What have you got brewing at the moment

Homebrew, cordials, cheese, dehydrating, smoking and soap making. An area for all problems to be asked, tips to be given and procedures shared.
Post Reply
MKG
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 5139
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 5:15 pm
Location: North Notts.

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 195427Post MKG »

No is the answer. The technique is just the same, but caffeine (in my experience) sends yeast loopy. Leave a BIG airgap because the frothing is reminiscent of the Quatermass experiment. Once you get past that stage (that's the put your demijohn in the bath stage) you're OK. But it will turn out extremely dry - and taste horrible. Simple remedy - add more sugar and be prepared to wait out a long, slow fermentation.

But it's worth the wait.

Mike
The secret of life is to aim below the head (With thanks to MMM)

User avatar
frozenthunderbolt
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 1239
Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2007 2:42 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 195496Post frozenthunderbolt »

MKG wrote:No is the answer. The technique is just the same, but caffeine (in my experience) sends yeast loopy. Leave a BIG airgap because the frothing is reminiscent of the Quatermass experiment.
Mike
This effect is reduced if you use REAL coffee rather than instant. Instant coffee (according to my teachers college lecturer in science) contains detergent (albeit in small quantity) that results in FOAM when you drop dry ice into a cup of instant coffee - i can only assume that this might exacerbate yeast based foam madness :salute:

The coffee wine i have on the brew now did have a head of dense fine bubbled foam for a week in the primary. I skimmed this every second day before i transferred it to a Demmi - ive had no problems since. :wink:
Jeremy Daniel Meadows. (Jed).

Those who walk in truth and love grow in honour and strength

RobHed
Barbara Good
Barbara Good
Posts: 121
Joined: Sun May 17, 2009 9:06 pm
latitude: 51.4796
longitude: -2.5948
Location: Bristol, England
Contact:

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 195967Post RobHed »

Can I ask what people use to filter into a new demijohn, etc ? I used 'proper' filter pads and a filter for my redcurrant wine, and even though the filter pad changed colour considerably, still left quite a bit of lees in the bottom. I intend to filter once a week until it goes but are there any other measures to prevent sediment getting through ? How about a muslin bag (as in the sort used for jam-making) ?

Cheers

Rob :salute:
Mad Dad to Evie aged 11 and hubby to Siân

MKG
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 5139
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 5:15 pm
Location: North Notts.

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 195982Post MKG »

I'm not sure I really understand your question, Rob. Filtering is normally the last activity - after all the sediment has dropped out - to put the ultimate polish on your wine. I don't filter at all unless absolutely necessary. I strain out the big solids after the first (flavour extraction) stage of fermentation using a sieve and some muslin in series (otherwise the muslin clogs). After that, everything stays where it is until the fermentation has completely finished and there is a healthy deposit - at which point careful racking gets rid of it and I end up with a clear wine.

If you filter before the end of fermentation, you're always going to end up with a deposit of yeast - individual yeast cells go straight through a filter. The other thing is that filters are ironic creatures - the more deposit you're trying to get rid of, the less efficient the filter becomes.

I'd try waiting and then racking if I were you. Chilling the wine before you do that helps a lot.

Mike

PS @ Frozenthunderbolt ...

I didn't know about the detergent. How much real coffee do you use in your recipe?
The secret of life is to aim below the head (With thanks to MMM)

User avatar
frozenthunderbolt
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 1239
Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2007 2:42 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 196072Post frozenthunderbolt »

[quote="MKG"

PS @ Frozenthunderbolt ...

