yay! first alcoholic beverage!

[Annpan]

MKG - I did follow the recipe.... but if you look at the amount of sugar it says 6kg of sugar (obviously some kind of typo I assumed the 1 had fallen off from the front of the pounds amount, as 6k is around 13lb.... and I was working in kilos that day ) and when I strained the rhubarb I got more than a gallon of liquid.


Whatever I did then... I can't undo and I won't be following a Seymore recipe again



Well I have diluted the mixture with another 2 galons and put it one of my giant fermenting plastic demijohn thingys (is it called a carbunkle?) I have put an air lock on top.


What a bloody palaver. The sugar had all encrusted itself on the bottom of the demi-johns and I needed to hack away at it with a chopstick (it was all I had that was long enough to go into the demi-john) But it is all in together now.


A few more questions....

Do I need to boil all the water I use? (I have been, and it takes forever, my kettle only holds 1.5 litres)
Is it OK to use a 6 (or maybe it is 7 or 8?) gallon fermenter for only 4 gallons of liquid?
Should I add more rhubarb to it to make it stronger?
Do I need a lobotomy?
Does it get easier?

[MKG]

Hmmmm - obviously there are several versions of that book around. But, it all adds to life's richness. Okay - answers to questions ...

1. You don't need to boil any of the water you use, except when you need it for scalding or sterilising. Ordinary tap water straight out of the tap is perfectly OK to use in any wine recipe. There's a lot of hoo-hah about sterilisation. It's a good thing, but perhaps too strong a word. Perhaps straightforward cleanliness would be more practical.

2. Yes, it is - until it's finished fermenting. The fermentation process builds up a blanket of carbon dioxide over the wine which protects it from harm, but this begins to dissipate (slowly) at the end of fermentation. That's when you need to get the finished wine out and into vessels which you can fill. Any leftovers - well, there's always taste testing.

3. I wouldn't have thought so with that starting amount. But if you're really worried that the wine may turn out too light in body or taste, it may be better to add a litre carton of apple juice (one without any sorbates in it).

4. Only if you have an annoying lob.

5. Yes - much easier.

Mike

[Annpan]

Thankyou

[CyberPaddy66]

5. Yes - much easier.

Agreed :D

With regards to your tap water it's perfectly fine to use straight from the tap but if you live in an area that uses chlorine or chloramine in your water supply then you may want to treat the water before you use it as it could leave a kind of 'TCP' taste in your brew.

I treat 5 gallons of tap water with 1/2 a crushed Campden Tablet about 10 minutes before I want to use it, the chemical bond in the Chloramine gets broken down releasing the ammonia it's bonded with and allows the Chlorine to vent off naturally during fermentation.

[wolfsong]

STATUS UPDATE ON ELDERFLOWER CHAMPAGNE.
Soon as i got home just now, I literally dodge the mothers loving embrace, and made my way into our pantry, pulled out a jam jar containing the stuff that wouldn't fit in the bottle, drank some (slightly warily ) , and lo and behold! it was a cross between ginger beer and elderflower cordial! genius!
Sweet, with a slight tang... i'm not dead yet, so it seems to have worked!!!
The first bottle will be popped tommorrow!!!


--->edit: opened a proper bottle yesterday after a hard slog at demolishing an horrible apartment, it popped as you would expect champy to, and had a fizz on top of the taste, making some more today...

[Annpan]

STATUS UPDATE ON ELDERFLOWER CHAMPAGNE.
Soon as i got home just now, I literally dodge the mothers loving embrace, and made my way into our pantry, pulled out a jam jar containing the stuff that wouldn't fit in the bottle, drank some (slightly warily ) , and lo and behold! it was a cross between ginger beer and elderflower cordial! genius!
Sweet, with a slight tang... i'm not dead yet, so it seems to have worked!!!
The first bottle will be popped tommorrow!!!

enjoy

[CyberPaddy66]

Did your bottle have any sediment?

If it did then next time you bottle use proper hollow champagne corks and store the bottle neck down so that the sediment forms in the cork which when compacted over time stays in the cork ;)