Introduce Yourselves here

[Duffbeer]

Welcome Ian,

White spirit is also effective, but also smelly, it pays to de label before washing in this case.

[Delmonteman]

Beer bottles....any problems using them for wine ? (halve bottles are quite hard to find
Thanks,

Ian

welcome
I know of some that use crown caps especially for no hassle fizzy wine but i wouldn't keep it in them for more than a couple of months...

[lockwood1956]

beer bottles for wine is perfectly fine......but not for fizzy!

sparkling wine produces a lot more pressure than a beer does, and the bottles are simply not up to the task

regards
bob

[Delmonteman]

Yes i suppose it depends on how fizzy you make it.... level teaspoon of sugar to a pint of wine does me...

[Delmonteman]

Oh yes, I'm always interested, and appreciate if you post the link! thanks!

for aChristmas special, "spiced apple wine" try 2lts white grape juice, 2lts apple juice, 1lb 5oz golden granulated sugar and a high alcohol yeast, top up with water to 1gal after initial ferment, when fermentation is finished siphon off the sediment, measure the volume of the sediment in a jug and discard, take a similar amount of water and in it simmer a cinnamon stick 2 cloves a bay leaf and a slice or two of fresh ginger, strain through double muslin and add back into wine, leave to mature under airlock. The spices were added at the end because they can sometimes inhibit fermentation (or not Grin,) better safe than sorry Wink

From ohbeary at the homewinemaking forum - make it now and it might just be ok for christmas... I 'm leaving mine a year and I 've cheated and used mixed spice anyway...

[fatbloke]

-----%<-----
Before I sign off does anyone know the best way to get rid of the residue left on some wine bottles, after taking the label off ?
Beer bottles....any problems using them for wine ? (halve bottles are quite hard to find )

Thanks,

Ian

A belated welcome to the forums Ian....

The stuff I use for dodgy labels and glues, comes from the nearest "Autosmart" van/bloke. It's called "Preptone" and is for removing glues and decals from the most delicate of laquered car paint surfaces etc. Yes it's very strong smelling, but as its "Xylene" based, it just needs to be used in a very well ventilated area (real "sniffers delight" stuff). It and the smell, evaporate completely so there's no worry of oily type deposits getting into wine bottles etc.

I just scrape the paper (if it doesn't just soak off) with a sharp blade, then use the preptone to remove the rest, glue and all. Then wash/clean the glass in the usual way.

Works a treat......

[lockwood1956]

I like the sound of that christmas special....might give that a go

[goldseal]

In an attempt to keep on-topic (), there are discussions on label removal here, here and here. Feel free to add to any of those posts.

The Christmas Special recipe sounds good. Fancy adding it to the Recipes section?

[Delmonteman]

In an attempt to keep on-topic (), there are discussions on label removal here, here and here. Feel free to add to any of those posts.

The Christmas Special recipe sounds good. Fancy adding it to the Recipes section?

Yes I'll type it up properly and get it in there. It'd be nice to have a mulled wine type thing at christmas so here's hoping...!

[Ian McDonald]

Never thought of recycling the difficult ones !!! Seems the best way.

I will continue with the hairdryer or WD40.

Thanks for all your replies on this subject.

Solved and locked.

Ian

[KayB]

for aChristmas special, "spiced apple wine" try 2lts white grape juice, 2lts apple juice, 1lb 5oz golden granulated sugar and a high alcohol yeast, top up with water to 1gal after initial ferment, when fermentation is finished siphon off the sediment, measure the volume of the sediment in a jug and discard, take a similar amount of water and in it simmer a cinnamon stick 2 cloves a bay leaf and a slice or two of fresh ginger, strain through double muslin and add back into wine, leave to mature under airlock. The spices were added at the end because they can sometimes inhibit fermentation (or not Grin,) better safe than sorry Wink

From ohbeary at the homewinemaking forum - make it now and it might just be ok for christmas... I 'm leaving mine a year and I 've cheated and used mixed spice anyway...

Thanks very much! Sounds very interesting, putting the spices in afterwards - that's something I didn't try yet. I'll definitely try it now.

[NV68]

Hi all,

I'm new to winemaking, although back in the early 90's I used to make beer with some fairly mixed results. Actually, not that mixed. It was rubbish. Odd, considering that I was a lab technician in a (now closed) brewery at the time.

I have a gallon of wine no.1 on the go which seems to be doing exactly what the photos suggest it should be doing. Inspired by that, I bought a Beaverdale Barolo kit and started that off yesterday. The Barolo seemed to be fermenting nicely when I left for work this morning, bubbling every 5 seconds or so. I got home this evening to find it coming out through the airlock. I guess it got a bit warm (It was cold and damp first thing, but hit 25 degrees this afternoon). I've moved it out to the garage to cool down, but is there anything else that could have gone wrong, and can I recover the situation. I've replaced the airlock with a clean one, but that has also now got foam coming through it. Help appreciated!

Neil

[goldseal]

Hi Neil, and welcome.

Don't panic about the Barolo - the flow is out of the fermenter, not in, so you shouldn't have contamination issues.

You might consider drawing some of the fermenting must off into another container until the fermentation calms down a bit. You can cover loosely with, for instance, a bit of clingfilm, allowing the gas to escape but keeping the bugs out.

[NV68]

Ah, thanks very much Goldseal, simple ideas are the best. I've taken 500ml out and covered. The drop in temperature seems to have calmed it down a lot as well. I'll give it a couple of days before I put it back.

[jaz9521]

Hi All
New to wine making have made 3 so far Raspberry , Plum and Parsnip on the go . looks like lots of good reading and help offered on the site.

Cheers
Gary