Who makes wine?

Discussion in 'Beverages' started by AfricaUnite, Jul 13, 2006.

  1. If I had a big bucket of honey, I'd pay a couple of girls to wrestle in a kiddie pool while I poured it over them. But that's just me!
     
  2. gentlesenior

    gentlesenior Members

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    Do you make Mead?
     
  3. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    I will be
     
  4. gentlesenior

    gentlesenior Members

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    Do report back, careful that stuff can have a strong alcohol %. I am not certain how long you have to allow fermentation to proceed. I have made cider and could stop it whenever I wanted, stopped it short to keep it on the sweet side.
     
  5. After racking the 11/9 batch, the bubbling is almost over. But more importantly the haze is dropping down. About the first 1/3 of the gallon is clear and the cloudy part is sinking to the bottom. I can only hope that decanting will do the job and save me from filtering, again.

    Since this batch is white grape juice only, I have high hopes it turns out better than the others.
     
  6. I discovered something stupid. I've used water filter pitchers to filter liquor before, they turn cheap vodka into excellence. So naturally I figured it might filter the haze out of my first wine batch.

    Well, it did. The wine was beautifully clear. Then I tasted it and realized why. The filter removed nearly everything BUT the water and tiny hint of wine flavor.

    A total fail.

    Guess I'll have to go back to layers of coffee filters crammed into a funnel.
     
  7. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    I didn't make the mead as I didn't have the right glass bottle. I need a gallon with a air sealed lock.
     
  8. gentlesenior

    gentlesenior Members

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    you might need a bubbler to let out CO2 from fermentation and stopper that fits your bottle..
    [​IMG]
     
  9. gentlesenior

    gentlesenior Members

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    I don't know wine making at all but think most folks allow the wine to settle then cold crash in a refrigerator, particles drop to bottom due to temps. That is what we do in brewing
     
  10. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    This seriously gets more complicated the more input is given.

    Now, surely my Viking brethren did not have one of those. :p
     
  11. You're right, they didn't. The point of the bubbler is isolation. The CO2 that the yeast produces is vented, but when the pressure drops, the bubbler keeps airborne yeast from contaminating your batch.

    I've seen where some folks will use a balloon with a pinhole in it to accomplish this. If you do this, be sure to rinse the balloon well since they can have a dry, dusty mold release compound on the interior of the balloon. I've used a gallon plastic distilled water jug with a pinhole in the lid many times successfully.

    I have 2 different kinds of bubblers, I got them on Amazon. I fill them with Everclear to be certain that any bacteria that gets in doesn't have much of a chance to contaminate the batch. There's just nothing like that first taste test of a bad batch.
     
  12. gentlesenior

    gentlesenior Members

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    The other option is multiple layers of cheese cloth fastened with a rubber band, vikings didn't have that either. Some people ferment with an opened vessel. This allows lots of wild yeast and other stuff into the mix.
     
  13. Meliai

    Meliai Banned

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    Can you just burp it? Never made anything alcoholic but when I do fermented pickles I just take the top off once a day to "burp" it
     
  14. gentlesenior

    gentlesenior Members

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    Probably not, some of my batches have some strong fermentation periods 2-3 days. The beer is actually churning away and you can see lots of movements. The bubbler is constantly letting out air. Plus at night it is still cranking. I had one batch clog the bubbler and blew out the stopper. Beer went everywhere. Ceiling, walls and then gurgled out, onto the floor. What a mess.

    You could make it in a bucket with a loose fitting lid. Some folks do that. I bet the Vikings did that
     
    WritersPanic likes this.
  15. No, don't do this. I learned the hard way.

    I thought the fermentation was complete on a batch, so I put it into a recycled 3 liter bottle with a screw cap. Two days later it exploded sending wine and broken glass all over the kitchen. I was standing about six feet away and it happened with no warning. Scared the crap out of the whole house and I put wine making on the back burner for a while.

    Always use corked bottles for homemade hooch.

    (I know nothing about making beer, but I know it's bottled with a tight seal, so my advice is only for wine)
     
  16. By the way, the Brita filter experiment was a failure twice. Once you have filtered yeast-laden wine through the element, you can't go back to using it for water. It will make you sick.
     
  17. roadhogg

    roadhogg Senior Member

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    just started a gallon of yarrow flower wine , the flowers smell devine ,and alse good for making making tea ,yarrow flowers were used for brewing all kinds of things in the 16th century including beer ,before they started using hops ,this yarrow flower wine should come out at about 17% vol ,so it will be a strong one ,i would really love to buy a still ,and distill some, in september ,i plan to make some apple and cinnamon ,,then some blackberry and sloe
     

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