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Award Winning Wines - Bill Smith experiments

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  • #16
    1 campden and pot sorbate added 25 June.
    A day without wine is a day without sunshine!

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    • #17
      If you added a Campden tablet in June you should not need to add another yet. I assume that the June Campden was added at the end of fermentation.

      Is it possible that the "croutons" are getting up your racking cane hence why they keep appearing?

      Rob

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      • #18
        Hi Rob,

        Its possible, yes. But the racking cane i use has a circular plastic "filter" on the end to stop any large lees going up the cane as it were. You know the ones i mean? I'll rack again today and see how it goes.

        Owl.
        A day without wine is a day without sunshine!

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        • #19
          Spoke to Bill today and am hoping to get him to take part here

          fingers crossed
          N.G.W.B.J.
          Member of 5 Towns Wine and Beer Makers Society (Yorkshire's newest)
          Wine, mead and beer maker

          Comment


          • #20
            That would be great Bob. I have done a number of the wines from his book but with varying degrees of success.

            After tasting silverfoxs Chianti style at GF this year I realise that I have a lot to learn still.

            Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

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            • #21
              I couldn't wat for the autumn fruit to ripen, and picked my hands raw to get as much elderberries and blackberries as possible to make wines from Mr Smith's books. I have a couple of DJs of the Barolo style, the one with more elders than blackberries, and that is down to 1.002; quite excited though, it's a lovely, deep red colour. Im hoping in time it comes out nice because this is the cheapest to produce as it has no grape concentrate, if you're willing to put in the hard hours of picking, its a pittance; the cost of a few bannanas and some sugar. I have started on the burgundy style, still fermenting my starter, concentrate and sugar on that one. I have also started another starter for ten litres of the claret style, and ater that will attempting the chianti style. Obviously I haven't got much of a progress report but will update later, its also really good to know you guys are going ahead of me, I'll be watching your progress keenly.

              IMG_0465.jpg

              Defrosting the elderberries and blackberries for my Barolo style.

              Comment


              • #22
                Hi there, first post! I've been reading Bill's book over the last couple of weeks and I'm trying my own red table wine recipe but want to try out Bill's late additions method. But I'm stuck on one point. I'm relatively new to home brewing so forgive me if I'm missing the obvious When adding the fruit pulp, do you add the large starter from to the demijohn TO the fruit in the plastic fv for pulp fermentation? Or do you transfer the fruit pulp from the fv to the wine in the demijohn? Or does it matter? I believe pulp fermenting is easier to conduct in a plastic fv rather than a demijohn but reading over some of the text in the book I get the impression that the fruit is transferred/added to the wine. Just when i think I'm clear on the method I start to get confused again.
                Appreciate any help and would love to hear some updates on the experiments!
                Cheers

                Comment


                • #23
                  My understanding is that the major benefit of Bill's late pulp fermentation is to minimise the loss of flavours, aromas etc during the vigorous first fermentation. This means that the pulp fermentation is conducted during the secondary fermentation stage. But this is the anaerobic stage of the fermentation when air needs to be excluded.
                  The advantage of conducting the pulp fermentation during the primary fermentation is that air is positively required at this stage and so it is ideal to use a large bucket with a loose cover. This can easily be cleaned when the wine is racked of the pulp.
                  I assume that the correct way to use Bill's method would be to use a container for the secondary fermentation from which it is possible to exclude air but which will also be possible to easily clean out the remaining pulp after racking. The DJ fulfills the first part of this requirement but presents a lot of problems for the second. A five gallon carboy is even more of a problem.
                  I've stuggled with DJ's in my couple of attempts so far but I am still searching for some mystical fermenter with awide but adjustable lid......maybe shiny stainless steel.......!
                  Cheers,
                  Dave.
                  If I won the lottery I'd spend half the money on wine, women and song.
                  But I'd probably just waste the rest of it!

