Homemade wine

nopot2pin

sb44 wrote: »

Age them!

If they are drinkable I don't think we intend to age anything.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I know what you mean.....I haven't mastered the aging process myself :rolleyes:

GooeyBlob

The reason why corks are preferable if wine is bottled early or you wish to age a wine is because any further fermentation within the bottle will create pressure. If the pressure gets too high corks will blow, but screw caps can't, so the bottle breaks instead.

It's a rare event, though so don't worry about it. I've aged hundreds of bottles and only ever had one cork blow.

jackk_2

I have made wine before, many years ago, but only the kit type. I have a couple of demi johns, airlocks, bungs, corks, bottles, syphon tube and tap. I would like to have a go at this:-

Many variables with this one, just make sure that there are no preservatives in them (pottasium sorbate)

3 Litres any juice cartons
1 Litre of white or red grape juice
1 lb Sugar
1 tsp Pectolase
1 tsp nutrient
yeast

Emptied juice into Demi up to the 3/4 gallon mark, add pectolase, alter SG up to around 1080/90 ish, add the nutrient and yeast leave to ferment in demi (with airlock) after 3/4 days top up with the grape juice,ferment out,should be ready to drink within 8 weeks.


What i'd like to know is what other chemicals, ingredients, equipment etc do i need to buy to get it to the 'in the bottle, and ready to drink stage'?

Thanks

Jackie x

Pink.

Hi jackk,

I can't help as I've never made wine but you might find some answers on this thread:

Homemade wine

Pink

Demi_John

I make loads of carton juice wine (and from fruit/pressed juices) with the above equipment + plastic spoon, funnel and a non-stick saucepan (for warming juice to dissolve sugar – aluminium pans can taint the wine).

A hydrometer is not essential at the initial stage (might upset some serious winemaker with that comment) because the amount of sugar is printed on the cartons. Most juices contain around 110g/litre, but grape juice normally contains around 140g/litre, and I normally add sugar to the the total to 1Kg of sugar in the gallon/4.5 litres. However, it will let you know whether the wine really has fermented out, or simply stuck with the possibilty of re-starting at a later stage possibly causing exploding bottles - unless fermentation stopper is used.

Other essential bits are:

1) Campden tablets (sodium metabisulphite) – rack wine onto 1 crushed tablet/gall to help prevent contamination/oxidation/help drop sediment.

2) Sterilising powder/tablets – either something from a homebrew shop/Wilkinsons, or use baby sterilising tablets (I use these) @ 56 for about 80p.

3) Fermentation stopper/Stabilising powder (pottasium sorbate) - to either ensure the wine will not re-start fermentation, or stopping before fermentation ceased/after adding sugar to produce a sweet wine. Must be added in conjunction with a campden tablet to avoid a geranium taint.

You don't mention de-gassing the wine after racking off sediment to assist in clearing. Not essential for whites, but should always be done with reds. Either hold clean palm of hand over neck of partly filled demijon and shake until all the CO2 is released (I use a piece of clingfilm to cover my hand).

I find carton juice wines always mature quickly and are really easy to make. I look for bogoffs on juices such as the Princes apple juice in Morrisons and get it (and the sugar) with The Sun £5 off £30 vouchers. Might also check out the price of their sterilising tablets. Although carton cranberry tastes great, when made into wine it loses a lot of flavour and tatses rather thin, so best to add something like blueberry juice or 0.25 to 0.33 litre of boiled (to remove preservatives) blackcurrant high juice.

Demi_John

Had a few more thoiughts specifically on making wine from carton juice:

Sweeteners – juices labelled “Light” or “No added sugar” will contain unfermentable sweeteners/reduced sugar and produce a sweet, weak wine.

Low juice content – some cheap juices consist of watered down juice, and also can have artificial sweeteners added to remedy the reduced sugar content. Check the labelling, especially on juices labelled “Nectar”. Carton Ribena is too weak to make blackcurrant wine. You can always boost carton juice flavour with some bottled juice concentrate that doesn’t contain preservatives such as Belvoir Organic Blueberry, Rocks Organic Blackcurrant, Meridian Pear, etc. Unused juice can be frozen in portions for the subsequent use.

Strange additives – watch out for additives such as “added zinc” in 5 Alive Berry Blast which contains zinc gluconate and produced an off flavour when fermented. However, “aniti-oxidants” on the labelling is normally just the producer promoting the natural vitamin C/ascorbic acid content of the juice.

And finally, 4 litres of juice + 1 lb of sugar will bulk up to only 4.3 litres, when some ‘gallon’ demijons take 4.7 litres to fill them, so part of a 5th carton would be required if it was topped up into the neck after the fermentation dies down a bit. Unused juice can be frozen for the next batch.

jackk_2

I started a value orange wine yesterday, 3 litres of juice and 1lb of sugar. It's going crazy, i have froth coming out of my airlock :eek: , should i just leave it to calm down or what???

Jackie x

Penelope_Penguin

I don't think there's much you can do until the fermentation has stopped

I'll add this (and your previous wine-making thread) to the main thread on wine, later

Penny. x

jackk_2

Thanks, i did'nt want to add this to the old thread incase it got missed, and my demi john blew up :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl: .


Jackie x

Patches41048

Hi Jackie

Just a suggestion, is there somewhere cooler you could stand the demijohn until it calms down??

Lynne