Marks First Brew Day

[mark young]

Thanks again for the warm welcome and advice I have received on this forum. Last weekend Julia and I took the plunge and are going head to head with our own homebrew wine. Mine being ‘The distressed Damson’ and Julia’s being more sensibly named..
I am sure you guys haven’t seen enough photos of demi johns so here’s another.



Mine used 4lbs of damsons squished around in a bucket for several days to extract the juice.
The 3.5lbs of Blackberries were juiced in the Kitchen in about 15 min’s (damn modern technology)
Both are made to 14% potential at 20 degrees (or so the Hydro and thermo thinks) The yeast used however has a ceiling of 13.5% which would be nice.
Lots of sediment already, I probably didn’t strain it properly. It’s a bubble a second still so going well in that respect.
Both got Pectolase but neither has added Tannin. Do you think I should add black tea?
I also have an orange cinnamon mead on the go and intend to try the turbo cider I read about on here ready for next summer.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I cannot answer the tannin question but if i were you i would stand both on a tray or in something as you have filled them quite full and i will be surprised if they don't blow through the airlock, better to be safe than sorry.
The airlocks are missing their dust caps, if you don't have them a 2 litre pop bottle top will do as a substitute.

 

[Moley]

Both got Pectolase but neither has added Tannin. Do you think I should add black tea?

No, there's enough on the fruit skins.

We may have seen hundreds of photos of demijohns, but I can't recall any with such fancy labels. :clap:

So how did you juice the blackberries? Steamer?

 

[mark young]

They are dust caps! I thought they were just packaging and threw them out... I have spares though and can improvise so will sort that out.

The Blackberries got squashed and then ran through a food processor spinning attachment with a filter that extracts juice from just about anything.

 

[Boatbrewer]

They both look great!

Get some more on the go as soon as you can. Those two wont be ready for another 18 months and you might get thirsty during the wait.

 

[mark young]

I couldn’t agree more – already looking forward to a sip when it’s time to rack.
I managed to muddle together 3 more brews this weekend as I was officially ‘rained in’
1 Gallon freshly squeezed Worcester juice which already has the potential for close to 8% so no added sugar; I just added pectolase, black tea and cider yeast + nutrients. (Has gone a butterscotch colour but bubbling away like mad)
1 Gallon Red - 1 Litre 100% pomegranate, 1 Litre 100% red grape with about 800g Demerara sugar citric acid, pectolase and red wine yeast + nutrients. Sugar went to 15% but the yeast has a ceiling of 13.5% so that should be sweet and lovely. (Combination seems good in my mind anyway)
1 Gallon – This one may be a mistake. I had left over 1 litre red grape juice and 1 litre of orange juice so that went in an oddly purple looking drink with young’s high alcohol yeast + nutrients and white sugar to 13.5% - looks awful like its separated in lumps. Very slowly fermenting in comparison to the others