Damson Wine Fermentation

[Beerisgoodforyou]

Morning all

Have attempted my first wine with a glut of Damson from the garden.

I followed this recipe;

Place the damsons in a fermentation bucket and add the boiling water. Add the sugar and stir until completely dissolved. When cool add the pectin enzyme, yeast nutrient and wine yeast. Cover and leave to ferment for two days, stirring daily. Strain into a demijohn and fit an airlock to seal the jar.
Store in a warm place and allow the fermentation to work. When fermentation has ceased, rack the wine into a clean jar and place in a cooler environment and leave. When the wine is clear and stable siphon into bottles.

The first gallom has been going for 3 weeks now and the other one 2 weeks and they both still have bubbles rising and a froth at the surface. No bubbles from the airlocks for a while.

So my question is; any idea when fermentation is likely to finish and/or when can I rack to a sealed container and shift to the garage.

Any pointers welcome.
Cheers

[fatbloke]

Your hydrometer is your friend. Depending on the yeast and the starting gravity, you'll want 3 identical gravity readings taken a couple of days apart over a period of about a week. That'll confirm the end of the fermentation.

Then rack it off the fruit/pulp, preferrably into a glass DJ, so you can see what's going on. Then either let it clear naturally over time, or hit it with finings (if neither clears it, you'll probably need more pectolase). If you're gonna want it sweetened, you'll need to sulphite it i.e. 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon and a half teaspoon of wine stabiliser (that's from memory, check the pack) per gallon. Once it's cleared and stabilised, then make up a sugar syrup (60% sugar/40% water to dissolve the sugar), then add it a little at a time, taking a small taste between additions of the syrup to sweeten to taste.

regards

fatbloke