TheCheekyMonkey
Inactive User
been doing it for about 14 month now, remember years ago doing it, turned really bad, a combination of not knowing what i was doing and impatience.
about 14 months ago a good friend told me he`d been doing it for years (good friend eh) brought me a few bottles up , had them , what could i say , absolutely spanking and fizzy, so thats what got me into it , have to admit i`m no expert, but all the stuff i do turns out spanking, i never drunk wine before i brewed my own , and i must admit some experiments turn out a bit sour (a bit of lemonade added and they become nice spritzers) but all in all love it, on with my next batch after running out now, got an elderberry on the go and a couple of fruit juice wines done now, all ready, just need bottling.
i admit i like the odd wine kit , black cherry is lovely (youngs) but mostly just do supermarket fruit juices.
this turns out the best.
tescos red grape fruit juice cartons
5 litres.
pour 2 litres in a demijohn straight from the carton.
add a litre or two to a big pan, bring to a simmer for a few mins (not a boil just a simmer this will boil off any preservatives), this bits not massively important so dont worry, just give it a simmer for 5 mins or so.
then add 300 grams of sugar. dont put any more in, put less in if you like it a bit drier , this is my personal taste i like a sweet wine but i`m no expert you have to remember theres a lot of sugar in there already. if you want to do a white wine then use there (tesco) white grape juice but add no sugar at all, theres 160 grams of sugar in each litre which is a massive amount and needs no sugar at all. Then let the sugar dissolve for a few mins
pour it into demi john with the rest of the cool fruit juice, then leave to cool for an hour or two, dont matter how long, just needs to be room temp, if you have a thermometer when it gets below 30 celcius (34 to be exact, anything above will kill your yeast) your ready to add yeast.
adding yeast
simply add a teaspoon of youngs standard yeast , you can buy this from wilkinsons for about £1.39 for a tub of it, which will make 100`s of litres of wine / alcohol , also i would advise some youngs yeast nutrient , add the same amount of nutrient as yeast.
the amount of yeast is not that important, the more yeast the faster it will ferment (to a point) you could add 2 teaspoons if you like, it will ferment a little quicker, but its up to you.
anyway once its addedd, make sure your hands are clean and give the demijohn a proper shake, get loads of air mixed in with it, i normally shake it for a few minutes.
so in total we have 4 litres of juice / yeast etc in a 5 litre demijohn, dont fill it right up, certain combinations can froth up within a few days (my ribena wine was a right fooker), anyways stick an airlock on it and put it in a dark place(at least out of direct sunlight) your ideal temp is between 18 and 22 degrees celcius and just leave it for at least 4 weeks to however long you want , the longer you leave it the better (not too long these need to be drunk young.) You can give it a stir every week or so with a sterilized implement, but up to you , after the initial froth up you can top it up to the demijohn shoulder (THE FIVE LITRE MARK) only do this after a week or so.
my normal time frame would be ferment for a couple of weeks (it will stop bubbling eventually) then rack it off to a new demijohn (transfer the semi cleared wine to a clean demijohn taking it off the sediment) but my new lazy method is just leave it in the demijohn for at least 2 months then just syphon it off carefully to bottles ( i do filter it as well but this is just me, when i say batchs i usually have 15 to 20 litres on the go at once, once ive finished one batch, i start another and just bang it under the stairs and forget about it, so i filter it in one job lot).
results in a very cheap wine, if you leave it to clear naturally and are carefull syphoning you`ll get a perfectly clear drinkable and relatively sweet wine but i like it, and so does everyone else as this is the one that gets drunk first at the barbie and i normally end up with the shiit they brung up with them that never gets drunk. (cans of careling, stella etc etc the fookers)
turns out about 14%
love it, just finished my cranberry and blueberry, fantastic tasted like 8% vimto , i will never do cranberry alone again, very sour , but white grape (no added sugar) and red grape (about 60 grams per litre) are spot on.
anyone else?
if anyones interested probably the best forum for info on it, really helpful people on there.
