The home made wine has been a great success we started drinking it last night and I sadly got too pissed to comment on it at the time, I meant to do a post about it last night. Needless to say it is very strong, I tried it after the 7 days the instructions suggested you should leave it after putting the finings and stabiliser in, but it didn't taste that nice so I left it about another 2 weeks and the strange after taste it had has gone.
I was impressed by how clear it had become that's without it being filtered or anything just with the sachet of finings that came with the kit. I'm not going to bother to bottle it we're just drinking it straight from the demijon (well it goes in a jug first) the equipment needed to cork the bottles is a bit pricy and not essential in this situation I don't think.
The kit was from Youngs and is one of the "country definitive" series, they also do elderflower and blackcurrant I think. You get a tin of syrup and three sachets one is the yeast you add when you add the syrup and a bag of sugar to the demijon (make sure it's sterile, I used miltons baby sterilising solution but you can get sterilising tablets especially for wine making) and top it up with water, then you need to use an airlock to keep the vinegar fly out, and it also tells you when fermentation has finished as it stops bubbling (the bubbling is quite hypnotic, I had it in the living room by my heater). Then you put the finings and stabaliser in and shake the bottle at least 6 times in one day and leave it for another 7 days. More detailed instructions come with the kit on the inside of the outer label on the tin (it took me ages to find them) which are very straight forward. You don't really need a hydrometer though just a clean demijon and airlock and a sterile bowl to mix the syrup and sugar together before you put it in the demijon.
3 comments:
That is so cool! I think I might just have to try that.
Looks great and sounds as if its surprisingly potent. Enjoying the sun on your fair isle this weekend for the festival.
rashbre
The method is great, but the biggest problem is to buy yeast. At least here in my country (Latvia). Few years ago our shops used to sell yeast produced in Finland, but now they are not on sale anymore, so we have to use much more sophisticated wine making methods.:(
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