Recent content by Athelstane

oooh, ISTR! Good. (is that 'ISTR', as in 'indisputably, solidly, truthfully, reliably', or 'ISTR', as in 'in some tenuous results'?) Actually, someone donated to me a bottle of excellent, highly expensive, white wine. And as it is a very long time since I have had a bottle of excellent, dry...

Well, if anyone's reading... the answer was I sort of did both. As in, I let in carry on fermenting for another 3 or 4 days and then chickened out and turned it's life support machine off (the brew belt - it's FREEZING in this house). Since then I've let it settle, racked it once - it's...

Opinions please! Unbelievably, my raspberry wine has just about finished fermenting after one week! It's down from a starting SG of 1.100 to 1.000, and although it's still fermenting (2 to 3 bpms), initial tasting is very tart and measurements suggest it's just over 13.5%. Now I don't want...

Erm, I should think so? I don't know what 'irregular' raspberries would be? Mine were just off the canes in the back garden and straight into the freezer (I was getting about a kilo a day off them for a few weeks and couldn't keep up even giving them away). If you mean non-frozen, then yes -...

Well, somebody is doing a quick two step for me somewhere - as the wine is still thundering on here. Took a SG reading yesterday when I was breaking up the crust and it's already on 1018, with no signs of slowing. That's in just 6 days! The fruit wines I've previously tried have all taken at...

I definitely did not bother. I THINK I just put them in the freezer for a few days, then poured boiling water over them so the skins burst. The stones are too large to be faffing about with.

Blimey - I've done a handful of attempts at wine before, but this is lively lively. Over 60 burps per minute - from 3 gallons in a five gallon bucket. I am extremely relieved I didn't do a trial 1 gallon in the demijohn - it would have been on the ceiling and down the walls by now.

Good!

Excellent, thank you! [4 whole extra people to blame when it goes **** up] So no added extras - in a 5 gallon bucket in case it's too lively - raisins a good idea - Don't Look In The Bucket. Off to put the yeast in now it's cooler - I'll let you know if it really is that lively. Thanks...

I've not had a problem with the various things I've tried clearing - it MAY be because they're kept in the spare bedroom, which in Autumn/Winter has an ambient temperature of about 4-8 degrees.

I desperately need some freezer space back so am attempting a raspberry wine. Before I bugger this one up, I'd be grateful to anyone pointing out the flaws in this plan (for 3 gallons): - last night, defrosted 5kgs raspberries, bunged in some pectolase and left overnight with 200g raisins and...

Not dared tip the demi-john back in the bucket yet... it's full today and struggling a little so I'll have to be brave.

Oh I did one of these two years ago - it was wonderful. I made up the recipe, but if it's anything like my others it would have been about 6kg of sugar for a 5 gallon bucket - I always add raisins and a banana too. Can't remember about the tannin - probably a mug of tea. It turned out around...

Blimey, I don't want 18%! I want wine. I tried that formula thing for SG readings, and it came out at just over 8% alcohol, so just too high to bung a restart yeast in (as some of them claim you can, I've not tried it). I'm hoping the higher tolerance yeast will give me a few more days and...

Doh. Thank you, though. It was the recommended amount from the instructions I had in the very first kit I used the other year - you think less for a 23 litre bucket brew? As a last resort I've started a higher tolerance yeast off and am gradually adding the wine to that - it might crawl...