Newbie - 7 brews on

[roaduck]

Hello home brewers I've just restarted my hobby after a cessation of 28 years and in the last 2-3 months I`ve done allsorts so I`m very rusty.

All the kit things turned out fine but the back of the envelope guides for the ad hoc and hedgerow wines went from mad to bad.

First question is what is the best way to clear a sparkling raspberry wine of a pectin haze after 3 months of filtering and racking.
It`s really slow to clear even at 40 degrees at 2 weeks per rack times three with a two part isinglass clearer.

Next is the potassium sorbate preservative in the orange cordial got boiled off and mixed in the fruit pruno didn't start for four days so I redid it - boiled it, filtered it, re pitched the general purpose dried wine yeast and it just seems to have started going - albeit slowly.Correction - it`s alive! The orange cordial and mixed fruit effort is now off the map.Airlocks don`t last a minute on it - they blow off - It`s a day old and getting very boisterous.Whats the best way to get rid of the pectin and filter the beast please?


The vodka, bitter, lager, chianti brews are looking great but the main 20 litre mixed fruit `wine` is going mental.It`s 10 cans of strawberries, 10 cans of peaches, 10 cans of pears, 6 cans of pineapples, 2 litres of blackcurrant Ribena, 1 litre of Strawberry Ribena, 2 kg of sugar, champagne yeast and normal wine yeast.It smells wicked after 5 days and blows the airlocks clean out and looks like a witches brew.What`s the best way to filter it and rack it please?

The first mess I did was rice, sultana and honey wine.After 8 weeks it's lethal but a bit rough like saki and very slow to clear.Martini bianco is like a mixer in comparison to it and friends have had to reschedule their appointments accordingly after imbibing.It`s sort of a double-edged sword - good and bad.It`s gone lovely and dry but need tips on removing the starch and pectin.

The hedgerow raspberry sparkling wine tasted like kiddy-pops but made you walk like a crab, have mini blackouts and have spontaneous dancing and giggling sessions but it is still fizzy as hell after 3 months and that needs properly clearing as well.That is not allowed in the house anymore because it blew up Newcy brown bottles and thick pop bottles when I nipped away for a weekend and returned home to chaos.


I feel like a housewife with dates and ingredients in marker on the side of the bottles ; like doing jam but I`m very much in the dark because up to 3 months ago I`ve never tried wine kits, pruno, mixed fruit creations or vodka kits before.

I do realise that hedgerow, pruno, mead and barley wines take ages to mature and clarify and I`m amazed with the improvements to beers, ciders, stouts and wines that could be seen and tasted a few weeks or months after final racking.Apparently cobbled together wines need six months to a year to give of their best so I`ll have lots on while I`m waiting.

I want to eventually go a bit more serious with a boiler FV, apple press for cider, tall reflux still (used for essential oil steam extraction as well) and a few cornies with big 20 kg CO2 tanks and twin regs from pub friends of mine.

Any tips are gratefully received as I have been off the radar since 1982. Thanks in advance.

[eastybeasty]

hi

sorry can't give you much advice really about what you're doing, got a question though, how are you making vodka? im intrigued by that! i'll keep an eye on this thread, i could learn a thing or 2!

[Geezah]

You can buy a turbo yeast that will turn 20l of water and 8 kilo's of sugar in to 20% abv water.Link
Run the water through carbon filters to remove nasty smells and tastes, then, although illegal, you can use a tabletop water still to turn 2 litres of alcowater in to 40% abv 'vodkat' Link
...add a flavouring and you have your own flavoured spirits. Link

[eastybeasty]

ooh thanks! really expensive to make so maybe one to ask santa for or maybe after christmas! liking the idea tho would it produce a reasonable quality of alcohol yeah?

[roaduck]

hi

sorry can't give you much advice really about what you're doing, got a question though, how are you making vodka? im intrigued by that! i'll keep an eye on this thread, i could learn a thing or 2!

Thanks eastybeasty like Geeza said in the next post you can get a vodka kit that`ll do up to 20-21% then I give it my friend to get breathed on in a reflux still to get it to 40 in one go or 55-65 in two or three goes or I get it fractionated or totally rectified up to 90% plus in about 5-6 cycles; but that is hard to do.Being half Polish/half Russian I do like my vodka and I like smooth stuff (as good as Remy Martin vintage Brandy) well over 40%.

In Poland you can get a vodka for 24 zlotys (about £6) that will wipe the floor with £35 vodka in England for smoothness, depth, alcohol content - the lot that`s why I do two vodka runs a year and generally bring back anything by Polmos, some organic hand-made pedigree vodkas or rectified spirit up to 98% volume.

[roaduck]

ooh thanks! really expensive to make so maybe one to ask santa for or maybe after christmas! liking the idea tho would it produce a reasonable quality of alcohol yeah?

I know a d.i.y guy who does allsorts of brews who made a seven foot tall copper still for less than a tenner from scrap.He`s a mobile welder/mechanic come everything so he`ll knock me up a tall lad for less than £20 - no messing.I want him to design a boiler mash tun with a conical bottom for AG jobs in SS for me.Plus I know the main hombres at Big Lamp Ales, Bootleg Brewing Co and Marble Beers which is great.

Talking of much cheapness I just made 2 gallons of 20% `wine` for less than four quid and the alcoholic orangeade I did last night made with old oranges, 2 bags of sugar, dried wine yeast cost less than 4 quid for 40 pints.I got 8 kg of oranges at Bury market at the end of the working day for a nominal pound - I love haggling!