Stuff you have made today

[Dapph2]

Following the same recipe.

I use a long wooden spoon, Do you think that's OK? It doesn't seem to effect the other wines.

It can carry unwanted fermenting air borne yeast cells if it has not been sterilized properly and they often give the wine an unpleasant off flavour musty , mouldy tasting smell and flavour .

Tip .
Blackberries often suffer tremendously with wild yeast problems which makes the wine smell and taste musty . Sterilize for 5 min fully submerged with one crushed Campden tablet dissolved ( use warm water on the crushed tablet ) totally per gallon of sterilizing / rinse water .

Submerge the berries in the treated water for 24 hrs , then drain and wash through in clean running tap water now let them drain for half an hour before proceeding to make your wine must with them .

 

[Dapph2]

Always used to use a wooden spoon years ago before having plastic ones.

I've ruined several musts in my early country wine making escapades , because of wild yeast infections / contamination on or in my wooden spoons or stirring sticks
After 45 gallons of blackberry and elderberry with a litre of Ashbach brandy for smoothing it & several 5 gallon drums of other assorted wines & meads becoming contaminated beyond rescue ... it got too expensive and annoying to pour them into the septic tank and still smile .

 

[Dapph2]

Always used to use a wooden spoon years ago before having plastic ones.

I used 1200mm of 42mm new unused plastic white waste pipe for stirring the bigger barreled batches as my spoons were only 18 inches or so long

 

[Dapph2]

This one's already been claimed and I've only put the first coat of finish on it...

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Profile view:

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Are the feet fixed so as to be part of the bowl or just something to stand it on for a better picture?

 

[Onoff]

My parsnip wine doesn't appear to have started fermenting I'd have thought it would have been going like the clappers.

 

[Dapph2]

My parsnip wine doesn't appear to have started fermenting I'd have thought it would have been going like the clappers.

How warm is it where it is stored ?
18 oC is a good temp can you put it in the airing cupboard or do you have a heat pad /jacket for wine making ? often there are such instructions on the packet the yeast came in .

 

[Onoff]

How warm is it where it is stored ?
18 oC is a good temp can you put it in the airing cupboard or do you have a heat pad /jacket for wine making ? often there are such instructions on the packet the yeast came in .

Just been and looked again and it's going fine. Sat next to but not against a radiator. Wrapped in an old, zipped up fleece.

Not sure on the temperature. I've run out of button cells for the little digital temp guage I usually duct tape to the outside of the fermenting bin.

 

[Dapph2]

Just been and looked again and it's going fine. Sat next to but not against a radiator. Wrapped in an old, zipped up fleece.

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Not sure on the temperature. I've run out of button cells for the little digital temp guage I usually duct tape to the outside of the fermenting bin.

If the rads go off say from 23.00 hrs. till 06.00 hrs. they will tend to draw heat out the fermenter and so stop or severely slow down the fermentation . Giving the fermenter a bit of rotation / banging the sides or stirring also helps release CO2 off the almost exhausted yeast cells which releases new hungry yeast cells that then start to eat more sugar in the must . Till eventually the cycle is complete and no further fermentation can happen unless you add 1 to 1 sugar syrup to reactivate it again till eventually there is so much alcohol the yeasts cannot function any more .
This is why I asked you if you knew about the Pearson Square and ..... I forgot to ask you do you have a wine hydrometer & beer/wine thermometer ? Becarefull not to get it too warm for you can suddenly have a massive catastrophic burst of fermentation .

I used to only half fill my barrels to get the initial fermentation going well , then a day or so later top up with 1 to 1 sugar syrup that was acidified with lemon juice to start the sugar break down into fructose .

Once I'd got things recorded in my brewing note book as per the Pearson Square fetc. or the likely end result it was a case of fermenting for 10 days before carefully racking off & topping up to the require end volume . then re racking when my hydrometer indicated the right ABV .

We had some amazing wines and substitute brewed corn that was a style of tasty whiskey .

Our many farming friends were amazed at the quality of our alcoholic BBQ's at ours and their farms.

 

[Dapph2]

If the rads go off say from 23.00 hrs. till 06.00 hrs. they will tend to draw heat out the fermenter and so stop or severely slow down the fermentation . Giving the fermenter a bit of rotation / banging the sides or stirring also helps release CO2 off the almost exhausted yeast cells which releases new hungry yeast cells that then start to eat more sugar in the must . Till eventually the cycle is complete and no further fermentation can happen unless you add 1 to 1 sugar syrup to reactivate it again till eventually there is so much alcohol the yeasts cannot function any more .
This is why I asked you if you knew about the Pearson Square and ..... I forgot to ask you do you have a wine hydrometer & beer/wine thermometer ?

I've heard of people putting the fermentation vessel or drums etc . securely in the back of their car then putting the heater on full blast and driving of 30 miles or so taking the bumpiest road with loads of sleeping policeman traffic controls on it , to bump start a slow or slowing fermentation .
Others rig up all manner of devices ..one of the best I've seen was a heat band around the gallon flagon , then a bar magnet in food grade plastic slipped in the flagon , the flagon being sat on a wooden housing that had a 12 volt motor turning under it which also had a bar magnet glued to the drive end , this magnetic drive turned the must very well and curtailed the period for fermentation considerably.

 

[Onoff]

Pearson Square

Nope, far too complicated. It either works or it doesn't.

I do have a hydrometer but rarely use it. If the finished product "gets me there" then happy days.

This stuff was made last night. Is it even worth taking a hydrometer reading now after 24 hours?