Homemade wine

nopot2pin · 23 September 2008 at 8:54PM

2cats1kid wrote: »

Downside is, that was my spare demi john for racking things into, so I am short a demi john again.

Otherwise, blackberry #1 is racked again and sitting maturing. Had a crafty swig and it's going to be nice I think. Very full red and a lovely colour. Think I'll sterilise a 5l water bottle from Tesco and use that to mature this one in, and that will get me my racking d-j back again.

Is it possible for you to age your blackberry in a glass DJ and then rack your strawberry conconction into the plastic water bottle ??
It is better to age wine in glass if you can.... I read something ages ago to do with plastic absorbtion.... Basically is said that fermentation is fine in plastic, but better to age in glass

jungliemac wrote: »

Read this thread and am amzed at the varieties that can be made. I have just put my blackberry wine into a demijohn after being in a bucket for a week. It has scummy frothy stuff in ablot the top inch of the demijohn and in the airlock....should I take it off and rinse the airlock or will the froth clear itself? I have horrible visions of an exploding demijohn and a house splattered in blackberry wine. Also do I have to keep it warm and dark or can I just leave it in the utility room....Last one....There is no way I will poison anyone is there?

Just give the airlock a little rinse in cold water, and put clean water in it. Thats what I do. I also sit the DJ in a tray.... Just in case it overflows a little.
I have heard of people covering their DJ's with a carrier bag, incase of the exploding scenario :eek:

It is better to keep it warm... but not too hot. Approx between 20-25C is an optimum temperature for yeast to work.
Good Luck

jinny · 24 September 2008 at 10:33AM

Hi Is there a simple step by step idiot's gide to making wine and what equipment I need? I have been on some sites but the jargon and abbreviations confuse me like sg for instance. Pictures or video would be good. Ta

nopot2pin · 24 September 2008 at 7:31PM

jinny wrote: »

Hi Is there a simple step by step idiot's gide to making wine and what equipment I need? I have been on some sites but the jargon and abbreviations confuse me like sg for instance. Pictures or video would be good. Ta

Seen this somewhere else... but if you put "winexpert" in to youtube it brings up a few tutorials...
http://uk.youtube.com/results?search_query=winexpert&search_type=&aq=f

pandora205 · 28 September 2008 at 8:59PM

I've just bought a kit which I hope is idiot-proof. It's Young's Winebuddy and has everything to make six bottles in seven days. I've done the first bit and have a container to liquid warming in the airing cupboard.

QOTD · 28 September 2008 at 9:35PM

Jinny if you look at the Brew-it-yourself.co.uk website they do decent kits for about £30 which gives you everything you need to make your first 6 bottles of wine and then you have the kit to make what you want afterwards. You can't really go wrong whether you choose white or red wine and they only take 4 weeks.... can't get better than that!

llykstw · 8 October 2008 at 11:19AM

I've just started my first 5-litre batch from a kit in a demijohn. I've corked it and put an airlock in place, but the stuff is bubbling madly, and the bubbles keep bubbling up through the airlock and foaming out of the top. The result is that the airlock runs out of water every 10 hours or so and I keep having to top up the airlock to get a proper water seal. The other effect is that, as the bubbles emerge from the top of the airlock and burst, the area around the demijohn gets spattered with lovely red wine stains - I've stuck a plastic cup upside down on top of the thing to stop the spattering whilst allowing air to escape.

Am I doing something wrong? I can't help but think that the airlock shouldn't keep running out of water...

GooeyBlob · 10 October 2008 at 4:45PM

llykstw wrote: »

I've just started my first 5-litre batch from a kit in a demijohn. I've corked it and put an airlock in place, but the stuff is bubbling madly, and the bubbles keep bubbling up through the airlock and foaming out of the top. The result is that the airlock runs out of water every 10 hours or so and I keep having to top up the airlock to get a proper water seal. The other effect is that, as the bubbles emerge from the top of the airlock and burst, the area around the demijohn gets spattered with lovely red wine stains - I've stuck a plastic cup upside down on top of the thing to stop the spattering whilst allowing air to escape.

Am I doing something wrong? I can't help but think that the airlock shouldn't keep running out of water...

It sounds like your demi-john is a little too full, as the wine shouldn't be bubbling up through the airlock. It's usually a good idea to leave a little gap at the top which can be topped up with tap water once any vigorous fermentation is over.

I like your plastic cup idea, though.

pol · 10 October 2008 at 5:51PM

Agree with Gooeyblob, demi is a bit too full, normally leave 3-4 inches clear and top up later. If I have a wine that's a bit vigorous, I usually just drape a clean cloth over the top, it soaks up the excess and stops spatter. It'll stop in a day or so. Or you could take a bit out and keep it separate till it calms down.
pol

mjhmjh2 · 14 October 2008 at 11:19AM

Hi,

The best way to learn if you are new to it is to buy a kit. You can get them online from "the home brew shop", you'll need a big bottle, some sugar, steriliser, water and time.

I now make cider as I kind of went off wine. I'm presently sat next to 28½ gallons of various types. All colelcted from local gardens. Even the waste apple pomace goes to compost or animal feed, thanks mainly to local freecyclers.

We should be having a cider festival here at some point. As much free cider as you can drink - only condition is you bring something you've made that everyone can share :-)

Matthew

llykstw · 14 October 2008 at 12:54PM

Thanks everyone! It settled down after 2-3 days (it's a kit, as you suggested mjhmjh2) and it seems to be doing fine now. It must just have been the first couple of days' vigorous fermentation, and now it's settled down. I think I did indeed put rather too much into the demijohn, and overfilled it! I'll follow pol's guidance and leave 3-4 inches next time. Thanks for all the help!

I'd love to make cider, but have a really hard job finding the right apples. I get a massive load of cooking apples from a tree in my garden, but my local brewshop tells me that you can't make cider from cooking apples

I might hit up freecycle and see if anyone wants to donate some.

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