So today was the magic day, when I was able to rack my rhubarb wine for the first time. Not only was this the first racking of this season, but it was my first racking of a wine, ever!! It went rather well I'm pleased to say!
The fermentation had slowed considerably overnight, so we decided to rack into a clean demijohn. The equipment was sterilised and we set about siphoning the rhubarb wine into its new home! the process does take time, as i am using a 1/4" tube. Took about 15 minutes getting the gallon of wine transferred. I'm sure it'll take me a lot less time to drink it though haha!
Now, I'm hoping someone can shed light on this, but when we were siphoning the wine, we couldn't help but notice that the smell was a bit unpleasant. Hoping its just the yeast that is smelling. The wine is starting to clear and i'm hoping to be able to maybe bottle it in the next few months!!
The apple and apple and plum have now progressed to secondary and are bubbling away nicely! The apple, in the glass demijohn is almost mesmerising to watch as the yeasts at the bottom seem to explode sending a good whoosh up the bottle in a swirl! almost like watching a mini tornado in the bottle!
happy winemaking!
Saturday, 24 September 2011
Friday, 23 September 2011
apple-tastic!!
Hi guys, I'm back with some more wine chat!
Well, as you can see with the photos I posted last night, I have 5 gallons of wine fermenting away nicely. So having decided that 2 gallons of rhubarb and damson brewing away, I decided to make some apple wine. Now I had originally planned to make some more cider with the apples I had obtained. A nice gift from my grandmother! :) but I decided to make the apple wine as I could get more wine from the apples than I could cider!
So, I set about coring and cutting 5 kilos of apples. Not an easy task when the apples themselves are rather tiny!! After 45 minutes I had finished and the apples were added to the mashing bucket. A gallon of cold water was added along with some pectic enzyme to break down the apples. They were left to sit for 3 days stirring twice daily. I strained through muslin after the 3 days and added 2lbs of sugar to bring my SG up to the region of 1080-90. It was then added to the demijohn and covered with muslin.
With the remaining apples, I decided to experiment and I added 2 kilos of plums to the apples and again left them to soak for 3 days. This time i decided to be really crazy and make 2 gallons of wine. yes, thats right, 2 gallons! I'm moving up to the big time now and I think I can hear the winemakers of france quaking in their boots! The wine went through the same procedure as the apple, stirred twice daily and strained after 3 days. Now being two gallons, this wouldn't all fit into a standard demijohn so I asked a friend who does catering if she would have any food grade containers I could use. She happily obliged and I got 2 2 gallon buckets!! The wine was transferred to this and I again added sugar, around 3.5lbs to get the SG up to 1080.
I had to wait 2 days for my yeast to arrive, I'm using a bordeaux style yeast that will hopefully give me a nice dry white wine when all is done. :) however whilst waiting for the yeast, the apple wine started to ferment by itself, clearly there was still some wild yeast spores on the apples after I washed them!!
Well, the yeast arrived on time, and was duly added to the must of both wines. After a few hours, the apple started to show some activity. then after an hour, a lot of activity! The wine frothed up through the neck of the demijohn and right through the muslin!! A quick fix later, I placed a jam funnel over the neck of the demijohn which allowed me to place a cloth over it, but it was elevated enough so the froth wouldn't come through the cloth!
Happy winemaking!
Well, as you can see with the photos I posted last night, I have 5 gallons of wine fermenting away nicely. So having decided that 2 gallons of rhubarb and damson brewing away, I decided to make some apple wine. Now I had originally planned to make some more cider with the apples I had obtained. A nice gift from my grandmother! :) but I decided to make the apple wine as I could get more wine from the apples than I could cider!
So, I set about coring and cutting 5 kilos of apples. Not an easy task when the apples themselves are rather tiny!! After 45 minutes I had finished and the apples were added to the mashing bucket. A gallon of cold water was added along with some pectic enzyme to break down the apples. They were left to sit for 3 days stirring twice daily. I strained through muslin after the 3 days and added 2lbs of sugar to bring my SG up to the region of 1080-90. It was then added to the demijohn and covered with muslin.
