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[TheYoungCrafter]

Im a beginner, just wanted to hear any feedback from the veterans out there about my first wine, I chose Apple concentrate, put 16oz in my half gallon glass cardboy, added water to fill a little over half, added a cup of sugar then put my wine yeast in some warm water then after sitting for a little I added it in, now my fermentation lock is on it and she's a fermenting. Today (18hoursin) I noticed a steady amount of bubbles and it smells faintly of alcohol, what do talk think??

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi TheYoungCrafter, I am thinking that your reconstituted apple juice is fermenting... but you really want to make wine knowing how the wine is likely to taste and what the likely alcohol by volume (ABV) is going to be at the end but from your brief account it isn't perfectly clear that you have that information...I'm thinking...

 

[TheYoungCrafter]

Bernard Smith, yes I know!! This was really just an experiment to get a little grip on basic fermentation, but being a veteran can you recommend some basic equipment I should get and maybe some easy beginners recipes, anything will be greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

[RegarRenill]

I recommend getting 2 hydrometers. They can be a bit fragile, so having a backup is nice. A nice selection of chemicals like kmeta (powder instead of campden tabs), sorbate, acid blend, and tannin isn't a bad idea. They do lose potency over time, so don't buy the huge bulk amounts (speaking from experience on that, lol). And lastly, carboys. You can never have enough carboys, lol.


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[TheYoungCrafter]

Awesome! I will, now I've gotten a bit familiar with getting fermentation going, what's my next move? Do I leave it in primary ferm station for 5 weeks, or after a week or so do I go out of primary fermentation and put it in another cardboy, what should my next step be?

 

[BernardSmith]

I would use the hydrometer to measure the specific gravity. When it drops to about 1.005 then you want to siphon it into a second container - one that you can seal with a rubber or silicone bung that has been drilled to house a simple airlock (a plastic S shaped tube that you half fill with water. The water prevents air from getting into the container but will allow the CO2 (carbon dioxide gas produced by the yeast) to escape. You should fill the container with cider to within an inch or so of the very top of the mouth of the vessel - so that there is very little "head room" (or space above the liquid). This inhibits the cider (or wine) from being oxidized (the same chemical reaction that water has on iron in the presence of air - a version of "rust"). You should age the cider at least a month. Then you can bottle it.
You may want to taste the cider before bottling to see if it is too dry (not sweet) or not sufficiently tart enough.
If the cider is too dry for your taste, then you need to stabilize it - add k-meta and k-sorbate (see directions) and then you can add sugar (or more concentrated apple juice, or honey or maple syrup) to taste. If you stabilize the cider before adding sugar any remaining yeast will be inhibited from fermenting that sugar and so the sugar will not be converted to alcohol and CO2 but remain as a sweetener.
If the cider tastes too bland (not acidic enough) you might try adding lemon juice or acid blend (available from your local home brew store (LHBS)). The cider may also be improved by adding tannins. Again this can be bought in powder form from your LHBS. Some people add oak chips (your LHBS has those too) and after a week or two those will also impart sufficient tannins. Keep the chips too long in your cider and the amount of tannins they add may make the taste undesirable.

For your next batch of cider you might look for commercially made apple juice and simply add (pitch) some wine yeast - but be sure the juice has no added preservatives. Or you might go to your local farmers market and look for locally produced apple juice (it will be unfiltered) and you can add yeast to that. Both of these will probably have enough natural sugar that will give you a potential final alcohol reading of about 5 or 6 percent ABV (alcohol by volume) or about the same as a beer. Adding 1 lb of sugar to a gallon of juice will increase the specific gravity by about .040 - doubling the total sugar content and so resulting in a cider that will be closer to a wine. The more alcohol in the final cider the longer you will want to age it.

 

[RegarRenill]

That's here he hydrometer comes in handy. Once it gets down around 1.000 or lower rack into a secondary to get it off of the gross lees (dead yeast and other gunk). This prevents them from imparting off-flavors. Put it under an airlock and let it sit. Every 60-90 days, or when you have 1/4" or more of lees, rerack it. I add kmeta (potassium metabisulfite) at the initial racking and every other racking after that. 1/4 tsp kmeta per 5 gallons or 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon. Pre-dissolve the powder or tablet in a bit of wine or water so it mixes uniformily. Continue to do so until clear. If dry, bottle after avast dosage of kmeta; if backsweetening, add the kmeta and potassium sorbate (1/2 tsp per gallon, again dissolve t in some wine with the kmeta, first). Give it a day or so then add your sugar/juice/honey to bring the SG back up to where you like it.



Edit: yeah, plus what he said, lol.
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[BernardSmith]

You might want to check out your local library (I know. I know. We live in the age of the internet ... but books are often more reliable than Youtube videos - especially those that have been published by publishers with fact checking depts and which use a version of peer reviewers (editors) to determine the reliability of the claims made by the authors). Your library made have some classic basic books on wine, cider, mead making.

 

[TheYoungCrafter]

Picture of what I have thus far

 

[TheYoungCrafter]

I appreciate all the feed back its been very helpful for a beginner, thank all of talk so much!

 

[TheYoungCrafter]

So I are you supposed to put water in a fermentation lock in order to keep oxygen out?

 

[BernardSmith]

So I are you supposed to put water in a fermentation lock in order to keep oxygen out?

You definitely want to put some liquid in the airlock. Without liquid the airlock does not do anything except allow air in and gas out. With liquid (it's similar to the S- bend under your sink or in your water closet - it traps gasses moving in one direction - the S-bend traps sewer gas, the airlock blocks air).

Water works fine, but some folk use water mixed with K-meta for "added" security and others use vodka (even more security) but that sounds to me like the British folk saying of "belt and braces" (belt and suspenders) ... You need to have some real anxiety problems if you go to the trouble of making sure that your pants won't fall down by wearing both a belt and suspenders - Same with this airlock: water prevents air getting in.

 

[TheYoungCrafter]

I have water in it now is it too late?

 

[RegarRenill]

Water is fine. I use the really really cheap vodka, not as much for the sterility as for the fact that it evaporates more slowly than water, which means I don't have to be as paranoid about it running dry on batches bulk aging, lol. But as long your goin to be monitoring it every few days/weeks, just water should be fine. I'd pick up an extra (or 2) airlock so you can have one ready in case you need to clean the current one.


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[BaM]

I'm new too, and I'll second getting some books! Most I've seen cover the science of the process in a way that is pretty understandable and have recipes. You still need to know what to watch and how to react. Nothing like a reference book! I was in college when you could look anything up on the internet but the professors didn't know yet! Heck, my mother was teaching computer programming before Windows came out (and I mean 3.1) so you can imagine I was ahead of the curve! spend $30 and get a couple books, they will be with you for a long tome and are a nice thing to pass on when you have then memorized.

 

[sour_grapes]

spend $30 and get a couple books, they will be with you for a long tome and are a nice thing to pass on when you have then memorized.

Interesting slip! I like it!

 

[BaM]

Ha! That's what I get for typing on my phone! Damn auto correct!