It's been a little over three years since I made the original post and the recipe has been revised slightly in that time so here is the latest version. This recipe is pretty stable now and we have used it to produce more than 200 gallons of wine...
For 5 Gallons (UK Imp.).
Expected Alcohol...
I use Luc's method to prep the raisins,
http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2007/11/rozijnen-raisins.html
Using raisins will increase the sugar content of your must so you will need to compensate for their addition by reducing the amount of sugar you use. I have seen the conversion rate on this...
The tube I have is an old Philips one given to us a while ago. Here is the link to the Dimplex version. I can't seem to find any US sites selling them as I keep being redirected to UK sites. Maybe you'll have more luck. The wall mountings can be used as feet for a freestanding tube and they...
I think the greenhouse heater uses more power than a brew belt. The tube is 36" long and power consumption is given as 60w per foot. However, I believe this is it's maximum consumption and so once the tube is warmed up the power requirement drops. How far though I don't know. Our dining room has...
We too have problems with maintaining a high enough temperature to ferment our wine. In the end we put a tubular greenhouse heater a couple of inches behind our carboys (we have 20 gallons on the go at a time) and it worked like a charm. Brew belts would cost around £20 each here in the UK but...
Hi everyone, Best Wishes to everyone on the forum for a Happy 2010.
The recent threads on Sanitizing and Cleaning have made me focus on the last area of our wine making that I still feel needs improving. At present we use a bleach based cleaner (VWP). As environmental impact is one of the...
you start eyeing up the empties at a diner party, wondering if the host would let you have them if you asked nicely (and if your misses would forgive you if you did).
Hi Sheephead,
I took a look at the recipe you used and as far as I can see there doesn't seem to be any glaring errors. It seems a bit heavy on the berries but I know a lot of people use a lot more than I do so maybe I go a bit light?!?
In my experience elderberry wine changes taste...
Water & Sugar - Modification.
I've found that the amount of sugar required to get the Starting SG is often just under 7Kg, I also use 23 litres of water as when making a 10 Gallon Batch the recipe yields enough to fill a 1 Gallon Demijohn for top ups.
These amendments are only slight but I...
Just multiply the dry weight in the recipe by 4 to find out how many fresh berries to use instead (http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2613).
Fresh berries need to be prepared differently too, if I remember correctly Luc's recipe deals with prepping. Failing that searching the...
Hi Sheephead,
I read your thread with interest and a couple of points occurred to me.
Firstly, leaving your elderberries in the primary for three weeks will probably leave you with a very high tannin level. Secondly, Given that you said you tasted the wine and it tasted 'sweet' probably...
Being a novice myself I may be way off but I was under the impression that wine must in the primary requires that it be regularly aerated. If the ingredients were added to the bucket and the lid and airlock added but oxygen was not regularly introduced would this not have had a detrimental...