Started 4th August 2013
Our first ever home brew wine was raspberry wine and it was the best tasting of all the wines we've made so far. Our second raspberry wine was pretty good too, although a bit too sweet, but we've learnt a lot in the last year or so of winemaking.
We're now using bigger buckets to make bigger batches of wine - it's a lot easier in the long run. As some of the wines contain a lot of fruit and pulp and others froth up a lot, we're brewing 2 gallon batches in 3 gallon buckets and 4 gallon batches in 5 gallon batches. This allows us a full amount of liquid without spillage.
This year we've been picking our home grown raspberries every couple of days and saving them in the freezer for another batch of raspberry wine. As the freezer was filling up rapidly, we chose to make a 2 gallon batch now and follow it with another 2 gallon batch in a few week's time. For this one, we've chosen to use one 220ml bottle of concentrate and one 500g bag of currants.
Note that this recipe and quantities are for a 2 gallon batch of raspberry wine.
Raspberry Wine Recipe 3
Step 1:
Add 6lbs raspberries into a 3 gallon bucket
Add 5lbs sugar
Add 2 teaspoons pectolase to break down the fruit and extract flavour
Mash well, cover and leave for 24 hours
Step 2:
Simmer 500g currants in a large pan of water for 30 minutes, allow to cool, add to bucket
Add 220ml bottle of red grape juice concentrate to bucket
Mash well again, cover and leave for 24 hours
Step 3:
Top up bucket to about 2.25 gallons (just over 10 litres) with cold water
Test SG and add sugar to bring up to 1090
Add 2 teaspoons yeast nutrient
Add 1 teaspoon yeast
Stir well, cover and leave in a warm place for 10-14 days to ferment
Step 4:
Strain off the liquid into 2 clean, sterilised demijohns
If necessary, top up with cold water to the shoulder of the demijohns
Fit bungs and airlocks and leave to ferment for a few weeks (maybe 6)
Step 5:
Test the SG and if fermented out to about 0.995, then:
Rack off into clean, sterilised demijohns
Add 1 crushed campden tablet to each demijohn and shake well
Add 1tsp potassium sorbate to each demijohn to stop the ferment and shake well
Fit bungs and airlocks and leave for 2 or 3 weeks to degas, giving it a gentle shake every couple of days.
Step 6:
Bottle!
Monday, 5 August 2013
Rhubarb Wine
Started 30th June 2013
This has been a long time coming, mainly because we love rhubarb crumbles and didn't have enough to spare for wine. But the home made wines are so good we decided we really have to do this one. It's been a long time coming!
All the rhubarb is chopped and frozen - it's the easiest way for us to store it for crumbles throughout winter. It's also ideal for winemaking as apparently you can get more juice from frozen rhubarb than fresh rhubarb.
There are loads of different recipes for rhubarb wine (as with any other wines!) and no way we can test them all to find the best. But the good news is that home winemaking doesn't need to be precise - we can experiment!
For this wine, I've chosen to go with the basics that are used in all recipes and not to worry about tannin or other things. Rhubarb is known to carry a pectin haze that can be difficult to clear, so I've used 2 teaspoons of pectolase in the hope of avoiding this.
Rhubarb Wine
Ingredients:
4lbs rhubarb
2.5lbs sugar
2 litres white grape juice
2 teaspoons pectolase
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon Youngs wine yeast
water to top up to 1 gallon
Step 1:
Put the chopped, frozen rhubarb into a bucket
Add the sugar
Cover and leave for 48 hours
Step 2:
Strain the liquid into a clean, sterilised demijohn
Add the white grape juice
Add 2 teaspoons pectolase
Add 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
Add 1 teaspoon yeast
Shake well, add bung and airlock, leave to ferment for a few weeks
After 4 weeks the ferment had slowed down to almost nothing - no bubbles in the airlock and no bubbles around the top of the liquid. I shook the demijohn a bit and the ferment restarted, but slowly. After 5 weeks the ferment had stopped again so I checked the SG - I got a reading of 1020, so not fully fermented yet. This time I added a teaspoon of yeast nutrient and stirred the whole demijohn with the handle of a long plastic spoon. Hopefully this will be enough to give the yeast a boost to finish the ferment.
Step 3:
Crush a campden tablet into a clean, sterilised demijohn
Rack off into this demijohn and shake well
Add 1 teaspoon stabiliser and shake well again
Fit bung and airlock and leave in a cool place for 2 or 3 months to clear
Possible Step 4:
This depends on how the wine looks, especially whether it's cleared or not. If it hasn't cleared, I'll rack off into another demijohn and maybe add bentonite to help it clear. I'll have to wait and see.
This has been a long time coming, mainly because we love rhubarb crumbles and didn't have enough to spare for wine. But the home made wines are so good we decided we really have to do this one. It's been a long time coming!
All the rhubarb is chopped and frozen - it's the easiest way for us to store it for crumbles throughout winter. It's also ideal for winemaking as apparently you can get more juice from frozen rhubarb than fresh rhubarb.
There are loads of different recipes for rhubarb wine (as with any other wines!) and no way we can test them all to find the best. But the good news is that home winemaking doesn't need to be precise - we can experiment!
For this wine, I've chosen to go with the basics that are used in all recipes and not to worry about tannin or other things. Rhubarb is known to carry a pectin haze that can be difficult to clear, so I've used 2 teaspoons of pectolase in the hope of avoiding this.
Rhubarb Wine
Ingredients:
4lbs rhubarb
2.5lbs sugar
2 litres white grape juice
2 teaspoons pectolase
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon Youngs wine yeast
water to top up to 1 gallon
Step 1:
Put the chopped, frozen rhubarb into a bucket
Add the sugar
Cover and leave for 48 hours
Step 2:
Strain the liquid into a clean, sterilised demijohn
Add the white grape juice
Add 2 teaspoons pectolase
Add 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
Add 1 teaspoon yeast
Shake well, add bung and airlock, leave to ferment for a few weeks
After 4 weeks the ferment had slowed down to almost nothing - no bubbles in the airlock and no bubbles around the top of the liquid. I shook the demijohn a bit and the ferment restarted, but slowly. After 5 weeks the ferment had stopped again so I checked the SG - I got a reading of 1020, so not fully fermented yet. This time I added a teaspoon of yeast nutrient and stirred the whole demijohn with the handle of a long plastic spoon. Hopefully this will be enough to give the yeast a boost to finish the ferment.
Step 3:
Crush a campden tablet into a clean, sterilised demijohn
Rack off into this demijohn and shake well
Add 1 teaspoon stabiliser and shake well again
Fit bung and airlock and leave in a cool place for 2 or 3 months to clear
Possible Step 4:
This depends on how the wine looks, especially whether it's cleared or not. If it hasn't cleared, I'll rack off into another demijohn and maybe add bentonite to help it clear. I'll have to wait and see.
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