home made wine?

[Heather]

Any experts out there?
last year I made 3 demijohns of red wine ( totally filled from juice of wine grapes). I cannot get wine to not be 'fizzy'. It isn't really blipping anymore,
I have added a camden tablet to each.. but still not mellow.
Help please

 

[Fritillary]

No expert I'm afraid, but: did it stop fizzing and then later on start again? Might it be going through a 'malolactic fermentation'? I've never made grape wine in demijohns (and so, not on must) so don't know if you'd get that.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I'm no expert either but the campdon tablets should stop the fermenting process I think one isn't enough.

 

[Heather]

Thanks, will pop more in. A wine friend tasted it and smacked lips so its worth keeping!

 

[Curly green finger's]

Thanks, will pop more in. A wine friend tasted it and smacked lips so its worth keeping!

Home made wine is or can be very good, I would of used two tablets to stop the fermenting process, is it sweet or dry?

We made 4000 ltrs of damson some years ago and it had sugar introduced in three stages, we used port yeast and it was about 22%. Vol
There's some still left on the farm, I'll have to look to see if its any good.

 

[beaumontrod]

Heather, well done on having a go. Popping in a couple of Camden tablets will not stop the ferment.
Do you have a hydrometer?
Did you take a reading of specific gravity before adding yeast? What was it?
What is the specific gravity now? I would expect it to be between 0.990-0.995.
The fact that it is fizzy suggests that ferment is still going. What it tastes like now is of little relevance to where it will finish. Just shows it has promise.
No bubbles in the air lock is not an indication of completed ferment. You may have a leak. The gas will take the easiest path out of the demijohn. That is only through the Air lock if there is no other way out.
Relax this takes time, so be prepared to give it what it needs.

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[Curly green finger's]

Heather, well done on having a go. Popping in a couple of Camden tablets will not stop the ferment.
Do you have a hydrometer?
Did you take a reading of specific gravity before adding yeast? What was it?
What is the specific gravity now? I would expect it to be between 0.990-0.995.
The fact that it is fizzy suggests that ferment is still going. What it tastes like now is of little relevance to where it will finish. Just shows it has promise.
No bubbles in the air lock is not an indication of completed ferment. You may have a leak. The gas will take the easiest path out of the demijohn. That is only through the Air lock if there is no other way out.
Relax this takes time, so be prepared to give it what it needs.

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That's interesting, my wine making book from boots 1976 must be wrong then, I'll be getting in the attic to find it, hold on!!!!!!
Sounds like Heather is making sweet wine??

 

[enrico]

I hope it taste better than my mead. Yuc!
E

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

I hope it taste better than my mead. Yuc!
E

I bottled some mead today and wasn’t terribly impressed either.

 

[pargyle]

I bottled some mead today and wasn’t terribly impressed either.

Leave it 12 months and taste it again... if it is still raw ... leave it another 12 months ... if it's still raw at that stage... pour it down the drain. You really do have to let mead mature.

 

[tonyofarr]

We opened a bottle of mead made in 2000, a beautiful flavour but very strong!

 

[Curly green finger's]

On Thursday I was working for a client that use to
Distile and make wine, mead and cider brandy.
At dinner time he came out with a glass of 1976 mead which was 20% vol, I can only say it tasted delish! It was more like a sherry..
He then asked if he could buy my wax cappings so he could make mead, I agreed that he could have them in exchange for some bottles of mead.
I didn't realise you can Distile 52 bottles of spirit for your self per year.. So that would be 1 bottle a week, 1 a week I'm not an alcoholic and couldn't manage that.. The government have some very stupid guidelines and laws don't they.

 

[Heather]

Beaumontrod..
no leaking of gas, and started blipping slightly again. Maybe warmer weather??

Doesn't red wine need to have a short fermentation time. Is a year too long to be still in demijohn.. can it continue or should I kill any remaining yeast with more camden tablets as one in each hasn't stopped it..

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

Leave it 12 months and taste it again... if it is still raw ... leave it another 12 months ... if it's still raw at that stage... pour it down the drain. You really do have to let mead mature.

Patience isn’t my strength, but I’ll try Phil

 

[pargyle]

I didn't realise you can Distile 52 bottles of spirit for your self per year.. So that would be 1 bottle a week, 1 a week I'm not an alcoholic and couldn't manage that.. The government have some very stupid guidelines and laws don't they.

