First time making wine (damsons)

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chris2012
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First time making wine (damsons)

Post by chris2012 » Mon Sep 20, 2021 4:04 pm

I'm following this recipe - https://homebrewanswers.com/damson-wine-recipe/

I picked around 5kg of damsons, the OG was 1.090 with the sugar, which I assume the damsons will boost up a little.

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I just bought some demijohns too, to put it in after main fermentation

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It took around 2-3 hours to destone them heh, using a little destoner machine.

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MashBag
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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by MashBag » Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:12 am

Blimey that sounds like hard work.. Why destone them?

chris2012
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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by chris2012 » Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:47 am

The stones can make it very bitter apparently and almond like. I think because they've
got cyanide compounds in

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MashBag
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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by MashBag » Tue Sep 21, 2021 10:59 am

They do. But unless the stones are split it won't be a problem.

If you did freezing step that might be the issue. It will be interesting to see how this clears. Plums are notoriously hard to clear. Tis why they are popular to make eau'd vie.

Keep us posted.

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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by chris2012 » Tue Sep 21, 2021 9:33 pm

Ah didn't know that re. clearing heh, I added 2tsp of pectolase / gal iirc. Fingers crossed it helps!

I'm preparing to do lots of transferring to different demijohns after fermentation too.

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MashBag
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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by MashBag » Wed Sep 22, 2021 7:24 am

I will look through my notes. I am sure I have read something about it.

How's the fermentation going?

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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by chris2012 » Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:35 am

Pretty good, the blow off tube is making the water in a pan bubble around every few seconds or so.

I just had a little taste, definitely alcoholic now, but with lots of sweetness left.

Gonna try and swirl it more often, to impart more colour/flavour from the must. (Not exactly sure what colour damson wine is supposed to look like though,
I saw a bottle on amazon of it, that I might get)

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MashBag
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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by MashBag » Wed Sep 22, 2021 11:04 am

The colour comes from the skins. Longer they are in there darker it gets (upto a point) like grapes. 99% of grapes have white juice, red wine gets its colour from the skins.

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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by chris2012 » Fri Sep 24, 2021 5:55 pm

I'm just wondering when to remove the damsons, the wine is still at 1.050 after approx 7 days, I think I should probably leave them in till it gets closer to 1.000?

Edit : https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/ ... ust.15302/ kind of confirms that, they say 1.025

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MashBag
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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by MashBag » Sat Sep 25, 2021 6:50 am

Yeah I would. If they float, make sure they get pushed back into the wine daily.

lord.president
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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by lord.president » Tue Nov 16, 2021 11:29 pm

Pretty sure EC118 is Champagne yeast, which seems a strange one to use in red wine.
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MashBag
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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by MashBag » Wed Nov 17, 2021 8:35 am

Sort of.
This strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was first isolated in champagne regions yes indeed, but now used across the board.
It brings out the fruit & can last longer into the bottle for a fizz. Little in the way a yeasty smell or flavours. You could call it delicate or neutral.

Good choice imo.
I would consider k1-v1116 too (but I am biased.. a favourite of mine)

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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by lord.president » Fri Nov 19, 2021 12:50 pm

I love D47, but then I mainly make apple wine. I use RC212 for red, but got a GV2 on the go this year.
Getting Carlisle United into the First Division,is possibly the greatest football achievement of all time-Bill Shankly

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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by MashBag » Fri Nov 19, 2021 5:24 pm

If you make apple wine, adjust to end about 10%abv and add elderflower cordial towards the end of the ferment. When finished, sulphite to 8g/50L with potassium metabisulphate. You will be surprised by the finished wine.

chris2012
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Re: First time making wine (damsons)

Post by chris2012 » Sat Mar 26, 2022 7:12 pm

Just ordered some green bottles, corks and a corker :)

Planning on bottling soon I think.

I also got a fancy little device that auto-stops filling the bottle via a siphon.

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