Introduction / First brew (WOW) and some questions

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gicarey

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Hi Folks,

New to the forums, been 'stalking' for a little while now, the goal being to absorb the relevant knowledge to have a bash at a little home-brewing.

Having managed to acquire 4 DJs (2 clear, 2 brown) and a 5 gallon fermentation bucket (with lid & tap - the tap appears to have a small leak (where it passes through the bucket) which i'll need to attend to before I can use that!), and purchased some other bits & bobs (hydrogemeter & beaker, syphon, consumables) from Wilco, all I needed was a little bit of time to get in the kitchen and have a go.

I'm well versed with yeast as an ingredient in baking (my sourdough starter has been living in the fridge for the best past of 6 years now), but not for alcohol production, and I think I have the science/book-work side of things down, but the 'art' side of things remains entirely new to me.


My first attempt at brewing is a variation on a WOW, which I'll come to momentarily.


My broader goal is, for the most part, country wines, and ciders, using the bounty which we're fortunate enough to have out in the garden (pears galore, apples, brambles, damsons, plums, elderberries/flowers, rhubarb, strawberries, beach leaves? mint?), we also have a very productive grapevine in the conservatory - I believe it's white (seeded) eating grapes, rather than wine grapes, so am not expecting any kind of 'epic' wine from them, and am currently thinking that using them alongside other fruits in country wines may well be the best way to go.

Ciders will likely come from the pear harvest later this year. I may also have a run at a ginger beer, as the misses is very keen on them.


To the WOW, then...


Not being able to locate any cartons of grape juice alone, I've opted for 2 x 1lite cartons of grape, apple and raspberry juice (40% WGJ, 10% RGJ, 35% Apple Juice, 15% Raspberry Puree).

Giving me 106g of sugar per carton, 212g total, I've added an additional 840g sugar (dissolved into ~500ml of boiling water, then cooled). I'm making this in a 4.5 litre DJ, thus - when topped up - should be around 235g of sugar per litre, roughly in-line with the basis WOW recipe.

My method was pretty standard: juice, syrup, tea (earl grey, as it was in the pot - very lah-de-dah!), yeast (wilco sachet, started off in a jug 30 mins earlier), nutrient (wilco), pectolase (wilco) all into the FV, given a jolly good shake up, topped up to bottom of shoulder, airlocked and then left to get on with it.

Fermentation started pretty quickly, with one bloop roughly every 3/4 seconds, rising to every 1 second after about 12 hours. 24 hours on (this morning), the pace was up slightly, to one every just-less-than a second.

It's remained pretty well behaved thus far, quickly forming a ~2cm layer of gunge on the surface, and fizzing away, but without any sign of climbing the inside of the DJ and heading for a mucky ejection. Of-course, this could all have changed by the time I get home from work today.

The DJ is stood on a tray in our utility room. Temp is, perhaps, a little on the low side (I'd guesstimate around 18oC ambient), so I expect it to run a little slowly compared to being sat in the lounge, but stable with little variation (which can't be said for much of the rest of the hosue).

I plan to let it ferment right out to dryness, stabilise, and then taste test before deciding whether or not to sweeten.

We'll see how things progress...


I have a few questions on the 'art' side of things, however:

* I didn't add any gliceryn (didn't have any), but figure I can add this post fermentation? and can then taste test to see the difference it makes? Reasonable?
* Acid - I ran with the assumption that the raspberry in the juice would have sufficient acidity for me not to need to add any. Reasonable? Or do you think it might have benefitted from some?
* Has anyone done the same/similar brew in the past? How did it turn out? What should I be expecting from a taste point of view? something akin to a rose? Should I expect the raspberry flavour to be prominent? or to have diminshed?

Thanks for reading, for your comments/answers to my questions. I'll follow up with posts detailing progress & what have you, I'm also keeping notes, pictures, etc in Evernote, and you ought to be able to see them, here: http://www.evernote.com/shard/s5/sh...7ce151f63ed3/8b1dbd9219c6f7c6541d8b133829d7b4

G.
 
Glycerine is supposed to give mouth feel, I have always used it so cannot comment on what you wine will be like without it, you could use this as an experiment and leave it out this time.
I stopped using citric acid many months ago and I didn't notice the difference.
I have not made wine from the juice you have used, it may lack a bit of body as you grape juice is not 100% juice, time will tell.
 
Thanks Chippy-Tea,

Any idea if there is a downside or difference in adding glycerine post-fermentation vs pre-? I'm assuming either it doesn't get touched by yeasties at all (in which case no difference, and potential benefit in adding later when you can test and see the difference made), or that it ferments down in part, but not in whole, in which case adding afterwards will result in a different outcome.

The juice is 100% juice, not a juice drink (never buy those). I should have the equivalent of 1 litre grape juice (800ml white, 200ml red), along with 700ml apple and 300ml raspberry making up my two litres.

Cheers!

Gavin.
 
I have always added it at the beginning, I guess adding it when you degas will get it mixed in well and as you say you can do a before and after test.
I missed the 20th of red grape juice.
 
So, 7 days in, and we're down to one 'bloop' every 20 seconds. I cleaned & sterilised the syphon, jar and hygrometer, and gave it a test, it was showing 0.990(!) - I assume temperate is on the low side, and device may not be perfectly calibrated, but I'm guessing we're 'nearly there' on the fermentation side of things.

One think I've noticed is my sediment looks very different from what's in the WOW video, I wondered if anyone 'in the know' could take a look at let me know if it's normal or not?

The Evernote link in my initial post carries a number of images all the way through, or, this one I think shows it the best:
2014-08-03%2023.16.14.jpg


Thanks,

Gavin.
 
I no longer use my hydrometer, when I don't see a bubble through the airlock for a couple of minutes I leave it another seven days before moving on to the next stage.
You are seeing less pulp than in the video because orange based wow always throws up a lot more than apple juice based ones.
 
Im going to ask what will probably be a total Noob Q.

Whats a WOW? Is it ones premier first ever brew (of whatever that may be) or does it refer to someting far more exciting, complicated and fun?

Is also asking this question frowned up on and will folk retort..."yep heres this weeks numpty!"

I will now cower in the corner........and wait
 
Im going to ask what will probably be a total Noob Q.

Whats a WOW? Is it ones premier first ever brew (of whatever that may be) or does it refer to someting far more exciting, complicated and fun?

Is also asking this question frowned up on and will folk retort..."yep heres this weeks numpty!"

I will now cower in the corner........and wait

As has been said wurzels orange wine is a easy and cheap to make wine, you do not have to make it from orange juice, i prefer apple and raspberry and other red juices along wih either red grape juice or white grape juice.

There is no such thing as a daft question and no one is frowned upon, we all have to start somewhere and don't know the basics, forums like this are great as you can always get help and time of the day.

If you like the sound of supermarket juice wines and want to see videos on how to make it and recipes have a look at this thread - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=39846


.
 
watched the lot. very interesting. im sure over the next few weeks i will be here a lot. Already im planning experiemntal batch 2 with more sugar and some citric acid as "additionals" to the first. See how that pans out.
any info on yeasts will be welcomed. Im to try both beer and cider types in the future. DJ1 - wine yeast used.
 
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