Homemade wine

Lemanie_2

Hi all,

I stumbled across this thread and wondered whether any of you lovely people might be able to help me?

I am making my first batch of apple wine from our windfall apples (very exciting!) and I have 5 x gallon jars that are fermenting nicely and have been for about a month now. However, I also have 1 big 5 gallon fermenting barrel which has never really got going.

My mum has suggested putting 1 of the smaller container's worth into the bigger one, but I don't really want to waste one if the bigger one is doomed!

Does anyone have any better ideas?

Thank you for your help.

Lemanie

Sambucus_Nigra

What's the SG of the big one?

Sambucus_Nigra

ragz wrote: »

No, I have a hydrometer but I thought it only made sense if you took a reading in the beginning and I hadn't. I restarted it the other day, I had a taste and it was very sweet so I'm guessing it's not done fermenting though it hadn't moved the bubble in days. It seems ok now.

Question number two... hubby came home yesterday with a sack of red and white grapes. For some reason I said it would be harder to get a decent wine out of them than it is with blackberry. Don't know why I think that. Can I make wine with them the same way I did with the blackberry or is it more complicated? I will get proper wine yeast as I only have brewing yeast but should I mix grape with apple or pear perhaps to give it more body? I guess I thought it would be harder because I have bought wine that I wasn't impressed with before and that was made by professionals! Any advice re the grapes would be great.. until then I shall de-stalk them then freeze until I have a plan...

No, it will still make sense - if you read it and post it then we can see how far it still has to go. You are trying to get it to 0.9 ideally.

Grapes; erm - yes of course you can make good wine out of grapes. It's exactly the same process. My usual quantities are about half the 5l bucket with fruit, cover with water, add about a cup of sugar and yeast and leave it for a week [stirring every day]. Then strain, add water to 4.5l, add sugar to 1.08 and put into demigod. Add nutrient and pectolase, leave for 24 hours and then top up to the neck.

My best mix is grape, elderberry and raspberry.

Lemanie_2

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

What's the SG of the big one?

Hiya, was that for me?

I don't even know what SG means...

Lemanie

MrsAtobe

Lemanie wrote: »

Hiya, was that for me?

I don't even know what SG means...

Lemanie

Lemanie,, SG means specific gravity. The SG of a brew falls as the yeast eats the sugar. Do you have a hydrometer? That's what you use to measure the SG.

HTH

ragz_2

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

No, it will still make sense - if you read it and post it then we can see how far it still has to go. You are trying to get it to 0.9 ideally.

Grapes; erm - yes of course you can make good wine out of grapes. It's exactly the same process. My usual quantities are about half the 5l bucket with fruit, cover with water, add about a cup of sugar and yeast and leave it for a week [stirring every day]. Then strain, add water to 4.5l, add sugar to 1.08 and put into demigod. Add nutrient and pectolase, leave for 24 hours and then top up to the neck.

My best mix is grape, elderberry and raspberry.

Thanks for that. SG is 1.020, miles off. tastes nice but sweet, smells a little yeasty but not overly. I will keep it warm and see what happens.
I started the grape wine, I added some apricots that were in the freezer, don't know why... did pretty much what you've said though I need to move the bucket to a warmer place as the room it's in now is getting cold.

shandypants5

ragz wrote: »

Thanks for that. SG is 1.020, miles off. tastes nice but sweet, smells a little yeasty but not overly. I will keep it warm and see what happens.
I started the grape wine, I added some apricots that were in the freezer, don't know why... did pretty much what you've said though I need to move the bucket to a warmer place as the room it's in now is getting cold.

Hello.
I read that you are using brewers yeast.
You may want to get some proper wine yeast in there, as some beer yeasts cant survive in the higher alcohol enviroment of wine.

Even though your down to 1020sg the mix may already be quite alcoholic, it depends how high the sg was at the start.

eyeinthesky

Just stumbled across this thread :j and been reading with interest. I am a beginner, but thought 6 bottles would not be enough, , so I started a 5 gallon kit for merlot last friday. This morning, I noticed that it had almost stopped bubbling. It was a 7 day kit, but as it's only Tuesday, I thought something had gone wrong. I have checked the SG, and it was 0.992 or thereabouts, so I have added the stabiliser and finings. I really hope it's going to be ok. If it clears well, I shall be bottling it tomorrow evening, but it all seems too quick. Am I worrying for nothing?

FarmersWife_2

Okay so I have an endless supply of fruit and veg so I was thinking ... WINE :j

Ive got sloe gin and sloe vodka on the go already but there must be more to this... :beer:

Anybody got any tips for a newbie? Or good websites for buying the equipment?

Thanks in advance

C x

Sunnyday

Freecycle for the equipment, i make wine on a very small scale, just enough to drink between two of us and the occasional gift at Christmas and Birthdays.

I make fruit juice wine that is fast and drinkable in around 6 weeks and now i make some fruit wines which have to be kept longer and are stashed in the back of cupboards for up to 12 months.

At the back of my living room i have 4 demijohns of fruit juice wine (apple & grape) one of coffee wine (if left long enough it ends up like cream sherry) and an experimental orange wine made with juice.

From the garden this year i`ve made blackcurrant which will be stored for a year, blackberry and plum.

I don`t use fancy equipment and i filter it with a funnel and coffee filters and it works well. This is my third year of this and it will continue along the same lines as we are very happy with the results. It saves us a fortune!

Thre is a good thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/12823

and here - this one has some links to more threads https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2261653

HTH

SD