A productive evening in the Molehole

[Moley]

Well it's that time of year and there has been loads of free fruit. I've already got on-the-go 2 gallons of Rosehip, 3 gallons of Blackberry with apple juice, 3 gallons of Blackberry & Elderberry, 4 gallons of Plum and 5 gallons of Damson, but I've got plenty more in the freezer and Mrs. Mole wants the space back, so tonight I've had a bit of a rummage around and come out with 6lbs 6oz of Blackberries, 3lbs 4oz of Elderberries. 2lbs 2oz of red Plums, 2lbs 10oz of Blackcurrants and a pound of red Gooseberries for a bit of acid.

My sugar & juice stash had aleady built up nicely but I paid Morrison's a visit earlier this evening. Although I'm currently boycotting them because their 86p a litre, 3 for £2 multibuy saving now specifically excludes red and white grape juices (but that offer still applies at Tesco), I wanted a litre of Pineapple juice and no-one else seemed to have any in stock. However, Morrison's did have 5 litre plastic demijohns on offer, £1.32 each, buy one get one free, and they each come with 5 litres of free mineral water. I do NOT buy mineral water, what sort of a con is that? Ever noticed what Evian spells backwards?

All that red fruit went in a bucket with 3kg of sugar (for starters) and 15L of boiled mineral water. I haven't decided whether that's going to make 4 or 5 gallons.

Of course, that left me with 3 empty PETs, so I boiled another 3kg of sugar in some of the 4th, split the rest equally between the empties, added my juices and shared out the sugar syrup

So that's 3 more Wurzels and a ‘Tropical Wurzel’ as an experiment, with Pineapple instead of Orange.

That photo was taken at least 3 hours ago, so they are already starting to erupt.

There's probably still another 30lbs of fruit or more in the freezer, but I'm not sure where I'd put any more fermenters at the moment.

 

[Amadeus]

nice one :thumb:

That pet on the far left. Is that the pineapple one? Looks active!

 

[Moley]

Yes, that's the odd one out. Froth was just from shaking them up.

By this morning they were all very active, already in excess of one Pop Per Second, although those traps give nice little Pops and not big Bloops. They sound rather wonderful.

 

[paulbrrtt]

I take it u just drill a hole in the cap ? great pics by the way. can I ask would it matter much if you have a big gap between the liquid and the cap, I want to double up my liquid cos I cocked it up and put it in 3.5 gallon water butt thing but worried about how much space there will be left

 

[Moley]

Yes Paul, simply drill a hole slightly smaller than you think you need, then the flexibility of the plastic forms a good gas-tight seal.

As for head space, whether it's in a jar, bottle or bucket, it doesn't really matter too much during the initial and most vigorous stages of fermentation as your must is protected by a head of carbon dioxide. As things quieten down it must be under airlock (to avoid bugs), and then topped up or moved to a more appropriately sized container (to avoid oxidation).

 

[paulbrrtt]

Cheers Moley will get on with it tonight, Just to check it before I add yeast what sort of reading should I be looking at 1095 ish? this is going to be a bit of an experiment for me.

 

[Moley]

1.090 give or take 10 seems about right, I've tried a range from a ‘Wurzel Lite’ at 1.070 up to a ‘Super Wurzel’ at 1.115 and they've all been good.

 

[rickthebrew]

Looking good moley!!!

i`ve still not got around to getting my elderberry wine on!! But managed to get 3 gallons of wurzel orange and 3 gallons of dried apricot and raisin on !!!

 

[paulbrrtt]

think I have ballsed it up by adding more an more, but its ended up at 1080 do fingers xd. My concearn is the yeast (wilkos wine yeast) I only had one sachet and dont think its enough

 

[tubby_shaw]

[quote="paulbrrtt] My concearn is the yeast (wilkos wine yeast) I only had one sachet and dont think its enough[/quote]
Don't worry it'll be enough yeast :thumb:
You think rabbits like reproducing

 

[Amadeus]

Think you'll be ok, just may take an extra day or two.

Yeast breed after all!

[edit]
Beaten to it by Tubby Shaw

 

[Moley]

[tantrum] I WANT SOME OF THOSE BIG WATER COOLER BOTTLES LIKE WOT PAULBRRTT'S GOT!
(Wail, stamp, stamp!) [/tantrum]

Drew a blank when I tried our local Freecycle, have been offered a few through another forum, but they are in Derby and I'm not.

Ah well, I will keep searching.

 

[paulbrrtt]

pic them up anywhere, someone you know works in an office or sports hall, they even in the works canteen on building sites now. If you draw a blank find out how much postage is and I,ll send you two

 

[paulbrrtt]

shes going like a turbo charged v8 now

 

[paulbrrtt]

OK so I took a reading of this today as its virtually stopped, and it was 990, so Ive racked it into another water bottle added a crushed campden tablet and stabiliser. I had a quick taste of the sample and I def need to sweeten it , question is the amount. I was thinking somewhere along the lines of half a litre of white grape? maybe more

 

[Moley]

Half a litre sounds about right for medium-dry, taste again (lousy job but someone's got to do it) then add more as required.


BTW: My mixed red fruit has been strained off the pulp, tasted absolutely gorgeous, topped up with sugar syrup to a net 1.103 and is happily bubbling away in one of my own (free) large fermenters.

The Wurzels are down to 1.030

 

[paulbrrtt]

Cheers Moley, out of curiosity if I used red grape instead of white would there be much difference? Im just curious thats all, would it turn it into a rose perhaps and isnt red sweeter?

 

[Moley]

Well there's an interesting little experiment for you, try a gallon of each, side by side, identical ingredients except for the juices, and report back to the forum in a couple of months.


IMHO, when I've used red in other recipes it has seemed a little ‘thin’ or lacking in body (vinosity).