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/
about 14 months ago a good friend told me he`d been doing it for years (good friend eh) brought me a few bottles up , had them , what could i say , absolutely spanking and fizzy, so thats what got me into it , have to admit i`m no expert, but all the stuff i do turns out spanking, i never drunk wine before i brewed my own , and i must admit some experiments turn out a bit sour (a bit of lemonade added and they become nice spritzers) but all in all love it, on with my next batch after running out now, got an elderberry on the go and a couple of fruit juice wines done now, all ready, just need bottling.
i admit i like the odd wine kit , black cherry is lovely (youngs) but mostly just do supermarket fruit juices.
this turns out the best.
tescos red grape fruit juice cartons
5 litres.
pour 2 litres in a demijohn straight from the carton.
add a litre or two to a big pan, bring to a simmer for a few mins (not a boil just a simmer this will boil off any preservatives), this bits not massively important so dont worry, just give it a simmer for 5 mins or so.
then add 300 grams of sugar. dont put any more in, put less in if you like it a bit drier , this is my personal taste i like a sweet wine but i`m no expert you have to remember theres a lot of sugar in there already. if you want to do a white wine then use there (tesco) white grape juice but add no sugar at all, theres 160 grams of sugar in each litre which is a massive amount and needs no sugar at all. Then let the sugar dissolve for a few mins
pour it into demi john with the rest of the cool fruit juice, then leave to cool for an hour or two, dont matter how long, just needs to be room temp, if you have a thermometer when it gets below 30 celcius (34 to be exact, anything above will kill your yeast) your ready to add yeast.
adding yeast
simply add a teaspoon of youngs standard yeast , you can buy this from wilkinsons for about £1.39 for a tub of it, which will make 100`s of litres of wine / alcohol , also i would advise some youngs yeast nutrient , add the same amount of nutrient as yeast.
the amount of yeast is not that important, the more yeast the faster it will ferment (to a point) you could add 2 teaspoons if you like, it will ferment a little quicker, but its up to you.
anyway once its addedd, make sure your hands are clean and give the demijohn a proper shake, get loads of air mixed in with it, i normally shake it for a few minutes.
so in total we have 4 litres of juice / yeast etc in a 5 litre demijohn, dont fill it right up, certain combinations can froth up within a few days (my ribena wine was a right fooker), anyways stick an airlock on it and put it in a dark place(at least out of direct sunlight) your ideal temp is between 18 and 22 degrees celcius and just leave it for at least 4 weeks to however long you want , the longer you leave it the better (not too long these need to be drunk young.) You can give it a stir every week or so with a sterilized implement, but up to you , after the initial froth up you can top it up to the demijohn shoulder (THE FIVE LITRE MARK) only do this after a week or so.
my normal time frame would be ferment for a couple of weeks (it will stop bubbling eventually) then rack it off to a new demijohn (transfer the semi cleared wine to a clean demijohn taking it off the sediment) but my new lazy method is just leave it in the demijohn for at least 2 months then just syphon it off carefully to bottles ( i do filter it as well but this is just me, when i say batchs i usually have 15 to 20 litres on the go at once, once ive finished one batch, i start another and just bang it under the stairs and forget about it, so i filter it in one job lot).
results in a very cheap wine, if you leave it to clear naturally and are carefull syphoning you`ll get a perfectly clear drinkable and relatively sweet wine but i like it, and so does everyone else as this is the one that gets drunk first at the barbie and i normally end up with the shiit they brung up with them that never gets drunk. (cans of careling, stella etc etc the fookers)
turns out about 14%
love it, just finished my cranberry and blueberry, fantastic tasted like 8% vimto , i will never do cranberry alone again, very sour , but white grape (no added sugar) and red grape (about 60 grams per litre) are spot on.
anyone else?
if anyones interested probably the best forum for info on it, really helpful people on there.
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/
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