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Thanks a lot Dave. That's basically the problem I'm looking at. I have a 30 lt fv but like you say that would leave a huge head space for 1 gallon transferred on to the pulp. It is an airtight fv but I'm worried that syphoning from the dj to the fv with lots of space would introduce oxygen. It is something Bill stresses is important not to do. He makes the point that late addition is good because the dissolved oxygen would be used up in the large starter thus making a hostile environment for bacteria etc. And I've been advised elsewhere not to pulp ferment in a demijohn as it's difficult/messy. Hoping someone can clear up the problem and offer a solution. I think I'm just missing a piece of the puzzle. The SG is dropping but I still have a few days before I reach 1.010.
                    Cheers

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      We have been thinking about getting a Barolo kit, but after reading your post and looking at Mr Smith recipe we have been making this wine, without the bananas, and with more fruit and oak, so now I know what Barolo tastes like and dont have to get a kit CC

                      Originally posted by Leon View Post
                      I couldn't wat for the autumn fruit to ripen, and picked my hands raw to get as much elderberries and blackberries as possible to make wines from Mr Smith's books. I have a couple of DJs of the Barolo style, the one with more elders than blackberries, and that is down to 1.002; quite excited though, it's a lovely, deep red colour. Im hoping in time it comes out nice because this is the cheapest to produce as it has no grape concentrate, if you're willing to put in the hard hours of picking, its a pittance; the cost of a few bannanas and some sugar. I have started on the burgundy style, still fermenting my starter, concentrate and sugar on that one. I have also started another starter for ten litres of the claret style, and ater that will attempting the chianti style. Obviously I haven't got much of a progress report but will update later, its also really good to know you guys are going ahead of me, I'll be watching your progress keenly.

                      [ATTACH=CONFIG]2989[/ATTACH]

                      Defrosting the elderberries and blackberries for my Barolo style.
                      WVMountaineer Jacks Elderberry and Meads USA

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Originally posted by SleepyDave View Post
                        But this is the anaerobic stage of the fermentation when air needs to be excluded.
                        The advantage of conducting the pulp fermentation during the primary fermentation is that air is positively required at this stage and so it is ideal to use a large bucket with a loose cover. This can easily be cleaned when the wine is racked of the pulp.
                        Hi Dave

                        Almost....

                        Don't get too hung up on the exclusion of air bit, as long as fertmentation is active a little airspace at the top of the wine wont matter as the CO2 given off forms a blanket which protects the wine from spoilage.

                        The anaerobic stage just means the yeast dont need oxygen, not that you have to worry too much about excluding it. Once fermentation is over however, then it needs to be fully topped up and oxygen excluded

                        hope that makes sense

                        regards
                        Bob
                        N.G.W.B.J.
                        Member of 5 Towns Wine and Beer Makers Society (Yorkshire's newest)
                        Wine, mead and beer maker

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          It is also likely worth pointing out that late fruit additions result in earlier drinking wines that are fruitier in the beginning, but over a period of time the wines become very similar.

                          regards
                          Bob
                          N.G.W.B.J.
                          Member of 5 Towns Wine and Beer Makers Society (Yorkshire's newest)
                          Wine, mead and beer maker

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Thanks for that Bob. I do have a 10L lidded bucket which I used for a 1 gallon Christmas Pudding Wine using Bill's late pulp addition approach, and that worked fine. But I was nervous of trying a lighter white wine, like peach or kiwi fruit, in the same way. But from whay you say I'll give it a go.
                            I think the "pulp" was such a large part of the Christmas pudding wine that it inevitably went in at a relatively early stage. I started a little of the grape juice and sugar in a DJ and incremented that, as per Bills description, until all the grape juice and over half the sugar had been added and fermented below 1.010. Then I prepared the pudding and dried fruit and added the fermented juices to that in the bucket. Fermentation was still pretty rapid for several days.
                            I am just trying an alternative for a lighter version of the Christmas Pudding Wine. I used the wine number 2 recipe and added typical Christmas pudding spices when it was down to 1.010. Unfortunately I forgot about the volcano effect but managed to avoid a disaster. Two days later and it's still bubbling a lot more rapidly than I would have expected from an almost completed fermentation. I'm thinking maybe a new approach to degassing! But I'm just keeping a close check on the taste now to see when it gets the right balance. It's a hard old life!
                            Cheers,
                            Dave.
                            If I won the lottery I'd spend half the money on wine, women and song.
                            But I'd probably just waste the rest of it!

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Thanks Bob. I'll use the 30 lt fv so.

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