My FIRST wine from fresh fruit

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nook6

nook6

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Hi all

This is the first time i have made wine from fresh fruit so please go easy on me lol.

I just wanted to post a pic.

This pic was taken just after racking from primary to secondary.

applewine.jpg


Thanks
Dave
 
Hi

I used 6lb apples (cookers and two different eating apples one was russets don't know what the other was).
3lb raisins

tasted it when i racked it and it was very sweet so hoping it will mellow after fermentation.

Dave
 
Hi

do you think i should let it finish fermenting before i hydrometer it ?
OR do it now and see how it is?

Dave
 
Hi

Well actually i just followed a recipe and didnt do anything else i started this as a noob without really knowing what i was doing as such.

So should i leave it till fermentation ends then check or should i do it now?

But i suppose if i test now i wont know whether i need to add sugar or not as its mid fermentation?

I did add 3lbs of sugar at the start?

Dave
 
ok heres the recipe i followed

Ingredients

6lbs mixed apples
3lbs sugar
1lb raisins
8 pints boiling water
wine yeast


Method

Wash and chop the apples including the peel. Put apples in a large saucepan with the water and add the raisins. Bring this to the boil and simmer for approximately 15 minutes. Put the sugar in the bucket and pour on the apple and stir until all the sugar has dissolved. When the must is lukewarm add the yeast. Cover the must and leave for three days.

Using a fine sieve strain the liquid into a demijohn and use a airlock to seal the jar. Store in a warm place and allow the fermentation to work itself out. When fermentation has ceased, rack the wine into a clean jar and place in a cooler environment and leave for a further few months. When the wine is clear and stable, siphon into bottles.


and yesterday was when we strained the apples and put them into demijohns.

Dave
 
CJJB recipe by any chance? 3lb of sugar is a bit on the heavy handed side, but old recipes are. The idea of a hydrometer is you take a reading before ferment and after ferment, then do some clever maths (or feed the results into a calculator [like the one in the top corner]) and it gives you a rough idea of abv. To be fair the more important reading is the final one, as this checks if the wine has actually finished fermenting for you.
When it says warm place you don't really want it above room temp - colder means a slower ferment but less byproducts.
Sounds a good recipe, best of luck :thumb:
 
The raisins will add some sugar but I would have expected an additional pound or two of sugar for a 2 gallon recipe.

I would also have left it for 5 or 7 days before straining into demijohns. 3 days seems a little short, but you followed what it said. Equally I tend to start one off one weekend then strain and put in a DJ the next, so they get close to a week immaterial. :tongue:

Cannot do anything about the 3 days, you have already strained it. Concerning the sugar if you wanted to increase the amount then I would take half a litre or a litre out of each add half a pound to a pound of suger to this and dissolve it then add it back to the demijohn.

I would be tempted to say add 8oz of sugar to each DJ. That should not cause it to come out with any residual sugar so not sweet in any way. That is what I would do simply as 3 lb in 2 gallon seems low. On the other hand leave it and see what transpires - I dislike like saying do something in case it doesn't come out as expected. If left you should get a dry apple wine that is a little low in alcohol. I think that adding 8oz to each DJ would give a dry apple wine a little higher in alcohol, but not that high.

Brewtrog: It is 3lbs in 2 gallons not 1 gallon.
 
Kirk said:
Brewtrog: It is 3lbs in 2 gallons not 1 gallon.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I hadn't noticed that, sorry. A general rule of thumb is a kg of sugar per gallon will work fine for most fruit, so probably about 10oz to each each gallon, there or there abouts.
 
Hi

I seem to have a slight problem.

The three quarter DJ i had was fermenting fine then stopped (the full DJ is still fermenting) so tonight i thought i would check the gravity to see how it was doing and see if that's why it had stopped fermenting.

Now here is the problem the gravity is 1060. it tastes very alcoholic then you get an after taste of cr*p (not a pleasant after taste lol)

Just wondering if there's anything i might be able to do or if i should age it and see how it is in a few months.

By the way i did fill the DJ up with water if that might make a difference.

Dave
 
Hi I'm a bit of a novice too, I have a DJ of apple and pear on the go was interested in the replies to this. I didn't measure the SG at the start either. It's been in the DJ for about 4 weeks (racked once as there were loads of lees) and I just checked on it - it's cleared!

Not sure what to do next (will be posting my questions on a seperate thread)

Just wondered if you had measured the SG and tasted the other DJ?

Nicola
 
Hi

No i haven't checked the other one yet as its still fermenting nicely so thought i would wait.

Dave
 

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