Okay, so I often make my own wine, and I'm not overly concerned about the taste. It's just something to get me plastered cheaply.
Anyway, my last batch, I decided to try making sparkling wine. I won't go into too much detail cus I started a thread detailing what went wrong at the time. I'll try to post a link to it.
Here:
Anyway, I'm about to start another batch of elderflower wine. The recipe I used is in the other thread, but if I remember rightly, other than the elderflowers (I'm using dried) To make 23 liters, it was 5.5kg of sugar, 1kg of sultanas, 75g of Citric acid, and It THINK 5 level teaspoons of tannin.
Wait. No, it was black tea. The 5 teaspoon is just what it said on the container the tannin was in.
Anyway, last time, before bottling, I mixed up the extra yeast and sugar. I Googled the amounts at the time, but don't remember them, left them for a day and just added them to the wine before bottling, but the yeast all just fell to the bottom right away and there is no sparkle, so I assume It died.
So, I guess my starting wine was too strong. So, this time, I want to get it right, but I have some questions:
Is there a way I can calculate the right amount of sugar for 23 liters before I even start, to have the fermentation finish at around 12% abv? I'd assume so. And I'd assume it shouldn't be too hard as I doubt the dried elderflowers are contributing much sugar and surely the sultanas are a known quantity. I normally don't worry about anything and just ferment until it's as alcoholic as possible, so this is new to me.
I have the right bottles and stoppers and cages and I've researched the whole degorging thing, or whatever it's called and it doesn't sound too hard. But, not knowing why my yeast died last time, there's obviously stuff I need to know but don't.
Does the yeast I add before bottling need to be prepared for what's to come in a weaker solution for a while? Some people are saying just dump sugar and yeast into each bottle, but that sounds like a lot of weighing. Can't I just mix up the right amount and add it BEFORE I siphon into bottles? (I guess I'd have to give it a good stir before filling each bottle)
I know I used much less tannin than the recipe called for last time, and about 50% more citric acid, because, having tasted the two individually, I know which I'd rather had more influence on the taste. Could it be the extra acid killed the yeast?
Basically I just need to know how to make sure my starting wine doesn't kill the yeast. I'll be using Lalvin EC-1118 to make the wine, probably. And I guess I'll just use the same stuff before bottling unless there's a reason not to. It's just what I happen to have handy
Anyway, my last batch, I decided to try making sparkling wine. I won't go into too much detail cus I started a thread detailing what went wrong at the time. I'll try to post a link to it.
Here:
Code:
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f5/what-am-i-doing-wrong-here-47536/index2.html#post541839
Anyway, I'm about to start another batch of elderflower wine. The recipe I used is in the other thread, but if I remember rightly, other than the elderflowers (I'm using dried) To make 23 liters, it was 5.5kg of sugar, 1kg of sultanas, 75g of Citric acid, and It THINK 5 level teaspoons of tannin.
Wait. No, it was black tea. The 5 teaspoon is just what it said on the container the tannin was in.
Anyway, last time, before bottling, I mixed up the extra yeast and sugar. I Googled the amounts at the time, but don't remember them, left them for a day and just added them to the wine before bottling, but the yeast all just fell to the bottom right away and there is no sparkle, so I assume It died.
So, I guess my starting wine was too strong. So, this time, I want to get it right, but I have some questions:
Is there a way I can calculate the right amount of sugar for 23 liters before I even start, to have the fermentation finish at around 12% abv? I'd assume so. And I'd assume it shouldn't be too hard as I doubt the dried elderflowers are contributing much sugar and surely the sultanas are a known quantity. I normally don't worry about anything and just ferment until it's as alcoholic as possible, so this is new to me.
I have the right bottles and stoppers and cages and I've researched the whole degorging thing, or whatever it's called and it doesn't sound too hard. But, not knowing why my yeast died last time, there's obviously stuff I need to know but don't.
Does the yeast I add before bottling need to be prepared for what's to come in a weaker solution for a while? Some people are saying just dump sugar and yeast into each bottle, but that sounds like a lot of weighing. Can't I just mix up the right amount and add it BEFORE I siphon into bottles? (I guess I'd have to give it a good stir before filling each bottle)
I know I used much less tannin than the recipe called for last time, and about 50% more citric acid, because, having tasted the two individually, I know which I'd rather had more influence on the taste. Could it be the extra acid killed the yeast?
Basically I just need to know how to make sure my starting wine doesn't kill the yeast. I'll be using Lalvin EC-1118 to make the wine, probably. And I guess I'll just use the same stuff before bottling unless there's a reason not to. It's just what I happen to have handy