I didn't know about the detergent. How much real coffee do you use in your recipe?[/quote]

Hey Mike, Here is recipe:
1. Take:
220gms fresh ground coffee
2 L water
Make STRONG coffee with these.
2. Take:
2 L water, 1/4tsp mallic acid, 1 tsb citric acid, 1/4 tsb tartaric acid, 1/4 tsp tannin, 1 kg brown sugar, 2 kg white sugar.
Boil the lot to invert sugar. then combine with the steeped coffee (made in 2 batches in percolator).
3. ADD 2 tsb nutrient, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1L cool water.
4. leave to cool to blood heat and pitch in Red Star brand Premiere Cuvee wine yeast- 16-18% tolerance.
5. whisk to airrate the mix and ferment in the primary (LARGE pot) for 5 days skimming foam daily.
6. rack to demijohn on 6th day
7. racked again and added 250 ml water and 1 tsp nutrient again after 10 days.

It is still bubbling happily and is very cloudy (as to be expected at this point) I will work the yeast out, fine stabablise rack and sweeten to end up with a strong and sweetish light liqueur i hope.
Jeremy Daniel Meadows. (Jed).

Those who walk in truth and love grow in honour and strength

User avatar
vancheese
Barbara Good
Barbara Good
Posts: 176
Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2010 2:11 pm
Location: Balastya, Hungary

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 196093Post vancheese »

I'll be trying this ASAP
Looks Good!

RobHed
Barbara Good
Barbara Good
Posts: 121
Joined: Sun May 17, 2009 9:06 pm
latitude: 51.4796
longitude: -2.5948
Location: Bristol, England
Contact:

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 196181Post RobHed »

[quote="MKG"]I'm not sure I really understand your question, Rob. Filtering is normally the last activity - after all the sediment has dropped out - to put the ultimate polish on your wine. I don't filter at all unless absolutely necessary. I strain out the big solids after the first (flavour extraction) stage of fermentation using a sieve and some muslin in series (otherwise the muslin clogs). After that, everything stays where it is until the fermentation has completely finished and there is a healthy deposit - at which point careful racking gets rid of it and I end up with a clear wine.

If you filter before the end of fermentation, you're always going to end up with a deposit of yeast - individual yeast cells go straight through a filter. The other thing is that filters are ironic creatures - the more deposit you're trying to get rid of, the less efficient the filter becomes.

I'd try waiting and then racking if I were you. Chilling the wine before you do that helps a lot.

Mike

quote]

Sorry - I did mean racking ! My mistake. I have made the liquid in a barrel, then put it into a demijohn, and now have put it into a 2nd demijohn but much sediment still remains.
Mad Dad to Evie aged 11 and hubby to Siân

geigercounter120
margo - newbie
margo - newbie
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:30 am
Location: North west UK
Contact:

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 196209Post geigercounter120 »

off to glastonbury next month and being an idiot, last year i decided we should all take a bottle of homebrew.

having largely forgotten i am relying on a cheeky turbo cider

here's my credit cruch tramp recipe:
into 1 demijohn add some cheap apple juice
throw in some wine yeast and an undetermined amount of sugar
airlock
let bubble for 5 days or so

rack off into 3l fizzypop bottles with a little more sugar. leave it somewhere out the way
get to campsite and open, drenching surrounding hippies in cloudy apple goodness...

my initial pilot study involved my adding some ginger and orange juice and ended up tasting of NOTHING.

so this time, it's just juice sugar & yeast and pre-rack it tastes much better

strength at the mo is in the region of 10%, so a good campfire strength...

MKG
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 5139
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 5:15 pm
Location: North Notts.

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 196219Post MKG »

RobHed wrote:
Sorry - I did mean racking ! My mistake. I have made the liquid in a barrel, then put it into a demijohn, and now have put it into a 2nd demijohn but much sediment still remains.
Sounds like your doing one of two things ...

1. Racking too early. Wait for the fermentation to finish, otherwise more deposit will always be cast. This means that there will (ideally) be no further yeast activity to hold stuff in suspension. Also, the residues don't fall to the bottom of the demijohn merely through gravity - there's also a fining effect in which tiny particles clump together before dropping out, and that can't happen with fermentation still going on.

2. You're sucking up some of the original residue when racking. Have you got one of those little U-tubes on the end of your syphon? It helps if you have. It's not possible to get ALL of the wine away from the deposit, so poking a syphon tube without a U-tube all the way down to the bottom of the demijohn is a waste of time.

