Summer Lightning Update

My first all grain beer has now completely cleared (although the pic doesn't make it look clear) and is tasting lovely!  Unfortunately, it's nearly gone.

Not a problem as AG#2 (another Summer Lightning clone but only 5.2% this time) is priming in bottles as we speak and #3 (my own Blonde ale recipe) is ready to be bottled in a couple of days.

#4 will be brewed mid-week, a Hobgoblin clone.  Pics to follow.....

Bottler!

I have been busy bottling today.

First, I bottled my carrot wine.  It has been maturing in the demijohn since May 2012 and tastes lovely, very much like a slightly spicy white port.

 

I also bottled some raspberry drink.  I'm not sure what to call it as it was made from some Lowicz Malina raspberry syrup I found in the Polish foods section of my local supermarket.  I made 2 gallons using 2 bottles of syrup and added sugar which has taken the ABV to 5.1%

 

It tastes and smells nice, but will benefit from a few weeks in the bottle to mature.  I added some priming sugar to the batch, bottled it,  and the bottles are now standing in water which is kept at 19 degrees by my new aquarium heater.

 

 

 

 

The tiny amount of yeast left in each bottle will feed on the sugar creating a bit of fizz.





Starting Up Costs For Wine Making

I was wondering earlier, how much would it cost to actually start wine making, starting from scratch and buying everything from new?  It seems like an expensive hobby to start, but the figures below suggest otherwise.

What you will need to produce 1 gallon of Rhubarb wine (not including wine bottles which you can save instead of recycle, and not including the cost of Rhubarb, which a kind neighbour gave you for free)

Fermenting Bin    £8

Glass Demijohn    £6

Sterilising Powder    £2.75

All Purpose Wine Yeast    £1.99

Yeast Nutrient    £1.09

3lbs of Sugar    £1.48

Bung & Airlock    £2

TOTAL           £23.31

So, you'll get 6 bottles out of 1 gallon.  This means a grand total of £3.88 a bottle!! 

This means that if you don't enjoy it, and you never touch the equipment again, you've still only paid £3.88 for a bottle of wine.  This is comparable to a cheap bottle of plonk from the supermarket (to which your Rhubarb wine will be far superior, of course).  If you were to compare this to a commercial bottle of Rhubarb wine, you'd be saving roughly £2.12 on each bottle.

Also, bear in mind that you will have plenty of yeast, nutrient and sterilising powder for later use.  You'll even have over half a bag of sugar left for making the tea.  The equipment, obviously, can be used again and again and again.

Your second batch of Rhubarb wine will only cost you the price of just over 1 bag of sugar (if you don't have some left over from last time).  This gives a rough total, per bottle, of 20p, as will all subsequent batches until you need to buy more yeast, nutrient or sterilising powder (they should give you around 20 gallons from a pot)

Don't forget that demijohns can often be found for free (try Freecycle etc) or for a pound or so at your local charity shop.  Most of mine have come from this source.  Those that have been bought from other sources have cost maybe £2.50, try your local free ad paper. Always check that they haven't been used for cleaning paintbrushes, and they are not cracked.  A chip on the top edge is not usually a problem.  I have never paid for a new demijohn, and never will!  Of course, fermenting bins can also be found from sources other than new, again, make sure they are in good order and don't smell dodgy.

So, it begs the question, WHAT'S STOPPING YOU???!!!

Rack Off!!!

Sounds like an Antipodean insult, but is actually a necessary process in wine making, and to a lesser extent in beer making.  Racking off is basically the process of siphoning off the nice clear liquid from a demijohn, while leaving the sediment behind.

The first racking is normally done once fermentation has ceased (about 3 months) but the wine does not need to be clear.  This will stop the sediment from giving the wine off-flavours, which can ruin a good wine if left for too long.  The next rackings are to make sure the wine is clear for bottling.  Some wines only require a couple of rackings, others need 3 or 4.  There is no limit to the amount you can do, and it won't spoil the wine.

It is also a good time to have a little taste of each wine to see how it is progressing.

Today, I racked off 2 gallons of Rhubarb, 2 gallons of Elderflower and 1 gallon of Gooseberry.  These will all be ready to bottle soon, so I'll leave them to see if any more sediment drops over the next month or so, just to make sure.  I often don't bottle straight away as wine is supposed to mature better in bulk, as there is less temperature fluctuation than in a bottle.  For me personally, I don't have enough empty bottles lying around so tend to only bottle a wine when I have spares (it also takes away the temptation to drink a wine before it's matured, unless of course you drink it straight from the demijohn, in which case you've got a serious problem and probably shouldn't be making wine in the first place).