Thread for questions and discussion on new winemaker series

[malcmackenzie]

Hi all

I have just joined this thread and as my own experiment had come up with a Wine number 1 with 2 litres of white supermarket juice to make up to 1 gallon.

Except with mine I measured the acid and come up with 3.3ppt so I added half a 'Berrys' acid mix 1part citric 2 parst Malic and three parts Tartaic.

I believed this wiould balance the acid and balance the sugars as you described having tested the juice.

I also added 1 teaspoon of Pectolace.

Can you comment on what effect this may have apart from costing a lot by comparison to 1 teaspoon of citric acid.

I also have a red on the go where I did the same but used 4 cartons of juice to keep the colour and one I have just done with 2 catrons red with the intention of getting a Rose.

I had also boiled the juice first as I had seen C J Berrys recipe for Ribena wine.

Malcolm

[Leon]

With wine number 4, could you give us some guide as to what sweetness would balance the high alcohol. I know it is taste dependant, but a rough guide would be good. What have other people who have followed the tutorial, or he who made the tutorial, ended their wine on?

Diolch.

[lockwood1956]

I like it at around at SG 1.030 but always taste as i add, for comp purposes it may need to be higher, but its all a matter of taste, sweeten it till you get it where you like it

[N.K.]

With wine number 4, could you give us some guide as to what sweetness would balance the high alcohol. I know it is taste dependant, but a rough guide would be good. What have other people who have followed the tutorial, or he who made the tutorial, ended their wine on?

Diolch.

I have this on the go at the minute ....
How has your turned out ?

[Leon]

I am just about to begin, going to get a number 1 and number 2 on the go for consumption's sake, then propbably start tomorrow. How far have you got and how is it going?

[Big Dave]

I have this on the go at the minute ....
How has your turned out ?

I've got one of these on the go (five days now) and it smells lovely

Cant wait until I can strain it into a DemiJohn (and hope there is a taster left over)

[N.K.]

Mine is bubbling away merryily , but looks awful .

Wine #1 and #2 have fermented out I think , I,ll check again in the morning .
Also have a Black cherry I thinks finished .

[Big Dave]

Mine is bubbling away merryily , but looks awful .

Totally agree there My good lady keeps asking if it has set solid in the bucket. Does smell fantastic though.

I've also got a wine no 1 and 2 and a no 1 (pineapple) bubbling along. Hope to start a lychee when the bucket is freed up (hopefully this weekend).

Also got the goodies for a black cherry wine/sherry - but a lack of room for all the DJs

[malcmackenzie]

The No 1 wine looks good to me Bob. I am going to try this with a red grape juice - any suggestions on a good fruit juice to give a tasty red for my hubby to enjoy? Have used just the red juice with no water (or sugar as it was 1.08)and got something tasty but thought I would try your way for comparison.

Hi I have just joined the thread and have a few No 1's on the go including a red.

Tell me did you find a good red recipe for your hubby?

I could do with one for my other half.

[Bung]

So, first batch of #1 wine finally ready and tasted for the first time last night. Amazed at how good it tastes! A little sweet for my liking but still very drinkable, and certainly no sweeter than plenty of shop-bought whites. I've several others on the go so will have to see if I can hone them down to something a bit drier but it's just personal preference.

Thanks for the recipe - without this site I'd still be waiting glumly for my CJJ Berry recipe wines to mature!

[malcmackenzie]

Hi all someone mentioned here a while ago that with supermarket juice make sure there are no preservative ie sulphates in it

The juice I use I have boiled in the past in case tehre are any.

I have looked at the juice I by and on ingredients there is no mention it just says pure juice. But on nutritional values it says a trace of sodium.

Is this what I am looking out for? Can I use this sort of juice without boiling it first?

Malc

[goldseal]

If there are any preservatives in the juice, they would be mentioned in the list of ingredients.

If there was, say, sodium metabisulphite in the juice, there would be more than a trace of sodium.

You don't need to boil. Just chuck it in

[lockwood1956]

But on nutritional values it says a trace of sodium.

thats not a preservative, so you are ok,

regards

bob

[N.K.]

Wine #4 stuck

Started this on 23rd youngs dessert wine yeast , after the the 24 hours I added the sugar to get a sg 1.130 .
It bubble away merrily .
sg 1.065 on the 27th , I checked it again on the 29th sg 1.055 .
Last night I racked it at 1.055 and added the 1/4 tsp nutrient hoping
that would give it some life .
Tonite there is still no activity .

Is all a lose or can this be rescued ??

[lockwood1956]

Racking the wine quite often leads to a lull in activity, give it another 24 hours and it will likely start up on its own. If not we can look at methods to use to fire it back up, but i suspect it will do so on its own

we are talking about wine No4 crimbo pud right?

regards
Bob