With the remaining apples, I decided to experiment and I added 2 kilos of plums to the apples and again left them to soak for 3 days. This time i decided to be really crazy and make 2 gallons of wine. yes, thats right, 2 gallons! I'm moving up to the big time now and I think I can hear the winemakers of france quaking in their boots! The wine went through the same procedure as the apple, stirred twice daily and strained after 3 days. Now being two gallons, this wouldn't all fit into a standard demijohn so I asked a friend who does catering if she would have any food grade containers I could use. She happily obliged and I got 2 2 gallon buckets!! The wine was transferred to this and I again added sugar, around 3.5lbs to get the SG up to 1080.
I had to wait 2 days for my yeast to arrive, I'm using a bordeaux style yeast that will hopefully give me a nice dry white wine when all is done. :) however whilst waiting for the yeast, the apple wine started to ferment by itself, clearly there was still some wild yeast spores on the apples after I washed them!!
Well, the yeast arrived on time, and was duly added to the must of both wines. After a few hours, the apple started to show some activity. then after an hour, a lot of activity! The wine frothed up through the neck of the demijohn and right through the muslin!! A quick fix later, I placed a jam funnel over the neck of the demijohn which allowed me to place a cloth over it, but it was elevated enough so the froth wouldn't come through the cloth!
Happy winemaking!
Thursday, 22 September 2011
as promised here are a few snapshots!
Rhubarb just under airlock
Rhubarb after 3 weeks
Damson after a week
Apple in primary
apple and plum in primaryWednesday, 21 September 2011
the addiction spirals.....
So as previously mentioned, I have now become slightly addicted to winemaking. After the rhubarb wine was left to ferment, and a long browse through Amazon, a parcel was soon on its way to me, containing yet more airlocks, yeast and chemicals! All in the name of winemaking :)
In the meadow we have a damson tree that this year bore a lot of fruit. Spying a chance, I decided to make this the next wine. I collected 6lbs of damsons for the wine and a bee sting just for laughs! NOT! It stung like crazy for 3 days and was not good! :( Anyway, the damsons were left to soak for a week in boiling water with pectic enzyme to help break down the fruit. Left for a week stirring twice daily.
Another 7 days and its time to get on with the wine. I strained the pulp from the wine and added 4lbs of sugar and then my yeast. Now this is where the problems started. The yeast didn't really seem to activate. Four days and nothing. Moved it to a warmer place and still nothing. So I made up a yeast starter and added it to the must. Finally after leaving it for two days it started to ferment. Its been bubbling away now for around a week now :)
Will get round to posting some pictures soon.
Happy winemaking!
In the meadow we have a damson tree that this year bore a lot of fruit. Spying a chance, I decided to make this the next wine. I collected 6lbs of damsons for the wine and a bee sting just for laughs! NOT! It stung like crazy for 3 days and was not good! :( Anyway, the damsons were left to soak for a week in boiling water with pectic enzyme to help break down the fruit. Left for a week stirring twice daily.
Another 7 days and its time to get on with the wine. I strained the pulp from the wine and added 4lbs of sugar and then my yeast. Now this is where the problems started. The yeast didn't really seem to activate. Four days and nothing. Moved it to a warmer place and still nothing. So I made up a yeast starter and added it to the must. Finally after leaving it for two days it started to ferment. Its been bubbling away now for around a week now :)
Will get round to posting some pictures soon.
Happy winemaking!
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
humble beginnings
So, I've never really thought about or considered a blog but having been laid up following surgery, I have decided to write about my delve into the ancient art of winemaking. Now being a student, many have already teased me about making illicit liquor to inebriate myself and my fellow students on the cheap! Sadly as good an idea as this is, the wine probably won't be ready for another 14-15 months, by which time I (touch wood) will have graduated with a 1st class degree in the exhilarating subject of sociology and criminology. A riveting thought I know.
