i'm confused.com!!

[mozzy]

Helloo...

Ok a family member bought me a wine kit (hedgerow one) at the weekend, read the instructions and decided to get some pears for it... then i read in the instructions again and it said that campden tablets is not needed for the kit/recipies (although it has all the yeast etc inside the box that is needed) ... what is the campden tablets for??

Also...

what is racking?

and...

whats the best ways to 'degass. ???


Many thanks x

 

[battwave]

Campden at the start is to kill wild yeasts on fruit (so not necessary for a kit), and at the end to stop fermentation.

Racking is syphoning off into a secondary demijohn (possibly with finings) to continue the clearing process.

De-gassing is maybe by some form of agitation, but probably best done before racking and fining.

 

[mozzy]

Okayyyy...

do you put the finings in before you rack into another bucket and is that when you leave the sedement in the original bucket?

Thanks x

 

[mozzy]

oh and as im using pears is it better to use my 5 litre bucket 1st then when i take out fruit then move it to the DJ? x

 

[Kirk]

Throw the finings in when you do the last racking.
The purpose is to clarify the wine and I find that if added before the last racking then they don't get the chance to do their thing fully.

Yes, start the lot off in a bucket with the pears, ferment in the bucket for 5-7 days, stir daily, the best way to get rid of the pear pulp at the end is simply to use a plastic jug and pour through a sieve. Throw the pulp in the sieve away. Put the liquid bit in a DJ, stick an airlock on.

Let it bubble away and after a couple of weeks syphon off the top liquid bit, it should have a definite layer of sediment at the base. To syphon off you really need a sceond DJ to syphon into. Don't panic about getting a little of the stuff at the bottom in, it will settle again, just don't gets a lot.

Let this ferment until it stops. Rack (syphon) again but take care to get no sediment in this time. Add the campden tablet(s) now to kill any residual yeast. Actually thought that campden may not fully kill yeast - I use meta-bisulphate.

I would add the finings at this racking and allow the wine to stand and clear in the DJ. When clear syphon into bottles, cork and allow to mature. Guess that maturing may be short for this.

 

[mozzy]

do i put the stabiliser in BEFORE racking from the bucket with sediment in to another.. OR after i've racked it from the sediment one?? :hmm:

 

[Moley]

Stabiliser goes in AFTER racking, which would normally be 1-2 weeks after you are absolutely certain that fermentation has finished. Don't rush things, give it time for a decent sediment to settle, otherwise you lose too much in volume.

 

[mozzy]

ahhh Thanks... 1 more thing, does agitate mean shake the bottle?? x

 

[HLA91]

Yes, agitate means to disturb, to de-gass wash your hand then place it over the mouth of the DJ after you have just racked your wine off of the sediment, then shake, stand upright move your hand and the fizz should release, repeat a few times.

Let this ferment until it stops. Rack (syphon) again but take care to get no sediment in this time. Add the campden tablet(s) now to kill any residual yeast. Actually thought that campden may not fully kill yeast - I use meta-bisulphate.

You crush one campden into the receiving jar to negate any aeration that may occur when transferring & also to guard against infection so its a 2 birds one stone. Campdens stun yeast and to stabilise your wine so you can backsweeten safely its 1 crushed campden with 1/2 teaspoon of pottasium sorbate. So if you are racking your wine, use 1 campden and 1/2 teaspoon of potsorb, not 1 campden + another campden and pot sorb so in effect you would be adding 2 campdens :thumb:

 

[Cussword]

Also, as you are adding pears to your kit, I would use Campden Tablets :thumb: