Great Rural MoneySaving Hunt

mardatha

Nearest pub is 11 miles down the way and 8 miles up the way and there are a LOT of hills here and I'd be a dead body by the time I got there ! Got a bicycle but not fit enough to go anywhere on it, got ME
Got a M/C as well. But the OH wont take me to the pub onnit !

choille

Someone told me that you should put your demi-johns on top of your compost heat, that way if the blow they don't make too much mess & it's good for the compost - plus it's warm so helps the fermentation.

Lotus-eater

I don't fancy that much!

Anyway, demi johns surely shouldn't blow, as they have air locks on them. Exploding bottles hapen because the fermentation isn't stopped when bottling. More care or time is required!

choille

After fermentation is finished you should rack the wine - put in a clean sealed demi-john - sometimes fermentation is not finished, hence bottles ie glass blowing.

By blow - sometimes wine scouts up out of the air lock if you have a lively number - too much heat etc. Obviously you've never done anything like bottle wine & it's started to ferement again! Haven't made champagne out of elderflowers & had explosions?
I think you'll do everything correctly, never make messy mistakes.

Lotus-eater

I must admit I've never had a demijohn or bottle blow. As you say, I must be doing everything correctly.

choille

Champagne is always put in stronger bottles & wired corks used as it's liable to explode - suppose you just use kits - and everything is completely sterile in your house?;)

Davesnave

I don't think you always know what's gone wrong.

Back in my brewing days, long ago, we made a batch of 'German' beer, doing just what we'd done before, or at least we thought so. However on this one batch, fermentation still went on in the bottles, and any attempt to get at the beer ended in an eruption.

We didn't get one drop if that beer. There was literally nothing left in the bottles. It was like bomb disposal, out in the garden.:(

choille

Just after Waco thing in America where the FBI stormed into that compound & shot people we were woken at 3am - it was like we'd been stormed by the bureau too - a dozen bottles all blowing their corks in the kitchen - what a sticky mess.
When I make Elderflower stuff now I put screwcaps on & leave them slack for about a week before tightening them - just in case.

Lotus-eater

choille wrote: »

Champagne is always put in stronger bottles & wired corks used as it's liable to explode - suppose you just use kits - and everything is completely sterile in your house?;)

Yes it's like disneyland here.

lostinrates

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I must admit I've never had a demijohn or bottle blow. As you say, I must be doing everything correctly.

Lucky you. My grandad was an enthusiastic home wine maker. (no one drank any of it with enthusiasm). Te stuff that blew in my parents' kitchen in the nineties stained their new lino florescent yellow.