Adventures in Homebrewland (image heavy - you have been warned!)

nopot2pin

Wrapping the DJ's in bubble wrap, may also help keep the chill off of them

missychrissy

I have the fermenters that are not in the boiler cupboard wrapped in fleeces and positioned in front of the radiators. I could turn up the heating but that would add to the cost of the wine. I'm experimenting to see what does and doesn't work. I found last year's elderberry and rosehip fermented at the lower temps but I left them in the initial fermenters for 9 months, in the boiler cupboard, before the first racking so the extra time might have helped.

I don't often use the one gall demijohns, only usually if I'm trying something new or if I only have a small quantity of something. I prefer the 5 gall fermenters with taps. It is just as easy to do 5 galls as it is to do 1 gall and the taps make it really easy to rack off and bottle. I have about 13 of them though I always have to keep one empty to rack off and filter into. At present I have 3 empty but I have lots of space in loft when I have equipment not in use.

I'm not sure why some wine ceases to ferment. In the summer I set off 4 galls of cranberry and rapsberry and 4 galls of cranberry and blueberry at the same time. The former was ready to botttle within 2 months and was lovely but the latter has not fermented as has a rice and rasin. The problem wasn't that they were too cold as i started them in the summer. I have added some more yeast to see if I can restart them. If not then I will use them to sweeten any wines that are too dry and for cooking. Waste not want not.

Gigervamp

missychrissy wrote: »

I know that there is now a non rinse steriliser available from the homebrew shops but as yet I have not tried it.

I use the Milton sterilising tablets as they don't need rinsing.

missychrissy

Do they work out cheaper?

Also I keep asking where people buy their supplies. I'd like an online supplier that waves p & p over a certain amount.

Gigervamp

I don't know if they work out cheaper than the no rinse stuff that homebrew shops sell, as I've not seen it to compare costs.

Have you tried ebay for homebrew supplies? I noticed today that this ebay seller does a discounted shipping rate of £5 if you spend over £60.

Akom

MissyChrissy, do you have a Wilkinsons near you as they do lots of brewing stuff. You can look online 1st, order what you want then have it delivered to your local store for free.

I dont work for Wiklinson but as a new brewer i've found them very handy and cheap compared to online prices.

Also you can buy warm jackets to go round your fermenters that you plug in. I'm sure they wouldn't cost that much to run.

missychrissy

I do go into Wilkinsons sometimes. I find the choice very limited and I havn't found them any cheaper. I use their general purpose yeast for a lot of things but sometimes I want a specific yeast for red wine or sherry etc.

Hop and Grape charge under £5 for each delivery so I try and order as much as I can in one go. However, there is a limit sometimes because ingredients have a use by date. I used to use another co that waived p & p over, i think £75, but I cannot remember who they were.

I have 12 5 gall fermenters, that would be a lot of warm jackets and therefore I don't think very money saving.

I have found that most wines continue to ferment, though more slowly, despite being cold, but I cannot work out why the odd one stalls especially in the summer months.

Akom

Sorry Chrissy, i didn't realise your scale of production. I'd love to be round yours at Christmas :beer:

I'm just starting out brewing my own beer and have found this forum to be very useful. they also cover wine so maybe they can help with ideas.

Hope it helps.

Nitha

I've just got a Chardonnay kit in my return to home winemaking. Before I got pregnant with my son (who is now 2 lol) I did a lot of home wines made from Lidl grape juice I found the recipe in this forum actually. It was a light bodied rose but could be bulked up with some concentrate. I'm hoping to make a few juice wines and then start country wines in summer. I'm going to do the Chardonnay in a 5l water bottle which is essentially the same as the PET demis I used before, but much cheaper!

missychrissy

Thanks Akom for the link to that forum. I will spend some time reading it.

I have a large family so at family get togethers quite a bit of wine consumed. Sometimes I just put a 5 gall fermenter with tap up on the worktop to use on draught. Saves on bottling which is the part I hate most. That's ok for wines best at room temp but I always bottle white and rose so that I can chill them in the fridge.

I'm going to do a second racking on a wheat wine tonight and bottle some barley wine. I think I have an elderberry ready for first racking too. I did 16 galls of elderberry, my favourite. I started 5 galls with 20lbs of elderberries then 3 weeks later used the same fruit to do a further 3 galls. I repeated the same process a few weeks later with another 20 lbs of elderberries. I will report back in a few months on how successful this is. I tried it with some rice and rasin in the summer. The first 5 gall batch has stalled but the second batch fermented nicely and is now bottled. I suppose the odd failure is a learning experience.

Hi Nitha. I too have had success with wine made from cartons. I do an apple and white grape juice that tastes like a Pinot Grigio. I also use cranberry and red grape juice that makes a nice rose. I have never tried a kit because I think they are expensive. My apple and cranberry wines work out at about 32p per bottle. My elderberry and rosehip are about 16p per bottle. I suppose wine at these prices compensates for the odd failure.