Waitrose (!) red wine

[craigmarshall]

Hi,

Just thought I'd let you know I have another brew on.

4l of waitrose red grape juice, no preservatives (Looxury!)
enough sugar to make it up to 1.090 SG
1 heaped tsp youngs super wine yeast.

In a tesco 5l bottle with a plastic youngs airlock.

I have also just ordered wine tannin, fermentation stopper and pectolase from ebay, so that should be with me before the week is out, I shall add some tannin and pectolase I think.

Is there any benefit to using wine tannin rather than black tea?

Guess I'll wait and see how it turns out

Cheers,
Craig

[likesbeer]

I did an Aldi, el cheepo but no preservatives, wine from grape juice added some yeast vitamine and that was it.
Tasted more like a sweet rose but at 50p a bottle no one was complaining.
I would imagine black tea would add some other flavours as well as tanin, might not be bad.
Some HBS also do a small can of concentrated grape stuff for addition to country wines only a couple of quid I've got some of that on the go havent tasted yet (think I might go and try now)....its supposed to add the missing bits needed for wine
I think pectolase is used for clearing wines, which grape juice from a carton wont have anything to clear so shouldnt be needed, a quick google just confirmed its for removing startches etc so you shouldnt need and I wouldnt bother

[DREADSKIN]

you should nt need too much tannin as grape juice has plenty

[Curious Brew]

Of course buying Red Wine is actually cheaper than buying juice in Waitrose...

[craigmarshall]

Of course buying Red Wine is actually cheaper than buying juice in Waitrose...

I know! What was I thinking Not really, It's about 2 x the price of Tesco (our local) though. I paid about £4.50ish for four litres. You can only just get .75l of drinkable red for that much, and the fun is in the making

you should nt need too much tannin as grape juice has plenty

Thanks - I'm grateful to come here and get that kind of advice. I shall leave it out then and just use the fermentation stopper.

In a tesco 5l bottle with a plastic youngs airlock.

Just quoting myself there ^. I am using this airlock for the first time, and I think I shouldn't have. If I prod the plastic bottle (which is flexible, unlike a glass carboy), I get bubbles coming and going and I think I filled it up too much with tap water at the start, and had a bit of "backwash". I'd sanitised it, and so - hopefully things will be okay, but... Is there a better way to fill it up?

Also - as an update - 24h on, and no airlock activity, but a reasonable bit of foam, more so than on the previous cider batch.

Cheers,
Craig

[Laripu]

Also - as an update - 24h on, and no airlock activity, but a reasonable bit of foam, more so than on the previous cider batch.

You'll be getting airlock activity soon.

I prefer the other kind of airlock, little inverted tube on the inside. I like the "blup" sound and the movement of the tube. I find it easier to clean too, in case it gets fouled.

[timothio]

I prefer the other kind of airlock, little inverted tube on the inside.

Me too. And they're cheaper.

[craigmarshall]

I prefer the other kind of airlock

Ah well, this is the kind I have.

I glued the airlock bung into the water bottle lid, and it started working beautifully, one bubble every 45 seconds. It's now up to one every 5-6 seconds. I have about 12-15mm of foam and froth on the head, so perhaps this is the turbo-wine recipe

I'm not touching this brew, I was shaking the previous cider batch a lot, and I think that made it all yeasty and it didn't clear. I have bought pectolase just in case though.

Do you think the foam/froth will subside, and I'll be able to rack off and only worry about the sediment on the bottom, ignoring what's going on at the top?

When should I rack off into a separate container? Wait until there is only one bubble a minute, or longer? When do you consider fermentation "finished" ?

Cheers,
Craig

[Laripu]

I glued the airlock bung into the water bottle lid

Consider using a rubber bung with a pre-drilled hole. Glue should not be this near your drink.

I'm not touching this brew, I was shaking the previous cider batch a lot, and I think that made it all yeasty and it didn't clear. I have bought pectolase just in case though.

"Not touching": good policy! Also you won't need the pectolase.

