OK, just thought I'd scribble a few lines to say how my various Ribena wines have been going on over the Autumn and Winter.
I've now tried three variations on a theme and, so far, the best has been :
12 litres of Aldi Grape Juice (white and red)
2 x litre bottles of Asda 'Hi Juice' Blackcurrent
1 Lemon
2 kg Sugar
Strong Tea (about 1/2 litre)
Youngs Champagne Yeast
Topped up to 5 gallons after fermentation (just with water) and Campden tabs / potassium sorbate added.
Cleared with Youngs Wine Finings and 20ml of glycerine added.
SG 1102 - FG 994 = 14.3%
This stuff is clear as anything in no time at all and takes about a 3 weeks from start to bottling. Even at 994, it produces a medium, light tasting wine that's well drinkable and is as good as any £5 a bottle stuff (and better than many, at least to my pallette)....
I've deviated a bit on my latest batch, as I've used 2 x litre bottles of Strawberry Ribena instead of the hi juice stuff, brown sugar instead of white (2kg still) and I've thrown in 5 chopped up bananas, (as recommended by a friend to add smoothness to the wine? I've no idea, but I'm one for trying stuff).
It got started 3 days ago at 1104, using Youngs 'Hi Alcohol' yeast (the only one I had in the cupboard) and is bubbling along happily in the airing cupboard.
All in all, the 'Grape Juice and Ribena' variations cost between £15 - £20 for each 5 gallon batch (that's for EVERYTHING) - so at around 50-60p a bottle for a wine that's ready in a month at the outside, I reckon it's good value and worth a bash.....
Anyway - just thought I'd share......
:
I've now tried three variations on a theme and, so far, the best has been :
12 litres of Aldi Grape Juice (white and red)
2 x litre bottles of Asda 'Hi Juice' Blackcurrent
1 Lemon
2 kg Sugar
Strong Tea (about 1/2 litre)
Youngs Champagne Yeast
Topped up to 5 gallons after fermentation (just with water) and Campden tabs / potassium sorbate added.
Cleared with Youngs Wine Finings and 20ml of glycerine added.
SG 1102 - FG 994 = 14.3%
This stuff is clear as anything in no time at all and takes about a 3 weeks from start to bottling. Even at 994, it produces a medium, light tasting wine that's well drinkable and is as good as any £5 a bottle stuff (and better than many, at least to my pallette)....
I've deviated a bit on my latest batch, as I've used 2 x litre bottles of Strawberry Ribena instead of the hi juice stuff, brown sugar instead of white (2kg still) and I've thrown in 5 chopped up bananas, (as recommended by a friend to add smoothness to the wine? I've no idea, but I'm one for trying stuff).
It got started 3 days ago at 1104, using Youngs 'Hi Alcohol' yeast (the only one I had in the cupboard) and is bubbling along happily in the airing cupboard.
All in all, the 'Grape Juice and Ribena' variations cost between £15 - £20 for each 5 gallon batch (that's for EVERYTHING) - so at around 50-60p a bottle for a wine that's ready in a month at the outside, I reckon it's good value and worth a bash.....
Anyway - just thought I'd share......
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