Homemade wine

rdpro

I've just put it on the shelf in it's brewing bin, along with a reserved 2L bottle of water/1.5Kg dissolved sugar to feed it over the next fortnight.

I've edited the recipe to show SG before feeding, it'll come out about 18-21%, and yes I'll be leaving it after racking until xmas (well, most of it )

rdpro

This evening's last job - 4 Gallons Orange Juice wine (a la Wurzel):

1Kg sultanas (rinsed with boiling water then chopped) Scoopaway - expensive, but very fat and sugary
10 cartons conc OJ (using Lidl's cheap stuff)
1 Kg demerara sugar (all I had left over from the vimto port, add another Kg for higher %abv)

Boil/simmer chopped fruit/sugar in 2L water for 30min

pour into fermenting vessel

Rinse out pan with 1 or 2 of the OJ cartons into the vessel
Add the rest directly to the vessel, top up to 4 Gallons with cold water

Add:

4 tsp yeast nutrient (using Tronozymol)
2 tsp glycerin
1 tsp citric acid
2 tsp pectolase (cheapo concentrates really need this)
1 pkt champagne yeast

shake frantically, stopper up, and then shake every day for 1 week - rack, leave 'til ferment drys at about 0.990 (a week or 2), rack again, add stabiliser, fine, add sucralose to sweeten up as required.

Ready to drink after fining, but improves over 3 months.




This gives an SG of about 1.065 (9.8%), but I ran out of sugar! I'll be feeding it up with another 1Kg demerara over the following week (dissolved in 500ml water)


Coming next week: Lidl mixed fruit juice wine (I bought a carton this weekend, the blend is delicious!)

silligilli

Aha - reading this has reminded me of my teenage years when my father used to make his own wine. I recall the wet worktops in the kitchen when he was sterilising everything and the yeasty scented, grumbling demi-john in the airing cupboard. His wine tasted vile if I recall or it could be I hadn't developed a taste for the stuff at that stage. He made rice wine and tea wine and I have a feeling they were very strong! Happy days - maybe I should follow in his footsteps.

rdpro

My ex-FIL was a fervent believer in leaving the wine on the dregs for months, in the belief that it created the strongest wine - it all tasted of creosote! (dead yeast does that in the end, all tastes like retsina).


Eventually I persuaded him to rack the damned stuff :T

Sunnyday

rdpro wrote: »

did you post the recipe SD? Trawling through this thread is painful

I used Mollie Harris` recipe, very simple

3lb stoned victoria plums (not sure which type i actually used)
3lb sugar ( i used 2 and a half)
Gallon of water
1 tsp yeast

I`ve always used the pectolase, yeast nutrient and citric acid but gave it a miss this time. Not sure how strong it will be, the strongest one (going on how long it takes me to fall over ) is usually the white made from cartons of apple & white grape.

My wine cupboard is filling up nicely but is also emptying again at a steady rate - can`t wait for the elderberries this year

I opened an elderberry from last year and a blackberry also from last year earlier and both were fab, someone mentioned mixing them earlier in the thread and i think i`ll try this as they would go well together.

SD

rdpro

Today's mixes:

(1) Raspberry Cider:

500g frozen raspberries (£1.99 Lidl)
4L Iceland apple juice (£1.50 for 2)
1 tsp pectolase
1 tsp champagne yeast ('arf a sachet really)
1 tsp Tronozymol nutrient

Start yeast up in 1/4 cup lukewarm water + 1/4 tsp sugar, leave while attacking fruit with blunt instrument.

Smash frozen rasp's (still bagged - keep it clean!) with a steak tenderiser - aka, venting bad day at work - then add to 2L apple juice & simmer for 30min - whisk or use hand blender as available, dissolve 1lb sugar (£1.30 for 2Kg at Morrisons), leave to cool.

Sieve through OH's best stocking - avoid fishnets here or you get a lumpy brew (and a lumpy head if she finds out..).

Test for SG with hydrometer... (this post will continue in 2 hours..)

Add to DJ with enzyme/nutrient/yeast - top up to shoulder with spare apple juice - swirl viciously. Add further AJ (after main ferment dies down - 4/5 days) to neck of DJ.


(2) Lidl Mixed Fruit Cider (turbo style):

3L apple as above
2L Lidl Mixed Fruit with vitamins (5 a day, anyone?)
Other half of champagne yeast packet
1 tsp pectolase
1 tsp Tronozymol

Start yeast as above - don't be tempted to make a whole then split, you end up dumping a lot more yeast into 1 DJ than the other!

Add 2L apple/2L Mixed Fruit to DJ, add yeast etc and shake - this should be well below the shoulder of the DJ, as it will ferment vigorously in the warm (my Brew Lab is a constant 25C)

Stand well back for 3 days - dissolve 1lb sugar in remaining apple, feed into DJ over 1 week - the added fruit sugar should create an SG similar to the above recipe, within 1-2%


I'd like both of these to be carbonated, so I will be racking/fining and then filtering while still 'live' before priming into 2L plastic for secondary fermentation.




(3) Blackberry & Raspberry Liqueur:

3.5lb (picked today, boil rinsed, frozen, defrosted) blackberries with a pack of frozen raspberries (as above) - simmering now with an added 1L spring water, ready for a good mashing.

Adding a further 2L water after mashing, dissolving 1kg sugar in the mix.

Adding: 2 tsp pectolase, 1/3rd cup strong tea (tannin), 2 tsp nutrient, 1 tsp glycerine

Adding a Gervin 4 pre-started yeast.

Feeding with sugar solution to get a port/liqueur finish, about 18%

This is 1st ferment in an open bin, just a tea towel over the top - the berries need stirring in very regularly for at least 5 days. Strain as above (if she'll let you) into a DJ after 5 days, top up with red grape juice (or RGJC for a more robust/port effect) and feed oh-so-gently with the sugar for up to 2 months.


If this goes okay, I'll be harvesting 10-20lb of blackcurrants for a 5/6 gallon revision.

craftlady

In the middle of my first wine. Redcurrant - How long does the fermentation take when its in the demijohn. Its been a week and a half and has stopped. Is this normal or is it too cold. Do I need to restart or do I bottle it now.

craftlady

Where are all the wine makers ??????

I NEED HELP :huh:

pleeeeeeease !!!!!!

pol

Have you made it from juice, concentrate (kit) or real fruit? If it was juice or concentrate, it could be ready to rack. The weather has been warm enough for it to have finished this quickly. The best way is to taste it. If it's still sweet, shake it up and leave for a while to see if it starts bubbling again, if not rack it and add stabiliser.

pol

craftlady

I used real fruit. I will open it and give it a try.