Homemade wine

zippychick

ive merged this in with our homemade wine thread

ZIp

Sunnyday

splodger_seedswapper wrote: »

well i have got quite a few different brews on the go - i must change my signature - as i started on another 7 gallons today - so that will make my yearly total to 52 gallons so far this year (that does actually include a few wines that i started late last year - but were late to get going because of the cold etc - just to let reassure you lot that i am not a total p!sshead :D:D)


tonight i have started off elderberry and purple climbing bean, elderberry and dwarf purple bean, elderberry and apple.

i have 2 x 5 gallon barrels of wild cherry plum wine on the go - also a 5 gallon barrel of small plum (not quite as nice as damson, but still very agreeable) i do have 2 gallons of damson wine going too - but due to lack of dj's - the rest of my damsons are in the freezer - awaiting an opportune moment to get fermenting

in my wine cupboard (yes i have a special cupboard - just for wine :cool:) i have a lovely mix of brews on the go like:

lettuce, broad bean, pea pod, gooseberry, redcurrant, blackcurrant, beetroot, vine leaf, dandelion, bramble tip, rhubarb, strawberry, mixed berry, french bean, rice and raisin etc

for a quick wine - i do rice and raisin - takes about 2 months and is then ready to drink - i use this as a stop-gap - so i can slurp quite merrily on the quick ones whilst i wait for the others to mature

i have now got all the ingredients for my hedgerow wine (elderberry, blackberry, raspberry, apple, damson combo) but haven't got the fermenting vessels spare at the moment - so thank goodness for freezers - for the time being everything will have to be kept on ice, until i can afford another 5 gallon bin

luckily i got all of my dj's from freecycle (over the last two years - one here and a couple there) i have 30 glass jars - but need at least another 10 the rate i am going

here is pic of my wine cupboard from a couple of months ago - most of the dj's in there will be ready about xmas :beer:

Right! now i`ve got wine cupboard envy
Sounds like you`ve got a great collection on the go, elderberry is one of my favourites. We are just drinking the batch that i made last year. I have about 1lb in the freezer and will collect some more to add to them soon.

In the dj`s i have blackberry, blackcurrant, strawberry and pear. The strawberry and pear are experiments as i`ve not made them before. The usual suspects have been bottled in the last few days - these were white wine made with fruit juices and coffee wine which is a firm favourite once its been stood long enough. I wish that i had the room for fermenting bins, i almost bought one last year but i should really just keep on with my collection of demijohns from freecycle.

In a couple of weeks i`ll be starting off a few dj`s of white to see us through Christmas. I don`t even bother to bottle this at that time of year as its not worth it. It moves so fast that its barely got time to chill before we`re drinking it.

SD

s7even

wilding_arms wrote: »

Posting in this thread because I've noticed there are some other keen homebrewers on the OS board...

I'm curious to know what everyone's making, what their turnover is, and what their setup is like!

Our setup is for fast-turnover mead (2 months or less to the bottling, depending on the honey content that goes in and ambient temperature), with some seasonal favourings added... i.e. bilberries, raspberries, elderflowers, etc.

We had a go with various country wines but since all our non-spirit home drinking is now homebrew, wanted something faster. But our setup only has 8 one-gallon demijohns, and all are in constant use... more to come when we can afford it.


So other homebrewers here on OS: what are you making, where do you source your ingredients, and care to share tips and tricks to inspire? I have a feeling a LOT more people are going to turn back to homebrew in the next few years :cool:

Have you not tried multiplying you ingredients to make a 5 gallon batch ? .. i am new to brewing and have only made a few 6 bottle kits but i have a 30 bottle young chardonney on the go and a gallon of WOW .. details on the link below( not allowed to post links)
the home brew forum . co . uk / viewtopic.php?f=48&t=10179

Sunnyday

Linky

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=10179

HTH

SD

Jolaaled

Plum and Elderberry wine safely chugging away in the Demijohn.

Is the liquid supposed to bubble up into the airlock???..Ferment is going like crazy!!

http://

Sunnyday

Lol, no the liquid shouldn`t be in the airlock. I`d empty a bit of wine out and replace the lock so that it doesn`t bubble over. If you pop it into something sterile then you can always replace it when its settled down a bit.

Reminds me of when i first made the coffee wine, i was warned about how mad it went in the first couple of days but nothing prepared me for what i found, it was everywhere. These days i only put half the liquid in this one and add the rest later.

SD

Sambucus_Nigra

When my brews do that, and leak into the airlock, I put it on the draining board, and add water up to the shoulder and scoop out the excess bubbles each time it does it. It only takes a couple of days to calm down a bit when you do that.

I've currently got a 25l bucket on the go with all my forages [plums, damsons, greengages, elderberries left over from SIL's boiled down batch] plus rasps from the garden, blueberries, 4 ripe nanas - and will start to syphon off a gallon at a time as Demijohns come free from earlier batches in the year.

One of the best and quickest I've made this year is Strawberry Smoothie wine; 2L on offer [non citrus] smoothies, 2 l red grape juice, 700g sugar [plus yeast etc] and it was done in about 3 weeks. Last year's 'proper' wine, from Eric down the road's grapes, plus elderberries and rasps [own grown] was absolutely magnificent if I do say so myself.

Jolaaled

Can anyone recommend a recipe for Turbo Cider?

There are loads on google, but thought I'd ask the experts here first!!


THANKS

Sambucus_Nigra

Apple juice and a teaspoon of yeast is all you need for Turbo Cider.

splodger_seedswapper

Jolaaled wrote: »

Plum and Elderberry wine safely chugging away in the Demijohn.

Is the liquid supposed to bubble up into the airlock???..Ferment is going like crazy!!

no it shouldn't be in the airlock - and if you leave it in there for a few days - you will have a devil of a job cleaning the bubbler airlock (you could try pipe cleaners to clean out any stuck gunk if steriliser doesn't clean it)

advice as above - there is just a tad too much liquor in the dj - so if it is still frothing over the top - pour a little out and fit a clean airlock - when frothing stops - you can top the dj up with either the spare liquor or a bit of juice / sugar syrup or just plain water.