Do you think the foam/froth will subside, and I'll be able to rack off and only worry about the sediment on the bottom, ignoring what's going on at the top?

What's going on at the top will die down.

When should I rack off into a separate container? Wait until there is only one bubble a minute, or longer? When do you consider fermentation "finished" ?

When the time between bubbles > 1 minute, rack to a secondary vessel, also under airlock. Leave for 2 months, then rack again, de-gas, stabilize and bottle.

Fermentation is never 100% finished unless you stabilize. It just slows down to the point where it's negligible. (That can take a year. So stabilize.)

[craigmarshall]

Thanks Laripu, that's an incredibly helpful response. All that is now understood.

I may have been unclear about the gluing, I do have a pre-drilled bung, but had to cut a hole in the lid of my fermentation container, which the bung didn't fit perfectly into. I have used (very quick drying) cyanoacrylate (super glue), and on the outside only. It is just there to make it seal properly, as the airlock was being bypassed by a slight leak for a short while. As there was a positive pressure inside the vessel, neither the glue nor its vapours can have got inside. Also it is pretty inert stuff once gone off, so I am hoping I'm safe this time. After I've racked this container, I guess in about a week or so, I plan to glue the seal on the inside too, so I have a permanent strong seal.

Cheers,
Craig

[Laripu]

I may have been unclear about the gluing, I do have a pre-drilled bung, but had to cut a hole in the lid of my fermentation container, which the bung didn't fit perfectly into. I have used (very quick drying) cyanoacrylate (super glue), and on the outside only. It is just there to make it seal properly, as the airlock was being bypassed by a slight leak for a short while. As there was a positive pressure inside the vessel, neither the glue nor its vapours can have got inside. Also it is pretty inert stuff once gone off, so I am hoping I'm safe this time. After I've racked this container, I guess in about a week or so, I plan to glue the seal on the inside too, so I have a permanent strong seal.

When you next sanitize the glued lid+bung part, the exposed cyanoacrylate will be touched by the sanitizing solution. I use bleach diluted in water, which is fairly common. Do you know how the cyanoacrylate will react to the sanitizing solution? I don't, and I think you want anything this near the liquid to be food-grade. Err on the side of safety. If you poison yourself, the press will be very bad for homebrew! (And your loved ones may not be too pleased either! )

Looking at the picture of the bottle you used, it seems that the opening is not huge, no more than 5 cm. You can easily get a bung that fits that at any homebrew supply shop with a decent selection. Get one that only fits in half way, and you can make a tighter seal by pushing.

[timothio]

Quick tip: Get a 25mm drill bit (you know, the "flat" ones?), they're perfect for drilling a hole in the lid from your 5 litrtre water bottle, and although a bung is slightly bigger than 25 mm you can squeeze it to create an airtight seal.

[simple one]

A small hole, and blu tac works well.

[craigmarshall]

Hi there,

It's been 9 days since my wine was started, and the bubbles are now more than 1 minute apart (actually 1m 29s just now).

I am going to rack this off to a second container, also under airlock and do nothing with it at all for 2 months (as per Laripu's advice). The only problem is, I am not too sure about the racking off procedure. With the cider I made previously it was easy, there was nothing floating on top, no foam/froth/scum stuff, but there is with this wine. I understand how the end of the syphon I have stops any sediment at the bottom transferring across, but I can't see how it's going to stop all this rubbish on the top. Or doesn't it matter? I want to do it properly, but I have no idea what to do at this stage. Beginning to think I shoulda gotta library book out!!

If I wait till tomorrow (when I have more information hopefully), will the wine suffer at all, from staying in the bottle it's in?

I can also provide a pic of what I'm talking about on the top, if anyone needs to see an example.

Please help!

Cheers,
Craig

[Laripu]

plastic siphon cane stuck into a "foot" to raise it above the sediment, and attached to a hose. You'll get a tiny bit of the top coming across right at the end; no prob it will just settle in secondary, and then you'll siphon again into bottles. (Don't forget to stabilise at that point: don't want exploding bottles!) Leave it in the bottles for a month, then SHHLUURRPP.