Ribena wines

[Chris in Lancs]

I know all I have contributed to this forum is questions but there are so many for a beginner so I'll apologise again.

I started a strawberry Ribena wine four days ago (using the recipe posted on the wine recipes forum) but to date it hasn't done a thing which I am slightly confused about.

Is it normal for wines to take a few days to get going?

I would have thought with all the sugar in those things the yeast would get to work pretty quickly.

If it makes any difference I added the yeast and yeast nutrient when the mixture was at 27 degrees. Is that too hot for yeast and is it possible I've killed the lovely little blighters? :wha:

It smells absolutely lovely though!

Thanks
Chris

 

[Moley]

It's quite normal for Ribena and other cordial wines to take a while to get going because the manufacturers put metabisulphite and sorbate in them to prevent fermentation. Is it showing any signs of life at all? Look around the shoulder of your jar for tiny bubbles. If not, pitch some more yeast and give it a bloody good shaking.

27°C won't have killed your yeasties.

 

[Chris in Lancs]

Thanks Moley.

No signs of anything happening around the neck of the jar (although it was quite hard to see in a brown demijohn!).

Gave it a damn good mix tonight to see if that starts it going. I didn't mix the yeast in after watching a youtube vid that said don't mix yeast in let it sit on top and it will mix itself in though.

That could be where the problem has occurred. Although I couldn't see anything on top in the mixture tonight before giving it a shake. Will just have to wait and see I suppose.

On a brighter note, bottled 30 bottles of red tonight from a kit. Also my strawberry cider is ready for drinking and tastes delicious!

Got a pear one ready for the off but may buy a few pear concentrates to boost the flavour as the strawberry one is a bit synthetic.

Happy brewing everyone! :drunk:

 

[Dec]

did you boil it for 20 mins?

 

[Chealehay]

I was thinking of starting a ribina wine myself.
I have read several people that don't think that boiling actually makes much difference, and even after boiling the additives still slow the start down.
So why not start the brew off without the ribena, let the first stage of heavy bubbling out of the way so that there is plenty of yeasties in there and then top up with the ribena?
Sorry if this is another newbie question and there is a good reason why not, but just something I've been wondering about.

 

[Moley]

So why not start the brew off without the ribena, let the first stage of heavy bubbling out of the way so that there is plenty of yeasties in there and then top up with the ribena?
Sorry if this is another newbie question and there is a good reason why not, but just something I've been wondering about.

:clap: :clap: :thumb:

Funnily enough, I've got one on-the-go at the moment, started with white grape juice and apple juice, then added some Ribena when it was down to about 1.030 and again at 1.020

Late additions will retain far more of the fruit flavour so you may need to watch the quantities, I've only added 2 x 250ml to a 14.5 litre base of 4 WGJ + 3 AJ but the yeasties didn't bat an eyelid and carried on with their task.

 

[Dec]

thats a really good idea! wish id thought of that, mine has been fermenting for nearly 2 weeks now...

 

[Chealehay]

Late additions will retain far more of the fruit flavour so you may need to watch the quantities, I've only added 2 x 250ml to a 14.5 litre base of 4 WGJ + 3 AJ but the yeasties didn't bat an eyelid and carried on with their task.

Well I got 6 bottles of the strawberry for a 6 gal batch, guess I can let the kids have some then.

 

[Chris in Lancs]

Ok.

After posting my initial question I went and gave the DJ and damn good shake for about 30 seconds.

The buggers been bubbling away for the last few days quite happily now!

Set another one off today (Blackberry Ribena with apple and elderflower juice) and again that's doing nothing. Will let everyone know how it's going in a few days.

To answer another question, I have boiled both mixtures of the Ribena and sugar for 15-20 mins but the only scum on top of the mixture appears within the first few minutes of hitting boiling point. After that there is none.

On an even brighter note the Strawberry Ribena on the go had an initial ABV of 15%. The Blackberry Ribena one I put on today came out at about 16.8%!!!!

That was with using 800g of sugar instead of 750g's. :drunk: