Wild Wine Partc 6(c) - Final!! Picture Heavy

[British Red]

Now we could bung a label on (which should always say they type of wine and when it was bottled). I suggest you cross-reference to a book of recipes and notes so that when you get a cracking wine you can recreate it. We are going to add a little something to the presentation of the wine by putting a foil cap over the neck. First we drop a foil cap (available for a couple of pence from a wine shop) over the bottle neck.

Holding the cap in place we lower the bottle into a vigorously boiling pan of water. Your Billy is ideal for this – its tall enough to submerge the bottle

We keep the bottle submerged for 3 or 4 seconds

Finally we gently remove the bottle checking that the cap has shrunk firmly to the neck (if not – pop it back in)

Finally all the steam is wiped from the bottles, they are given a polish and labelled

Oddly, I always end up with a not quite full bottle that needs to be disposed of. Best I check it for clarity – Cheers!

Well that’s it guys – 63 images, 40 days and 12 bottles of wine – I hope you enjoyed it

Its the right time of year to have a go at your own wild wines - you can use any fruit you wish and all that varied slightly is the recipes for the must. Theres lots of good ones on this forum, plenty of great books around too. If you struggle, drop me a note and I'll send you a recipe.

Don't let some of the fancy recipes worry you. I have made wine very well with a length of flexible pipe and a second hand lidded bucket that used to contain cookie dough!

Hope you give it a try

Red


By the way - if anyone wants an opinion on how it tasted - Bushwacker Bob was official taster - feel free to ask him!


Schwuk and Matt-W (and also chas brookes who I have owed this to for some time - sorry ) - I hope that encourages you to have a go - you don't need all the gear - an old 5 litre still water container and some rubber tube are about all you really need - everything else is easy. PM me me for a recipe for the wild fruit of your choice!

Red

 

[wingstoo]

I have an unopened bottle from that batch...Looking forward to trying it out tomorrow night.

LS

 

[Gailainne]

Enjoy

Brought back some happy memories of us kids collecting elderberry from the hedgerows, and the demijohns blooping away in the airing cupboard. Try a taste or two me... never

Stephen

 

[JonnyP]

Red....Big thanks for putting all that up, one of these years I will make some wine, hopefully this year......

 

[tomtom]

I tried this a few years ago, didn't get great results though.. might have to try again now though good stuff Red, thanks for taking the time!

 

[ilan]

Thanks for putting that up great . One of the biggest problems (Apart from drinking to much of it ) is getting the equipment all sterile and ensuring none of it will give off tastes No metal and no rubber bungs or tubes . The other big problem is acid, wine grapes are a lot different to those that are for the table , with fruit wine most need to have acid added this makes the yeast work best .For high alcohol wines never put more than about1.5 lbs of sugar in at first then let it ferment out a bit then add some more . I knew a wine maker who added his sugar by the table spoonfull eventualy till it stopped . for very high alcohol wines you also need a lot of fruit .If you are very keen then there is possibly a local winemaking club near you

 

[Matt Weir]

Thanks Red,

That looks like a great step by step guide.

I have checked http://www.hamstead-brewing-centre.co.uk/ as recommended and reckon I will need to following list to start with. Can you please advise me as regards relevance? Have I listed anything unneccessary? Have I missed a vital item? (I intend to directly recycle used wine bottles rather than buying new.

Reference Description Ordered Amount
Bubbler airlock
PRICE: @ £0.75 1.00 0.75
Bored rubber bung for airlock
PRICE: @ £0.50 1.00 0.50
Bottle brush
PRICE: @ £1.50 1.00 1.50
Demijohn brush
PRICE: @ £1.99 1.00 1.99
Airlock cleaning brush
PRICE: @ £0.75 1.00 0.75
Heart of England Cleaner Steriliser 100g
PRICE: @ £1.00 1.00 1.00
Gervin wine yeast No 1
PRICE: @ £1.19 1.00 1.19
Pectolase 40g
PRICE: @ £0.99 1.00 0.99
Glass demijohn
PRICE: @ £4.25 2.00 8.50
5 gallon wine fermenter with fitted tap
PRICE: @ £16.99 1.00 16.99
Twin lever metal corker
PRICE: @ £9.99 1.00 9.99
Waxed corks 12s
PRICE: @ £0.99 1.00 0.99
SUBTOTAL 45.14

Thanks again mate, very much appreciated.

Matt.

 

[British Red]

Matt,

The five gallon wine fermenter is a heck of a size (well, about 5 gallons). No problem, but its BIG. I would add some yeast nutrient if I was you - uts habdy for lots of wines. Looks good otherwise. PM me if you are missing anything - I'll drop it in the post!

Red

 

[Matt Weir]

Hi Red,

The problem is trying to track down a fermentation bin smaller that 5 gallons that comes with a tap. I can buy the tap and nut seperate and fit it myself. What size bin do you recommend? 5, 10, or 15L? bearing in mind I need enough room to fill one demijohn plus headroom?

Thanks again Red.

Matt.

 

[ilan]

If you ask in a small bakers esp is they know you they aften have food grade buckets from the fillings for cakes etc .

 

[British Red]

matt-w,

Any food grade bucket will do mate. I have lots of sizes. The easiest way to get one is to order a "beer fermenting vessel" from the on-line shops I mentioned. These hold 25l so will do up to 5 gallons of must

Red

 

[Mikey P]

I know that this is aesthetics more than anything else but, if you push the cork in a few extra millimetres, and drip hot, coloured wax into the gap between the top of the cork and the top of the bottleneck, you get that 'posh wax seal' look. You could carve a small design into the end of a round piece of wood (same diameter as cork) with a Dremel or something, and print a seal into the wax before it cools. Good designs, for example, might include... :thinkerg: ...the BCUK logo!!!

You can do this instead of putting the foil cover on and it can look quite 'rustic'.

I would kill for a glass now...

 

[Matt Weir]

Right,

I've made a couple of adjustments to the order but yesterday bit the bullet and ordered this lot (apologies for the length but I thought including the prices gives anyone who is considering this an idea of costing)....

Items ordered
Item
Name : Heart Of England cleaner steriliser 400g
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 3.50
Amount : £ 3.50
Item
Name : Gervin wine yeast No 1
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 1.19
Amount : £ 1.19
Item
Name : Pectolase 40g
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 0.99
Amount : £ 0.99
Item
Name : Tronozymol yeast nutrient 100g
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 2.25
Amount : £ 2.25
Item
Name : Plastic demijohn 5ltr
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 4.00
Unit Price : £ 1.99
Amount : £ 7.96
Item
Name : Bubbler airlock
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 2.00
Unit Price : £ 0.75
Amount : £ 1.50
Item
Name : Solid rubber bung
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 2.00
Unit Price : £ 0.50
Amount : £ 1.00
Item
Name : Bored rubber bung for airlock
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 2.00
Unit Price : £ 0.50
Amount : £ 1.00
Item
Name : Bottle brush
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 1.50
Amount : £ 1.50
Item
Name : Demijohn brush
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 1.99
Amount : £ 1.99
Item
Name : Airlock cleaning brush
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 0.75
Amount : £ 0.75
Item
Name : Triple scale hydrometer for beer & wine
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 2.75
Amount : £ 2.75
Item
Name : Plastic hydrometer jar
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 2.99
Amount : £ 2.99
Item
Name : Twin lever metal corker
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 9.99
Amount : £ 9.99
Item
Name : Waxed corks 12s
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 0.99
Amount : £ 0.99
Item
Name : 15litre bucket & lid
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 4.49
Amount : £ 4.49
Item
Name : 5 gallon size syphon
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 2.99
Amount : £ 2.99
Item
Name : Muslin bags (3)
Code :
Measurement Unit :
Quantity : 1.00
Unit Price : £ 0.99
Amount : £ 0.99
Shipping/Delivery
Shipping Method : Business Post 24 hour
Shipping Cost : £ 6.50

Total: £ 55.32

Red, I went for the plastic demi's for cost reasons so I hope they will be OK. I also ordered the yeast nutrient. If you have a recipe for Elderberry wine I would be grateful of a PM

Cheers,

Matt.

