed???

and will it be ready for xmas??

can i keep my empty bottles of wine and buy corks and reuse them?

sorry for the questions but i dont have a clue how to make it ....
thanks again

LOOYATES

Morning D, i can only help on a couple of tips, in my book its says room temperature is fine, lots of people do it in their sheds if you pardon the inuendo!!, i have reused old vino bottles but its easier to use plastic stoppers instead of corks, its a bit fiddly with corks, as long as everything is sterilized there is no problem, and as for flavours id think you are only limited by your imagination, just trial and error write down what you haveput in each one so you know what to scrap and what to use next time. to get it into bottles, just use a syphoning tube, or you can get a kit with a little tap on very cheaply, wilkos have all the stuff and morrisons too have some good offers. hope this helps .....get going now while theres plenty of free blackberries and elders about:D

doraexplorer

thank you i am going to go shopping for all the stuff next weekend. hopefully it will be nice for xmas .... i cant wait i am going to turn my shed in to a wine factory ... woohoo

GooeyBlob

doraexplorer wrote: »

have decided this evening i am going to make some too, never done it before .. a few questions ... can i use any fruit ? strawberries? pineapple?

also once its been in the demijons what do i do next regarding getting it in the bottle. and also getting it nice and clear ....

does it have to be hot can i keep it in t he shed???

and will it be ready for xmas??

can i keep my empty bottles of wine and buy corks and reuse them?

sorry for the questions but i dont have a clue how to make it ....
thanks again

Most fruits are fine, strawberries and pineapples are certainly okay. I have an old winemaking book with recipes for wines made with a wide range of ingredients from oak leaves to coffee.

To transfer the wine from the demi-john to the bottle use a syphon.

For clearing wines I use a teaspoon of pectolase when adding the fruit, and this clears the pectin haze. If you forget you'll just have to leave it a lot longer to clear, and maybe rack it off from time to time to help it settle. You can buy things like isinglass finings to clear beers and wines more quickly, but I've never used them so don't know how good they are.

You can keep it wherever you like, but the colder the place the longer it will take to ferment. If you want to keep it in the shed where it's going to be cooler and wish to have it ready for Christmas I'd go for something which will ferment pretty quickly, like orange wine.

All my bottles are old wine bottles, I just buy new corks or stoppers as I need them. The old labels are still on the bottles in some cases, so I'm drinking blackberry wine from old Banrock Station or Jacob's Creek bottles. There's really no need to buy new bottles.

tiff

LOOYATES wrote: »

i did!! i got carried away and put a load of elders in as well, my secret blackberry place has a big elder in as well, all the bottom ones were ripe, with green above so ill go back next week, im sitting here now with my demijohn bubbling under my airhockey table as im typing, i did try winemaking a few years ago and was quite nervous, so gave it up but your post made me start again, thank you!

How is your wine going? I finally got some demijons from freecycle, got all the other bits from Wilkos, picked about 6lbs of blackberries this morning so ready to go. A bit scared though, and confused by all the different recipes there are. Most say to steep the berries for 5 or 6 days, did you do that or did you just put it all straight into the demijon?