Damson wine

Hi,
There are about six damson trees in the park opposite where I live so I thought I will have a go at making some wine.
So I wondered if anyone could recommend a good recipe and a book on the subject etc.
Also where do I get hold of some demijohns?,Household/hardware store,Boots etc,I cant find anything apart from online and do they have to be glass or can I use plastic?
I have never made wine or any home brew before so any advice will be gratefully received.
Thanks.

Still a new user so cant post links just amazon search Chapelwood Storage Container.

Demijohns are great pieces for test batches, but generally you want bigger volume simply because many problems go away with greater volume (demijohns are buggers to clean inside of). Glass is an excellent material, as are plastics, HOWEVER not all plastics are created equally, some leech carcinogens and unwanted chemicals into you brew on account of alcohol being a solvent and these containers not being chemically stable to it.

However, those buckets are 25litre and are exactly the same as most fermentation buckets with the exception of a bung hole in the top (if you own a drill, or know how to make a hole in a lid this is not a problem, hell, just slight resourcefullness is good here) and are a fraction of the price of a fermentation vessel of the same capacity. You can get smaller buckets, if so make sure they are for FOOD.

There is no such thing as too much sterilisation in brewing, I've had a batch of pilsner go creamy and slightly funny tasting due to bacteria (slightly improved the batch actually, but..) and have heard horror stories regarding infected brews.

When you make a new batch it will look foul in the first few days, leave it the hell alone, dont shake it, stir it, fiddle with it, either it is fine, or the stink would fill the room and nauseate everyone within.

Dont be afraid to try things out, anything with sugar will ferment and you get some cracking batches.
Buy a small notebook and write down experimental recipes, if it works you can go back and make some more.

Wilkinsons sell a smallish range of brew gear, at unforgivably high prices usually.

Hi there and welcome to the forum,
There is a huge amount of information available on the forum, its just a case of searching to find it, if you go to the top left hand corner and click on search then enter Damsons or Damson Wine it will give you a list of threads on the topic.

Good luck and whatever else you do have patience with your brewing and have some fun with it, its a great hobby.

thingamajig said:

Also where do I get hold of some demijohns?,Household/hardware store,Boots etc,I cant find anything apart from online and do they have to be glass or can I use plastic?
I have never made wine or any home brew before so any advice will be gratefully received.
Thanks.

Click to expand...

This is a great thread for newcomers and answers a lot of the questoions we all ask when we start out - viewtopic.php?t=10179

You can use plastic 5 litre water bottles instead of glass DJ'S.

If you drill a 28mm hole in the top as standard bung and airlock will fit.

You can also drill a 12.5 mm hole and fit a grommet like the one here - http://www.brew2bottle.co.uk/airlock-gr ... tAodNDsANA

Or drill a 9 mm hole into the lid and the airlock will be a fairly tight fit (according to threads on the forum)

I have only used the 28mm method so cannot vouch for the others.



"If using a water bottle, just drill a 9mm hole (or thereabouts) through the cap and into a block of wood. If you’ve got a neat way of cutting a big hole for a bung, so much the better" 28mm

Thanks for the reply's guys,there's obviously a lot more to it than I thought,I have a lot of reading up to do but I am going to enjoy my new hobby( If things go well ).The info you've given me so far is fascinating. :thumb:
The Damsons are almost ripe so I will have to get a move on and will get myself down to Wilkinsons tomorrow.
The hedgerows are in plentiful supply of free fruit at this time of year so I'm looking forward to some different concoctions.
Should be fun.

When you have read the WOW guide have a read of this WOW variant and juice wine thread, its full of recipes posted, tried and tested by the forum members (using the basic WOW guide) it might give you some ideas for when the hedgerows are not as full of fruit as they are now.

viewtopic.php?f=41&t=39846

I was thinking of ordering two 25lt plastic fermentation bucket/tank with lid and taps
and starting the first week fermentation in one then transfering the brew into the second with the fermentation lock and then transfering it back into the (now clean) original to clear etc.
I thought it would save on Djs and have heard the bigger the batch the more chance of success.
Can I do it like this,is this possible?
Also do they have to be filled or can they be say two thirds full?
Thanks