Anybody involved in Winemaking?

[Brewer-again]

stop it !

Hi! Madderbat, you could stop your wine by adding a campden tablet and it would be 15% but still very slightly sweet? Could be worth a try.

[madderbat]

Thanks Brewer again, may try that. So far I've been decanting with great regularity (every two weeks!) to try and get the yeast out to stop it, but the plum is still plopping away!

[Brewer-again]

stopping wine

The yeast is actually in solution, almost all the sediment at the bottom is dead yeast. This is why it should be racked as the deposit is mostly dead and decays, leaving a nasty mousey smell and taste in the wine.

The only way to stop the process is to kill the yeast either by sulphite or heat. Heating the wine could be tricky, unless you could pasturise it. This will probably ruin the taste. Adding a sulphite tablet should stop the yeast working and I am told that the sulphite should dissapear after a week or two. Not sure where it goes but will find out

[madderbat]

Thanks Brewer Again, I am learning fast.
I just have this thing against using sulphites - French wines that use them are usually cheap and nasty.
Have done ok so far with mine, but perhaps will cut down on the sugar to reduce activity - it may help with calories too!!!
Started some more blackberry today using 2 1/2 lb sugar instead of 3 and its 'plopping' at 60mph already. The starting SG was 180 which is considerably less than the 1110 I got before, so should make a less potent brew I hope. Will let you know.

[rustylady]

If the wine you've made is really too strong, you could try making it into spritzers (in the glass) by adding soda water. When you make your original mixture, add a bit less sugar than the recipe states. Yeast feeds on sugar and converts it into alcohol and carbon dioxide (which bubbles off). If there's less sugar to start with, the fermentation will stop earlier when all the sugar has been used up, and the alcohol content of the wine will be lower.

The main thing with home winemaking is to enjoy it, it has a scientific background, but if you want predictable wines go to the supermarket. Home brewing is a hobby, with variable results, but I've always enjoyed it. The main thing is to keep everything really clean.

[Brewer-again]

Sulphites, the true story!

Hi! Madderbat, been looking into sulphites and have found an extraordinary amount of stuff. This could either change the way you think about sulphites or it could put you off more things, hope it is the former.
All wine contains sulphite; even those labelled “no sulphite added”. All wine produces sulphite naturally during fermentation, up to a level of about 10-PPM. Even with no addition of outside sulphite, wine always contains it—it cannot be removed.
• Nearly all dried fruits and meats contain sulphites. Raisins have up to 1250 PPM. Bacon, orange juice, potato chips, cider, candied fruits, sausages, and even pancake syrup contains sulphite: often at levels higher than found in wine.
• The human body produces its own sulphite as a by-product of metabolic activity.
thanks to Wine expert

[madderbat]

Thanks Rusty lady, useful advice indeed.

Brewergain:Wow! does this explain why I've been putting on weight lately - my sulphite metabolism gone haywire with age??? bet my GP wouldn't know

Must check out what exactly 'sulphites' are, sounds as if they are naturally occuring, which I was not previously aware of. is there a link I can look at?

Many thanks for the info.
All the best

[Brewer-again]

Sulphites

Sulphites would be the sulphur part of a compound such as Ferrous (iron ) Sulphite or Sodium metabisulphate, a compound which requires more sulphur to exist in a stable condition, bi being two. Or Copper sulphate, blue crystals which can be used as an antiseptic. Sulphur has been used since the romans made wine, they used to burn it in the barrels to ensure that they were clean.

[madderbat]

Thanks BA. Seem to remember metabi and knew copper sulphate from years ago, but not clear about the biology aspect.
Will check it out on google tomorrow, have been too busy having a laugh on the chat tonight. Is it your thing? try joining the maddest house next week.

[flobadob]

brewer- again,
Can you alter the sweetness of a finnished wine, i made an elderflower wine which is very sweet, can i make it dryer ?

[Birdie Wife]

Hi flobadob,
I tasted my elderflower wine yesterday and it was very sweet too, but I think the fermentation has stuck. Yeast should convert sugar to alcohol as long as it's not too cold, so I've moved the demijohn into the airing cupboard to try and get it going again. Do you have a hydrometer? This would help you determine how far through the fermentation your wine is. Hope this helps.

[Brewer-again]

sweet finished wine

Hi! Flobadob,
Rather than try and start the wine again, which can be difficult if you have alcohol present in quantity. Blend it. Yeast finds it more and more difficult to live the stronger the wine gets.
Save this wine and mix it with an extremely dry wine. You will then have twice as much of a pleasant drinker. Elderflower is a delicate tasting wine so choose an equally delicate dry wine to mix it with.

[madderbat]

Hi flobadob
Welcome to the vine.
I concur with what Brewer-again said, and would blend it to make it drinkable.

Some of my blackberry went very dry this Autumn, so I mulled it which was lovely over Christmas. I wouldn't suggest this for elderflower, but don't be afraid to mix it with another dry white wine and enjoy.

[Brewer-again]

Sulphites, sulphur or sulfur (US)

Hi! Madderbat,
Hope the info re. Sulphites was not too much of a worry, Apparently they are naturally occuring in all protiens. Just google any of the above. All this said people can be sulphite intollerant escpecially if suffering from asthma or psoriasis.

Not a bad idea to avoid adding extra sulphite, 'such as my stop wine idea'.
I have yet to find out if it dissapears and if so how.

[madderbat]

Evening Brewer Again
I did a bit of googling (is that an accepted verb these days??) yesterday and got some info. There seems to be a lot about sulphites and asthma, but didn't get through the zillion pages to find anything about metabolism. Will pursue it some other time.
Meanwhile am cutting down on the sugar (which will probably help my weight) and will let you know about the next lot. Blackberry started 13/1 using 1 kg sugar instead of 1 1/2 kg. I suppose I can always add some more in a bit if it tastes foul - maybe get into the spoonsful business.
Fun though isn't it.