I'm not sure that is true ... my understanding of the UK Regulations is that you must have a permit to distil alchohol in the UK - obtainable from Revenue and Customs even if it is solely for your own consumption. Distillation of alcohol by heating is a pretty dangerous game .. alcohol vapour is very explosive and get the distillation wrong and you will create methanol which can make you blind if you drink it. And ... distillation by freezing (to increase the alcohol percentage) is also classed as distillation and requires a licence. (and a few other hoops you have to jump through !!).

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/spirits-duty

 

[Curly green finger's]

I'm not sure that is true ... my understanding of the UK Regulations is that you must have a permit to distil alchohol in the UK - obtainable from Revenue and Customs even if it is solely for your own consumption. Distillation of alcohol by heating is a pretty dangerous game .. alcohol vapour is very explosive and get the distillation wrong and you will create methanol which can make you blind if you drink it. And ... distillation by freezing (to increase the alcohol percentage) is also classed as distillation and requires a licence. (and a few other hoops you have to jump through !!).

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/spirits-duty

Well Philip I must be very gullible and believed the elderly gentleman that told me the other day..
Perhaps the laws have changed since he use to Distile for him self, I should of asked him when he was doing it but I was enjoying the taste of the 1976 mead to much.

 

[beaumontrod]

@Heather
OK, so no leaks. Look at the demijohn where the liquid meets the glass. Is there a fine ring of bubbles or froth. That will say ferment is still going.
It's been a while now so it may be finished.
After this amount of time, I would suggest raking into another demijohn or at least into a bucket and put it back after cleaning out the lees. I would add the Camden tablet. Crush it first and add to the empty demijohn before raking.
Wine will last for well over a year in the demijohn. I tend to leave mine in there for two years. Gives me time to think about any adjustments that I might want to make.
Maybe I'm a bit slow but it doesn't hurt the wine.
Taste the wine when you rack. It starts you thinking about what flavour profile you want. You will probably think it is a bit tart. Just needs sugar to sweeten. It is before you add the sugar that you need to add the Sorbate. It is a combination of Sorbate with sulphur that disables the yeast. Point is it needs to be stopped first before it will work. You will also need to reduce the gap between the liquid and the stopper(ullage). Too much air in there after ferment will ruin your wine.
It's a bit like if my car starts to roll when I get out I might be able to stop it, but if someone is driving it fast I have no chance.
Fermenting wine will just go straight over the additions.
Hope that helps[emoji4]

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[jenkinsbrynmair]

Perhaps the laws have changed since he use to Distile for him self,

Possibly, they were much stricter until a few years ago.
Sounds like your old 'gentleman' was probably one of the characters on our watchlist back when I was duty officer in Wales and the Borders. illicit distilling, as well as 'laundering' rebated diesel was rife in the marches

 

[Arfermo]

It is likely that your wine has not fully fermented. Your hydrometer will tell you. If it registers a reading below 1000, that says there is little or no sugar left. The next stage is to kill the yeast. First add a teaspoonful to 1 gallon of potassium sorbate as that stuns the yeast, then give it thorough shake (I used to put the wine in a bucket and whisked it with my wife's balloon whisk), then some sodium metabisulphate (2 Campden tablets) and then thoroughly shake/whisk again and leave to settle before racking, probably twice. Then you have a wine that you can sweeten to your taste or blend with other wines. TIP. Blending two not very nice wines often produces a good 'un. At nearly 86 and 40 odd years of wine making and designing recipes for for wine competitions in my local Wine Circle I have decided to 'retire' and all my wine-making gear has gone to my daughter now that the lock-down has made me so much wealthier from the savings I have made that I can now afford ready-made stuff and avoid all the faff. Can't give up my beekeeping (only two colonies left now) though as nobody seems to want to buy and I'll be hanged if I'm giving the little darlings away too. I love 'em too much for that.

 

[Swn58]

On Thursday I was working for a client that use to
Distile and make wine, mead and cider brandy.
At dinner time he came out with a glass of 1976 mead which was 20% vol, I can only say it tasted delish! It was more like a sherry..
He then asked if he could buy my wax cappings so he could make mead, I agreed that he could have them in exchange for some bottles of mead.
I didn't realise you can Distile 52 bottles of spirit for your self per year.. So that would be 1 bottle a week, 1 a week I'm not an alcoholic and couldn't manage that.. The government have some very stupid guidelines and laws don't they.

Wow.....I thought it was illegal to distill any alcohol without a licence. No more skulking around in the woods for me then!