Wilko's strawberry country wine

[AdyDnt]

So today I've started my 2nd ever wine kit, again it's a strawberry kit like my first but I'm trying out the technique of controlling the temp in a bucket of water with an aquarium heater.

Fingers crossed :pray:

 

[bryanandjudie]

So today I've started my 2nd ever wine kit, again it's a strawberry kit like my first but I'm trying out the technique of controlling the temp in a bucket of water with an aquarium heater.

Fingers crossed :pray:

Why ? My wines all ferment perfectly well in the varying temperatures of the house. As long as it's not too hot or too cold it will be fine. The idea is to make wines cheap. No need to run up electricity bills.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I used the bucket and fish tank heater method when i first started and only had 1 DJ, i now put 3 on at a time and cannot use the water bath method, my kitchen doesn't get below 15c and i have never had a kit wine or WOW variant stop early, i was told in the forum when i first started that the longer fermentation (because of the lower temperature) actually benefits the wine .

 

[AdyDnt]

I have one dj in my room (as it's not my house) and one in the garage, hence using the heater while it's cold in there

 

[oldbloke]

Yep, a demi in the house doesn't really need anything, but the ones down in the garage would pretty much give up at this time of year without the waterbath

 

[AdyDnt]

Ok, yesterday I took hydro readings of my wines to see what stage they were at. This is the reading of the first brew.

Now the 2nd brew

Now as you can see the airlock on the 2nd brew is at an equal pressure

Now the 2nd brew in the plastic demijohn was done in a bucket of warm water controlled by a heater at a temp of 22 degrees, it stopped bubbling a few days ago while I was away and the airlock was showing no sign of fermentation, I decided to bring it into the house as I didn't believe it had fermented properly as it never produced a foam on top of the liquid.
I shook it up and left it in the room with my first brew and it did start bubbling again so I left it to see what happened, hoping it may still brew out correctly. We'll it stopped bubbling again so hence the hydro tests, and seeing as the readings were about the same I tasted it with my dad (for a second opinion). To my surprise it weren't nasty to the taste.

Hence I have added the colouring from the kit and now tonight I have just added the stabiliser and finnings, tomorrow I will be putting it in the garage to clear. Now the colour difference of the 2 dj's still makes me think something has gone wrong but time shall tell.

Thought I would share this with you to see what other, more experienced ppl than me think

 

[Chippy_Tea]

The only way to tell if they are finished iz to take a hydrometer reading.