Homemade wine

Sunnyday

I`ve been known to taste and see, as Pol says if its too sweet try and start it again.

You could try adding a small amount of yeast to set it going again but not much or it could affect the taste.

HTH

SD

missychrissy

craftlady wrote: »

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.

I test the SG. If it's under 1.000 then I know it's ready. It also has to be clear. I rack off after one month and then again after one month and I find that that is sufficient for most wines to be clear.

Sometimes it looks as though a wine has finished fermenting when it hasn't. I find that wines come to no harm in erring on the side of caution and leaving in the fermenter for longer.

craftlady

Well, I tasted it and was GOOD:j. I'm so suprised. I am going to buy a hydrometer thingy today. Yesterday, I started off some plum from the hedges. This wine making is quite addictive.:D:D

Sunnyday

Craftlady i finally bottled my plum wine yesterday, it was absolutely gorgeous

I`ve just frozen some plums to save for when we are back from our hols later this month and then i shall start somemore off.

Enjoy!

SD

Tubbss

Evening brewers!

Has anyone tried plastic demijohns? I started a brew yesterday, it is visibly fizzing away but not much is coming through the airlock. I have made sure the lid is tightly screwed and the airlock is firmly in place.

I am following the same receipy that I have done a few times in glass demijohns (usually lots of bubbles through the airlock). Is this normal for plastic? Is it because the plastic is slightly flexible and pressure needs to build up inside the demijohn before the "plip plip" starts in earnest?

Many thanks

carled

Hi all. Embarked on making homemade blackberry wine, have used 5lb fruit and 3lb sugar and normal instructions on soaking for a week and so on, got about 2 demijohns 4/5ths full. All starting bubbling away quickly and there was a sort of pulp/scum on top of the liquid for a while. However within about a week it all stopped and the layer on top has dissipated. I shook the demijohns up a bit but nothing. Do I need to add more yeast? More sugar? What did I do wrong for it to stop working so quickly please?

missychrissy

Hi Tubbss: I only use plastic demijohns. I have 12 5 gall plastic fermenters, most of them with taps and 12 one gall plastic fermenters. I do have 6 one gall glass fermenters but I use those for storage for recipes that tell you to 'bung down' a wine for several months.

Hi carled: If your fermentation started vigourously then the chances are that it is still fermenting in a 'slower mode' now. Try and trust it. Test the specific gravity now and record it, rack off in about a month and test the SG again and if it is lower then it is still fermenting. If the SG is the same then try to restart it. In my experience very few wines suddenly stop fermenting. They slow down when the weather is cold, but I find most of mine continue even when temps are low, and I never switch on the CH for my wine's sake. Making your own wine is all about saving money, and as far as I am concerned, producing a better wine for 'peanuts' than I can buy in the shops. I have now reached a stage where my apple wine is so much better than any white wine I can buy in the shops.

I have the confidence now to trust my technicque: I set a wine going; rack off after one month; rack off again after a further month and if it is clear I bottle but if it is not then I rack off again after a further month until it is clear.

carled

Thanks, I'm a bit of a noob... can you clarify what "rack off" means please?

Mythi

Hi all

I wondered if anyone could help please.

Just after Christmas last year I started a Youngs U Brew Cabernet Sauvignon 6 bottle kit. Unfortunately, due to a broken ankle (mine) it got forgotten and I've just uncovered it in the pantry :eek: I've racked it off into a clean, sterilised demijon and surprisingly it didn't taste too bad lol. Now here's where I need help, I can't find the instructions for the kit anymore but I have the following sachets:

Pack C: Stabiliser
Pack Cabernet Sauvignon F-Pack (flavour pack?)
Pack E: Finings 1
Pack F: Finings 2
Pack G: Finings 3

Does anyone know what I need to do next or have the instructions stashed away anywhere?

I haven't made wine for years and really, really want to get back into it.

(Not even sure if I can salvage this but figured I'm not going to lose anything by trying!)

carled

OK - more information. Just did a test and the wine is at 0.990 - about as low as it can go on my tester! I tried a taste test and it's like thin impertinent rose/white wine at the moment. Not vinegary, but kind of sour is how I'd describe it? Very faint taste of yeast too. Maybe I didn't put enough sugar in and I need to add more? I doubt it should be at 0.990 so quickly, should it? No bubbles coming out of airlock water at all.

Looking into this again I'm wondering if I didn't do this the right way... There are SO many instructions out there it's a minefield for us beginners. It appears to me that maybe I should have added yeast and sugar water to the fermentation bin and left it with just a cloth over for a few days to get things really started. Only after that slowed down should I have put the liquid into demijohns. I actually left the juice and water to steep for a week or so and mashed it occasionally, but only added the yeast when I removed the pulp, mixed in the dissolved sugar water and put it into demijohns. I put airlocks on immediately and I now read that may not have been a good thing to do?

Is there any way to rescue this please?