 

[dave k]

HI,

Let me know if you get on with the plastic demi's.. I've just had my second (out of 6!) glass ones break on me - the bottom just fell off and lost all my mead

I may have to invest in a couple, as I'm not sure the glass ones I'm getting are any good (got from wilco)

 

[Matt Weir]

HI,

Let me know if you get on with the plastic demi's.. I've just had my second (out of 6!) glass ones break on me - the bottom just fell off and lost all my mead

I may have to invest in a couple, as I'm not sure the glass ones I'm getting are any good (got from wilco)

ALL THE MEAD! NOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Gutted for you Dave. I will let you know how the plastics work out mate.

Matt.

 

[Jim_aramis]

I've just sampled some elderberry and blackberry wine from last years batch. I was really surprised how nice it was after six months aging. I followed the recipe from the Cook on the Wild Side book. The river cottage forums also contain lots of recipes for wild booze.

I started a gallon of blackberry wine in august using baker yeast and the fermentation seemed to outlast the elderberry which I started in september using wine yeast. The blackberry adds fruityness and the elderberry vinosity and body.

 

[Matt Weir]

My order was delivered yesterday

Note re the plastic demijohns - they are more of a 5 litre bottle than what you would recognise as a demijohn. They have a screwcap lid fitted with a small bung to take the bubbler airlock. I'll let you know how they perform.

My first project will be Turbo Cider as it looks simple and produces a fast (hence 'turbo') results. then onto the 'proper' stuff.

 

[Matt Weir]

Last night I sterilised all the kit and now the first batch of 'Matt's own recipe turbo cider' is on the go

I started of a yeast culture in a pint mug with half a pint of warm water, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of wine yeast (too much? We'll see) which I left for around 30 mins (after which it was just starting to produce a bit of froth).

Meanwhile in the 5 gallon bin I put 6 litres of co-op own brand apple juice with a half jar of honey and gave it a good stir. To this I added the yeast culture and gave it another mix.

Then it was on with the lid. The lid has 2 small 'pop-outs' in it that you can cut out and fit a bung and airlock so I fitted an airlock into one of these.

I placed it onto the wardrobe where I can keep an eye on it. I intend to rack it off in around a weeks time to the demijohn's where it can sit and mature (not for long though I expect ).

I will also look into how to 'prime' the cider which should give it some fizz - afaik it involves adding a teaspoon of sugar when sealing it into bottles but whatever, I'm not expecting much. So long as I fall over at some point then I shall conclude my initial foray into homebrewing a success!

Turbo cider > < Matt

PS - apologies for the blatant highjack here Red :sad6:

 

[British Red]

No apology needed Matt,

Sounds okay what you have done although honey ferments far more slowly than sugar (sucrose) which in turn is slower than glucose (due to the complexities of the sugars I believe)

Don't over charge the bottles - I find no more than a level (not heaped) teaspoon per pint is still often too much - try half a teaspoon per pint is my advice - too much fizz disturbs any sediment in the bottle.

Red

 

[Matt Weir]

No apology needed Matt,

Sounds okay what you have done although honey ferments far more slowly than sugar (sucrose) which in turn is slower than glucose (due to the complexities of the sugars I believe)

Don't over charge the bottles - I find no more than a level (not heaped) teaspoon per pint is still often too much - try half a teaspoon per pint is my advice - too much fizz disturbs any sediment in the bottle.

Red

Right, thanks for that Red. Maybe my turbo cider won't be so turbo after all lol. Nevermind, we'll see what happens