First Wine making, done first racking... questions!

[dillweed4]

Hi,

I have recently been attempting my first batch of wine, which is elderberry. I must have got about 2.3 - 2.6lb of only the nicest looking freshest, biggest berries. I put them in a clean gallon (4.5ltr) metal cooking pan and crushed them with my hands to release the juice.I added about 300g of raisins and a med-sized lemon (quartered), then poured on eight pints of tap water and brought to the boil.

Once boiling, I turned off the heat and strained into a new identical gallon pan. I then mixed in 1.35kg of sugar and left to cool down. Once cool, I added a sachet of Gervin No 2 yeast along with 2 teaspoons(tsp) of tronozymol and youngs yeast nutrient and also 1 campden tablet, crushed and dissolved in a little warm water. I left this brew in a big metal pan covered with foil, stirring twice a day, it seemed very active and the smell and taste was fantastic. After 4 days, I have just strained and racked the wine into a glass demijohn (1 gallon).

Questions:

1) Does that sound OK?

2) It tastes pretty strong, what is the cause of this and how strong could it get?

3) THe wine does not quite reach up to the top of the demijohn (about 2-3 inches off), does this matter?

4) I have a 3-bubble airlock which I have filled about halfway with water, is that cool? Also, do I take the red cap on the top off... or leave it on??

Thankyou for reading

 

[winemaker_3352]

Hi,

I have recently been attempting my first batch of wine, which is elderberry. I must have got about 2.3 - 2.6lb of only the nicest looking freshest, biggest berries. I put them in a clean gallon (4.5ltr) metal cooking pan and crushed them with my hands to release the juice.I added about 300g of raisins and a med-sized lemon (quartered), then poured on eight pints of tap water and brought to the boil.

Once boiling, I turned off the heat and strained into a new identical gallon pan. I then mixed in 1.35kg of sugar and left to cool down. Once cool, I added a sachet of Gervin No 2 yeast along with 2 teaspoons(tsp) of tronozymol and youngs yeast nutrient and also 1 campden tablet, crushed and dissolved in a little warm water. I left this brew in a big metal pan covered with foil, stirring twice a day, it seemed very active and the smell and taste was fantastic. After 4 days, I have just strained and racked the wine into a glass demijohn (1 gallon).

Questions:

1) Does that sound OK?

2) It tastes pretty strong, what is the cause of this and how strong could it get?

3) THe wine does not quite reach up to the top of the demijohn (about 2-3 inches off), does this matter?

4) I have a 3-bubble airlock which I have filled about halfway with water, is that cool? Also, do I take the red cap on the top off... or leave it on??

Thankyou for reading

1. So far it does. The pounds of fruit could have been a little more - i think 5-6 lbs is recommended per pound.

2. Tasted strong as in alcohol or elderberries?

3. This is fine for now - as it is still fermenting - which puts off CO2 that will protect the wine from O2 exposure. Once done fermenting you will need to rack off and top up to the next to avoid any unneeded )2 exposure.

4. Do you have a bubble airlock or a 3 piece airlock? Either one - i would leave the cap on. Water is alright - but i would use vodka - something that want create bacteria if stagnant. Or just clean and refill with water after a while.

 

[dillweed4]

1. So far it does. The pounds of fruit could have been a little more - i think 5-6 lbs is recommended per pound.

2. Tasted strong as in alcohol or elderberries?

3. This is fine for now - as it is still fermenting - which puts off CO2 that will protect the wine from O2 exposure. Once done fermenting you will need to rack off and top up to the next to avoid any unneeded )2 exposure.

4. Do you have a bubble airlock or a 3 piece airlock? Either one - i would leave the cap on. Water is alright - but i would use vodka - something that want create bacteria if stagnant. Or just clean and refill with water after a while.

The recipe I read said 2 pounds of fruit, I thought I was putting in more than required... it tastes good, just strong in terms of alcohol... but apparently thats quite common with elderberry wine. I filled the wine up with water anyway.... I hope it doesn't affect the flavour too much.

I have a bubble airlock like this:

- Nice advice on the vodka I will do that

One other thing I didn't say, was that when the wine was doing its primary fermentation I put the big pan on the floor near an unstable pile of magazines. The pile toppled at some point a few days ago and some of the magazines fell in and soaked up about a pint of wine - Thats why I had to top it up with water, I don't think it has affected the wine at all as far as I can tell... but I wanted to know what someone thought about that?

Cheers for the help man.