Mike
The secret of life is to aim below the head (With thanks to MMM)

RobHed
Barbara Good
Barbara Good
Posts: 121
Joined: Sun May 17, 2009 9:06 pm
latitude: 51.4796
longitude: -2.5948
Location: Bristol, England
Contact:

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 196227Post RobHed »

geigercounter120 wrote:off to glastonbury next month and being an idiot, last year i decided we should all take a bottle of homebrew.

having largely forgotten i am relying on a cheeky turbo cider

here's my credit cruch tramp recipe:
into 1 demijohn add some cheap apple juice
throw in some wine yeast and an undetermined amount of sugar
airlock
let bubble for 5 days or so

rack off into 3l fizzypop bottles with a little more sugar. leave it somewhere out the way
get to campsite and open, drenching surrounding hippies in cloudy apple goodness...

my initial pilot study involved my adding some ginger and orange juice and ended up tasting of NOTHING.

so this time, it's just juice sugar & yeast and pre-rack it tastes much better

strength at the mo is in the region of 10%, so a good campfire strength...

Wow - 1984 was my first Glastonbury lol
Mad Dad to Evie aged 11 and hubby to Siân

User avatar
phil55494
Barbara Good
Barbara Good
Posts: 163
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:22 pm
Location: Glossop, Derbyshire. UK
Contact:

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 197076Post phil55494 »

The rhubarb has been steeped in sugar and the liquid drained off, water added, yeast added. We've got rhubarb wine on the go.
It was drinking some home made rhubarb wine several years ago that got us thinking about making country wine as the rhubarb patch in the garden just keeps on growing and growing and we need something to with all those stalks :icon_smile:

The rhubarb stalks have gone back a second bucket and more sugar added to see if we can get more juices extracted for a second gallon to be brewed up.

pitwipe
Jerry - Bit higher than newbie
Jerry - Bit higher than newbie
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed May 19, 2010 8:15 pm
latitude: 53*35N
longitude: 116*28W
Location: Alberta, Canada

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 197094Post pitwipe »

I have a batch of wine made from frozen concentrate bubbling away at the moment. I followed the recipe from here: http://www.ehow.com/how_5257240_make-ho ... month.html

I made batch last month that turned out fine (well, young and sweet, but nice) so this time I've upped the quantity to make 16 litres of the stuff :drunken: :lol:

MKG
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 5139
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 5:15 pm
Location: North Notts.

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 197128Post MKG »

Hi Pitwipe - some interesting stuff on that site. BUT I would strongly advise you to totally ignore the video on bottling your wine. Sure, the guy uses the oven to sterilise the bottles - then he picks one up in his bare hands (so it's cooled down already), pours in wine from an unsterilised jug and tells you to bung in a cork, but without telling you that the cork must be sterile too. Not that I'm advocating pouring your wine into very hot bottles - that may crack the bottles and would certainly mar the taste of your wine.

Mike
The secret of life is to aim below the head (With thanks to MMM)

pitwipe
Jerry - Bit higher than newbie
Jerry - Bit higher than newbie
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed May 19, 2010 8:15 pm
latitude: 53*35N
longitude: 116*28W
Location: Alberta, Canada

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 197209Post pitwipe »

Ok, thanks Mike! I hadn't actually watched the video (I have a slow internet connection :banghead: ) so I just followed the written text on that link. I am actually bottling into 2 litre plastic pop bottles which I wash in a mild sterilising solution, then rinse.

Bromd123
margo - newbie
margo - newbie
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:34 pm

Re: What have you got brewing at the moment

Post: # 198106Post Bromd123 »

Hey Guys

Just put a gallon of hawthorn flower wine on last night, Took an age to sepperate all the flowers but should be worth it judging by the smell...
mmmmmmmmmmmm smells like really fragrant honey

Post Reply