As previously said, I have been laid up the past few weeks following some minor surgery. After mum collected several kilos of rhubarb from the garden, the idea came about we would attempt rhubarb wine. Now, I'm no stranger to homebrewing as four years ago, I made cider which worked out around 9% and was rocket fuel!! I am however a newbie to winemaking. After doing a bit of reading online, and trying to determine which method to follow, (there was literally hundreds of variations on add fruit, water, sugar and yeast and leave to ferment!) I finally settled on a fairly straightforward method. Cue raiding the attic to find the equipment I stowed away after the cider several years earlier.
The fruit was cut up and placed into boiling water along with raisins and 3lbs of sugar and left for a week to steep in order to extract the flavour from the rhubarb. After finding a homebrew shop in stirling, the yeast, a new airlock and a demijohn were bought. My first experience with plastic and have to say i'm not impressed. Anyway, i stirred the fruit twice daily for the week and once the 7 days were up it was strained to remove the pulp and then I added the yeast.
Now, at this stage I was beginning to worry. Having read numerous articles by now, I was expecting a frothy, vigorous fermentation. Sadly this was not the case. The yeast had barely made any effect on the wine after two days and according to the recipe i should have experienced a good frothy fermentation by now. I decided to move the wine to the kitchen near the cooker and after 2 hours hey presto! I had a good frothy wine in the bucket! 'Appy days!!!
After another 7 days and the wine was to be transferred to the airlock. This simply means that I exclude al air from the wine and allow the yeast to really convert the sugar into precious alcohol! Well, fair to say this was a far from simple adventure. Filling the demijohn with the wine it began to froth up again and at one point resembled a scene from Dante's Peak. Not good. After getting it calmed down, the demijohn was fitted with bung and airlock and left to ferment in a cool place.
And that was it. I was now hooked on winemaking. Suppose if uni doesn't work out I could alway be a Vintner!!
As previously said, I have been laid up the past few weeks following some minor surgery. After mum collected several kilos of rhubarb from the garden, the idea came about we would attempt rhubarb wine. Now, I'm no stranger to homebrewing as four years ago, I made cider which worked out around 9% and was rocket fuel!! I am however a newbie to winemaking. After doing a bit of reading online, and trying to determine which method to follow, (there was literally hundreds of variations on add fruit, water, sugar and yeast and leave to ferment!) I finally settled on a fairly straightforward method. Cue raiding the attic to find the equipment I stowed away after the cider several years earlier.
The fruit was cut up and placed into boiling water along with raisins and 3lbs of sugar and left for a week to steep in order to extract the flavour from the rhubarb. After finding a homebrew shop in stirling, the yeast, a new airlock and a demijohn were bought. My first experience with plastic and have to say i'm not impressed. Anyway, i stirred the fruit twice daily for the week and once the 7 days were up it was strained to remove the pulp and then I added the yeast.
Now, at this stage I was beginning to worry. Having read numerous articles by now, I was expecting a frothy, vigorous fermentation. Sadly this was not the case. The yeast had barely made any effect on the wine after two days and according to the recipe i should have experienced a good frothy fermentation by now. I decided to move the wine to the kitchen near the cooker and after 2 hours hey presto! I had a good frothy wine in the bucket! 'Appy days!!!
After another 7 days and the wine was to be transferred to the airlock. This simply means that I exclude al air from the wine and allow the yeast to really convert the sugar into precious alcohol! Well, fair to say this was a far from simple adventure. Filling the demijohn with the wine it began to froth up again and at one point resembled a scene from Dante's Peak. Not good. After getting it calmed down, the demijohn was fitted with bung and airlock and left to ferment in a cool place.
And that was it. I was now hooked on winemaking. Suppose if uni doesn't work out I could alway be a Vintner!!
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