The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Home brewing => Topic started by: FiB on November 17, 2011, 05:21:41 pm
-
Just fancy a glass of wine (ahh memories of the days of popping out to the shop :) ), but first ever brew is a still a bit cloudy (I now know I should have decanted and topped up (cant remeber what thats called) - Its about 4 months old now (gooseberry and elderflower) and cleared quite a bit. Not sure what the cloudyness is - shall I have a go or wait?
Gosh Ive just realised what the time is - what an alchy!!! Still 5:30 in the winter is like 7:30 in the summer??? ;) Deffo evening anyway?
-
It won't hurt you to drink the clear bit but you will have to swig it down like medicine rather than sip and savour ::) If you drink the cloudy bit you may well regret it in the morning (unless you've been constipated) :o ;D ;D
Really though, unless you're desperate you should "decant" a.k.a. "racking" the wine from the sludgy bit at the bottom and put into a clean jar. Then have patience ;)
-
It won't hurt you to drink the clear bit but you will have to swig it down like medicine rather than sip and savour ::) If you drink the cloudy bit you may well regret it in the morning (unless you've been constipated) :o ;D ;D
Really though, unless you're desperate you should "decant" a.k.a. "racking" the wine from the sludgy bit at the bottom and put into a clean jar. Then have patience ;)
Or buy a kit and have it ready ina week ;D
-
Too slow - it's open!! (Forgot to say I'd enthusiastically bottled it when it stopped bubbling!! - way past racking now!) Thanks for info re the sludgy bit at bottom - will stop before I get there!
First sip 'not too bad', second sip - 'this is actually really nice'. :yum: Half way down glass now and already contemplating a second!! On a school night too!
It has really encouraged me that it IS worthwhile making own wine. Kit sounds good idea but I'm time rich and cash poor at mo so thought I should have a go. Got a Damson on the go at the mo - stopped bubbling, so will 'rack' and top up this time! Happy days. :thumbsup:
-
could you update us in an hour please :D
and again in the morning!! ;);D
-
could you update us in an hour please :D
and again in the morning!! ;);D
lol. ;D !
-
It will be interesting to hear about the secondary fermentation and see pictures of it around spring if it is that cloludy .
You can use clearing materials to clear cloudy wine for your next batch and that usually also includes the need to stop further fermentation .
Be careful using stops for I ended up making a mistook on the amount of sodium metabisulphide stopper and use three times too much for a ten gallon barrel .
I had to ring Boots the chemsist at their home base in Nottingham for a remedy .. the wine stuff involved was supposed to be light sparkling elderflower champagne but ended up tasting like Rinsted Pastils.
My first home made stuff with real grape leaves & adjusted with sugar syrup resulted in 46 bottles being corked on 1 Nov 1981 still slightly cloudy and not stopped.
Then stood on top of a double wardrobe to finalize.
About 002.00 on the 21 Dec I was woken to the amazing sound of corks being loudly popped for my Birthday ( 21 Dec ) and fountains of delicious golden coloured nectar spraying back from the ceiling.
Only six bottles were rescued , they were grabbed in a bath towel and taken out side to cool incase they too blew their tops or worse still exploded and showered " Mr wiggly " with broken glass .
They got recorked into real champagne bottles a few days later .
It became a real decent drink on my next birthday , christmas day and on the new years eve of 1983.
-
FiB, evryone knows that the further down the bottle you get the better the wine tastes ;D ;D You may have to hold your nose and swallow for the first glass but after the third or fourth it's nectar :yum:
-
survived with no ill effects!! Was very restrained and stopped at 2. Cant wait til its proper matured - Christmas? Not sure i'll be able to wait that long it was lovely - wouldnt dare serve it to anyone else though! I did buy a bottle when I was out today to prevent a re-occurance, so maybe the remainibg 5 bottles have a chance. One things for sure - I'm going industrial quantities next year - fingers crossed for a massive gooseberry crop.