Homemade wine

Gigervamp

I had a look on Amazon for that Mollie Harris book. It's pretty expensive on there, but noticed there was another book by her called Country Wines to Make, Drink and Cook With and wondered if that's worth getting instead as it's a lot cheaper!
I'll keep my eye out for the first book in the charity shops and car boots.

hex2

If you have access to Makro they have 15kg bags of sugar for £7.99, seems to be a long running price rather than a current offer.

Great thread. We had our first go at elderflower champagne this year. Don't use plastic water bottles - they can't take the pressure!

We made our first batch of fruit tea bag wine 10 days ago and it is now in the demi john bubbling away.

It is worth asking around about demi johns, ours came from someone my DH works with who has given up making it.

Sunnyday

Gigervamp - Keep looking, i got mine for less than a fiver inc delivery, can`t believe how expensive those were in the link :eek:

SD

v8monkeyboy

We've just made our first batch of homemade cherry wine from an age-old recipe, and it's bubbling away quite merrily in it's bucket at the moment.

Thing is, some people seems to say that what we're producing will be soo strong it'll knock a donkey out! We basically crushed the cherries, covered them with a gallon of water, then left them for 48 hours.

We then strained the liquid out (about 6L/1.5 gallons), heated it through and poured it over sugar. Let it cool, then added the yeast.

Does anyone know if this will be too strong when finished? I would really like a wine that doesn't send you nuts when you drink it (unlike the first and last time my OH made some wine, which even an alcoholic turned his nose up at...).

Cheers!

Tracy x

missychrissy

kymbogs wrote: »

Afternoon all,

I've really enjoyed reading about all your adventures in wine making and am interested in having a go at making some myself. At the moment I'm trying to find the best place to buy the equipment without spending a fortune!

My biggest confusion is whether to get a glass demijohn (£5.70 or so in Wilkos) or get a plastic one. Aside from being cheaper, I'm thinking that as there's a likelihood I'll need to move the demijohn up and downstairs, a plastic one would be so much lighter - I imagine the glass ones when full are pretty flippin heavy??

What other kit would you suggest to start off with? There were two different types of airlocks in Wilkos, just to add to confusion lol. And where does one procure a food-safe lidded plastic bucket....or is there something else I could use instead?

Much appreciation for any tips and advice!

Kimberley xxx

Hi

I only use glass demijohns for storing wines. I much prefer the plastic demis for brewing as they are light and easy to move around. In the main I brew in 5 gall fermenters with taps but I use a one gall demijohn to try out something I'm experimenting with. I acquired all my glass demijohns from freecycle and bought the rest of my equipment from Hop & Grape online. Their customer service is excellent and they have a great range. I love their neat little airlocks much better than the old twisty ones with water in and a cotton wool stop.

I'm completely self sufficient in wine these days though I do buy the odd special offer as 2 of my 4 sons think that bought is better than mine when they visit. My youngest however, thinks that free home brewed wine is always worth trying and of course costs him nothing as mum is very generous. I prefer my home brewed white (jenny jelly's apple wine recipe) to anything bought and my elderberry wine is lovely though much better for keeping in the bottle for some time.

Home brewing can be a messy business and you have to learn from your mistakes. I had a 2 litre bottle of Elderflower champagne blew up yesterday, very messy, I should have released the gas earlier!

Sunnyday

The majority of my bits and pieces came from freecycle too, the rest i got from Wilkinsons.

I`m definitely getting a couple of the 5 gallon fermenters though, they will be really useful.

Good news, the coffee wine has finally settled down and is bubbling away happilly with the airlock back in place :j fingers crossed that it dosen`t misbehave when i go out later

Has anyone made rice & raisin wine or tea wine?

I`m considering both for my next experiment but the rice one sounds a bit messy. My bucket with the plums in should be emptied in a couple of days so i can start something else off.

SD

Sunnyday

OO quick question,

do the 5 gall fermentors come with the tap attached or is it seperate and you have to attach it yourself? i`ve found one in the shed without a tap, DH is using it to store dry dogfood as fishing bait and i could easily empty it out and just buy a tap :j

Hopefully i`ll not end up with a leaky tap but just considering it as an option.

SD

kymbogs

Righty then, I've got all my stuff to make some wine from carton juice using this recipe http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=11740867&postcount=363 .

At least I thought I had everything, but after I'd dissolved the sugar in the water and poured the juices into the demijohn I started putting in the powders and realised I haven't got citric acid. Is this vital to wine making? Have had a Google but can't seem to pinpoint what happens if you don't have citric acid...

Also, the airlock/bubbler thing has a little red cap. I haven't put it on, as surely that will stop the air from getting out??

Sunnyday

kymbogs wrote: »

Righty then, I've got all my stuff to make some wine from carton juice using this recipe http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=11740867&postcount=363 .

At least I thought I had everything, but after I'd dissolved the sugar in the water and poured the juices into the demijohn I started putting in the powders and realised I haven't got citric acid. Is this vital to wine making? Have had a Google but can't seem to pinpoint what happens if you don't have citric acid...

Also, the airlock/bubbler thing has a little red cap. I haven't put it on, as surely that will stop the air from getting out??

Just had a quick google on citric acid and apparently one of the things that it does affect is the taste. i`ve always used it in the fruit juice wines but i`ve not put any in my blackcurrant wine which is still in the early stages so i don`t know yet if all is ok. Hopefully someone will be along soon who is a bit more clued up on this.

Not sure about the airlock, none of mine have a red top but all of them have some kind of top, the one piece ones have a cap which has holes in and the two piece ones have a solid cap which sits on top of a piece with a hole it, i`ve always used all the bits that came with them but maybe you have a different one?

Sorry don`t think this has helped much really

SD

kymbogs

Thanks for the reply though Sunny, it's good to know there's someone out there lol. I find so much of the information I Google aimed at people who know what they are doing, it just confuses me even more!

Already made one big mistake this morning when I popped the top off the campden tablets and went for a sniff, thinking they would smell like normal sterilising tablets that I love the smell of, and felt like I burn out the insides of my nostrils!