Homemade wine

missychrissy

carled wrote: »

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

As wine ferments a deposit is laid down in the bottom of the fermenter. It is necessary to 'rack off' the wine above the deposit into a new sterilised fermenter and then throw away the sediment in the bottom. I usually do this twice or occasionally 3 times when making wine.

In the warmer months I usually 'rack off' after a month and then again after a further month. In the colder months fermentation is slower so I give the wine longer between rackings.

I bought a juicer in Argos last week and I have used it for the first time today to make 6L of apple juice using next doors apples that overhang my garden (I give him wine in return). I have used it to set off 4 galls of wine. This is my first time trying it this way so I will let you all know how it works out. I have great success making apple wine using cartons but this way will be so much cheaper if it is successful.

Penelope_Penguin

I've been asked to recommend a book for wine making I have this one, and we especially love the apple wine recipe :beer:

mommygoose

I started making wine recently. So far I've made, peach, pear, apple, pineapple, kiwi and mango. All have turned out really well. I don't drink but my daughter loves it. Have put a bottle of each up for xmas for guests. Got my demi-johns really cheap from a car-boot and usually use fruit I've had given me. It's turned out to be an interesting hobby so I'm glad I started:)

MrsTinks

It's in my basket Penelope! As soon as my KeyNoir voucher comes through *sigh* I'll be ordering that bad boy and getting stuck in with wine making!
Out of interest where do you stand the wine whilst it's in the demijohns? I take it they have to be at room temperature so I'm trying to work out where it could be and still be out of small persons reach lol

mommygoose

I have mine stood on the kitchen worktop pushed to the back. It's always warm in my kitchen and they all started working within 15 minutes

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

If I wanted to make a red/dark wine with a smooth vanilla aftertaste, what ingredients should I use?

thanks!

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

I picked about 2lbs of blackberries yesterday - can anyone tell me how much sugar I should be using with them to make wine?

Sunnyday

r.a.i.n.b.o.w wrote: »

I picked about 2lbs of blackberries yesterday - can anyone tell me how much sugar I should be using with them to make wine?

My little book says 4lb blackberries to 3lb sugar so one and a half pounds of sugar sounds ok, the recipe does say to add 6oz raisins too which would make it sweeter.

I usually use 2lb or 3lb fruit to 2lb sugar and usually as soon as i`ve bunged it all in i`ve forgotten how much i`ve used. I wouldn`t worry too much, if its not sweet enough you could always dissolve a little sugar in some water and add it later.

HTH

SD

ChennyM

With the blackberry season kicking off right now, I've decided to start producing my own vino...

Have picked up all the stuff required but have a question to those in the know:

How much water should I be adding to the mix? I'm not expecting the result to taste like a decent beajoulais or anything - but I do want something that doesn't taste like paint stripper when I try it!! :eek:

Got enough of that stored in the shed!

Any ideas?

Thanks

C.

squeaky

Hiya

try these two threads...


Homemade wine

Wine making the beginners guide