Homemade wine

shandypants5

I like the [STRIKE]soloman grundy kits [/STRIKE]I have done a few of them.

Which one did you do?

Edited: I just checked and I have never done one of those kits its the hambleton bard ones and the cellar 7 ones that we do

Let us know how it tastes.:beer:

craftlady

Q3. I do herbal teabag wine ('Reds' can be done well with blackcurrant or cranberry, 'whites' with nettle, camomile or vanilla) which is drinkable after about 3 weeks. Stew at least 10 teabags (or 20 if you want a fuller bodied wine) in a litre of water for about half an hour, add to 750g-1kg of sugar (depending on your taste), top up the jar with cold water, allow to cool until lukewarm, add yeast and nutrient, leave for 3 weeks. It's very much trial and error but I've never had a bad result with this method, whereas I have with making wines from fresh fruit juices. (it's also cheaper!) You WILL need the nutrient otherwise you'll likely get a stuck

fermentation.[/QUOTE]

When you say a JAR do you mean a demi-john or what size jar? I am very much a novice wine maker - any help appreciated.

Austin_Allegro

craftlady wrote: »

When you say a JAR do you mean a demi-john or what size jar? I am very much a novice wine maker - any help appreciated.

Sorry, I meant demijohn, though any container will do for wine as long as you can fit an airlock or balloon over the neck.

nuttybabe

Hiya

Well, I made the solomon grundy 7 day wine kit (nearly 2 weeks now as fermentation stopped) but it is really watery. according to the instructions it is ready to bottle but i dont want to as its too watery. Is there anything i can add to it to give it more body of is it just a case of never buying that again????

Thanks

rdpro

you can buy small cans of conc. grape juice (250ml) - try one of those (you can also try chopped/boiled raisins + pectolase, but maybe too late). Do you use a hydrometer?

If it's a red, boil up a few teabags in 500ml of water for the tannins maybe?

nuttybabe

yes i used a hydrometer. it read 1.02 (i think) but fermentation stopped and they sent out a restarter which did nothing but they told me to continue instructions after a few days. it is a red. so do you think teabags or red grape juice? i have since read that raisins should be added to the start to add body!!! doh!!!
thanks

diluvsdiscounts

Does anyone know where you can buy tinned loganberries? It's a recipe for blackberry wine but may have to miss them out because I can't find them anywhere.

Austin_Allegro

nuttybabe wrote: »

Hiya

Well, I made the solomon grundy 7 day wine kit (nearly 2 weeks now as fermentation stopped) but it is really watery. according to the instructions it is ready to bottle but i dont want to as its too watery. Is there anything i can add to it to give it more body of is it just a case of never buying that again????

Thanks

You can get some sort of additive from wine shops that claims to add body, though I didn't really have much luck with it. I don't mind lack of body in my wines, as long as the alcohol content is high enough!

Remember that even almost undrinkable wines can be salvaged by turning them into spritzers with ice, soda water etc...I've saved a few rotten brews that way!

nuttybabe

i will look into that, thats. i think i will bottle half of it as is (didnt think of making a spritzer - dont know why, as i do that if i buy a nasty bottle!!! thanks) and with whats left either put in an additive or the concentrated grape juice (depending on what i can get) and see what happens!!!!

I am currently making a rose from red and white grape juice. cant wait to see how that ones goes. Its been bubbling away for 2 days which is an improvement on the kit as that only bubbled for 1 day!!!

rdpro

nuttybabe wrote: »

yes i used a hydrometer. it read 1.02 (i think) but fermentation stopped and they sent out a restarter which did nothing

A good tip for restarting is give the brew a vicious whisking/stir/shake after adding a teaspoon of yeast nutrient - makes the lil' yeasties realise who's the boss

If all else fails, start a yeast going with warm water/sugar mix until it's multiplying rapidly (6-12 hours should do), then stir into the brew.



Apparently, the Young's Super Yeast and Nutrient mix is renowned for 'sticking' - best to avoid I think, but good for ciders. I'm off to shop for champagne yeasts today (looking at a few gallons of vimto port for xmas!), never had probs with those.

Here's the Vimto recipe:

For 4 Gallons (adjust to suit)

into 4L of boiling water* add
2.5 kilos of sugar (stir till dissolved) - 56p in Lidl
2x 1L bottles of Vimto Cordial - £1 in Asda, normally £1.96!
1Kg washed/chopped dates
1Kg washed/chopped raisins
3 chopped ripe bananas

bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes to kill off the preservatives and help release sugars from the fruit

add to fermentation vessel, top up to ~3.8Gallon with cold water

*I've seperately dissolved 1.5Kg sugar in 2L boiling water, then cooled and bottled to act as a yeast feeder after initial bubblefest has calmed down

allow to cool (~25C)

then add:

5x tsp yeast nutrient
1x packet Gervin High-alcohol yeast (pre-started in a few tbsp lukewarm water/1 tsp sugar mix for 30min)
4x tsp pectolase (breaks up hazes from fruit)
2x tsp glycerin (adds smoothness)
1x tsp citric acid for good luck

Give it all a damn good shake, and shake every day for about 5 days.

Feed the brew every 2/3 days with 1/8th of the feeder bottle and swirl. Continue until the bottle is finished or the yeast packs in from alcohol poisoning

pre-yeast SG is 1105 (15.5% abv)



Edit: quick calculation gives me about 24 bottles (4 gallons) at around 20p a bottle, or 30p a bottle including initial kit outlay