Homemade wine

Norman_Bean

craftlady wrote: »

Well my first effort into wine making was a disaster. Elderflower chamagne using this recipe http://www.wine-making-guides.com/elderflower_champ.html It has not gone fizzy and has started to get a little mould on top:( Can I strain it through muslin, add some yeast and try again or do I bin it?

We have lots of cherry plum trees nearby. Anyone got a tried recipe for wine from these?

mine went a bit mouldy but we still drank it and gave some to my brother at his wedding :o
After that revelation you probably don't want to hear my advice but if it were me I'd scrape off the mould and add more yeast and see what happens ....
Good luck

nuttybabe

Hiya

I have ordered my beginner kit and extra fermenting bucket. Not had any joy from freecyle so on the hunt round charity shops today for demijohns.

I was just wondering though. After using the second fermenting bin, if i store the win in a demijohn (or a 5ltr water bottle, is that safe????) should I put a cork in the top or an air lock?

I cant wait for my stuff to arrive! Been looking for receipes and want to get started straight away.

Austin_Allegro

nuttybabe wrote: »

Hiya

I have ordered my beginner kit and extra fermenting bucket. Not had any joy from freecyle so on the hunt round charity shops today for demijohns.

I was just wondering though. After using the second fermenting bin, if i store the win in a demijohn (or a 5ltr water bottle, is that safe????) should I put a cork in the top or an air lock?

I cant wait for my stuff to arrive! Been looking for receipes and want to get started straight away.

You can make wine and store wine in any kind of container as long as:
a. when fermenting, gases can expand but fresh air can't get in - you can use an airlock or a balloon
b. When bottling/storing, you make sure the wine has stopped fermenting and the container has an airtight seal.

If you're unsure if it's stopped fermenting then put a campden tablet in to kill any fermentation before you bottle/store it. It's possibly you could have an explosion if you don't, though this is normally with beer rather than wine. I once put a wine that was still fermenting in a corked bottle and it slowly pushed the cork out over a number of days, which could cause havoc if you store the wine on its side.

nuttybabe

Thank you. I still cant find any demijohns so i will pop to tesco next week and get their 5ltr water containers and use that.

Thanks again.

Sunnyday

Hi Nuttybabe,

not sure if you have a Wilkinsons near you or not but they almost always seem to have demijohns in there when i`m in the shop.

HTH

SD

kymbogs

Hi guys,
My white has been fermenting for just 6 days and appears to have stopped. It's quite clear and there's a good layer of sediment. Conditions identical to red which was made a few days before and is still going strong. Should I give it a shake in case there's yeast sat in the sediment?

Sunnyday

kymbogs wrote: »

Hi guys,
My white has been fermenting for just 6 days and appears to have stopped. It's quite clear and there's a good layer of sediment. Conditions identical to red which was made a few days before and is still going strong. Should I give it a shake in case there's yeast sat in the sediment?

No don`t shake it, if you are absolutely positive that its stopped you need to syphon it off into a clean demijohn leaving all the gunk behind in the bottom of the original one.

When i do this i usually crush a campden tablet between two spoons and put the powder in the bottonm of the new sterilised DJ then let the wine run on top of it.

SD

noynoy

hello all ..i managed to get a wine making kit from my local jumblesale for just £2 all i need to buy is the demi johns and im good to go..looking forward to my first exploits soon!

missychrissy

Why not try your local freecycle site. I've managed to acquire lots of home brewing equipment, including demijohns, on freecycle.

nuttybabe

i didnt manage to get anything off freecycle! I bought a beginners kit and will buy the 5ltr plastic water bottles to store it in. I tried wilkinsons but they didnt have any unless i order it online so might do that when i have more money.

i have a red kit going (solomon grundy 7 day kit). started on thursday and its stopped bubbling so will do a SG reading later and see if its ready for the next stage. I have a receipe for a rose that i will start when this one finishes. Dh is dreading when the wine is ready as he thinks it will be vile! I so hope I prove him wrong!! :P