Have demijohns, will brew, but what to start with?

[Samurailord]

Re the Ribena wine: If I want a still wine, do I wait til the fermentation is over, rack off and bottle? If I wanted a sparkling wine do I do all that, but while the wine is still producing bubbles? Would I put a campden tablet in the DJ either way to prevent explosions? Thank you

Hi

If you add a campden tablet what you are doing is stunning the yeast which will drop to the bottom to form a sediment. When you then rack this off and leave the sediment you will have very little active yeast remaining and no sugar left to feed it anyway so when you bottle it your wine will be still.

If you want to have a sparking wine you dont use the campden tablet and just wait until the wine has cleared and then rack to a new vessel, add 1tsp sugar per litre and mix well.

You can then syphon into suitable glass bottles (one that has held pressure before, such as champagne or cava) with a pressure closure (cork or plastic cork with a wire cage). Alternatively you can use screw-top plastic pop bottles, but try to use 1ltr as a max size.

When making a sparkling wine you will need to keep the newly filled bottles somewhere warm for about 3 weeks after which you can move the bottles to a cool, dark place for a further week after which they will be ready to drink. If you have used plastic bottles you can tell how well they have gassed up by gently squeezing the sides - you should feel them getting harder over time.

Store the bottles stood up, not on a wine rack as the secondary sediment produced by the yeast in the bottle will leave a thin layer of sediment, and when you are pouring your wine I recomment pouring the whole bottle into a caraffe or jug large enough to hold the whole contents, making sure to leave all the sediment behind.

If you pour a glass at a time and put the bottle down between glasses then you are almost certain to disturb the sediment so the last few glasses will be cloudy - it shouldn't affect the flavour by much but it is not what you want to see.

Hope I have been clear in my explanations.

Andy

[MrsCordial]

Thank you both - that's sorted out all my queries.

@Farmer_Gyles, I misled you horribly about Lloyds. I went in today for airlocks (of which they had run out) and siphoning stuff (which they had) and noticed the lack of Lloyds branding. I asked at the till and they were dropped by Lloyds two years ago, so sorry, Lloyds may be no use to you at all. Apologies for the bum info.

[Two_Sheds]

...so when you bottle it your wine will be still.

It will be still, but it may still be active. I've had a few bottles explode (messy, and potentially dangerous) so do check that your SG is low enough.

Mine wasn't, I was a newbie and too eager to get something bottled, before it had finished fermenting properly. When the bottles were brought into a warm room, the yeast re-activated itself and the corks all popped off

[MrsCordial]

Thanks Two_Sheds. I think this time I'll err on the side of caution and go for still.

Now off to cast on for demijohn cosies ;D

[ohbeary]

Expoding bottles can be avoided by stabilising the wine with 1 Campden Tablet and 1 level tsp Potasium Sorbate per gallon.

[snakeshack]

after rinsing off any oil "dressing" from sultanas its good to put them through the mincer to break up the skins and let the yeast get to the sugar within,otherwise they take longer to get going and can blow up and float round like mini balloons.If you like a port type flavour try adding two sliced bananas to an elderberry wine must at the start,gives a lovely body