First attempt at winemaking - not very technical!
Hello,
I'm attempting to make my first batch of wine from real grapes that a neighbour let me pick from her garden. I've washed and stripped the grapes from the bunches and mashed them, so they're now in a large fermenting bucket. It's my first go at using a Hydrometer. I took some of the juice and measured the starting gravity - it reads 1.060. The fermenting bucket shows 3.5 gallons of squashed grapes. To this, I've added 3.5 Campden Tablets.
First question: the yeast I'm planning on using today is Youngs Dried Active Yeast for use in Winemaking and Brewing. Is that OK? It says stir one level teaspoon per gallon into the grapes. But something else I saw said you have to make a starter first. So last night I boiled some water, cooled it till it was warm, added one tablespoon of sugar (stirring till dissolved) then added 3.5 teaspoons of the yeast then covered it with cling film. It went bonkers. There was yeast everywhere. What did I do wrong? Should I abandon the idea of making a starter and just add the yeast directly to the grapes?
Second question: I've got some Yeast Nutrient - it says it's to ensure rapid and complete fermentation and that I should add 1 teaspoon per gallon of that too. Do you think I should?
Third question: Sugar. Looking at the Hydrometer, along the line where it says 1.060, it has 1lb 9ozs sugar per gallon. Does that mean it already has that much sugar or does it mean that I need to add that much sugar per gallon?
I've looked all over the internet and have only confused myself even more - a lot of the information presumes technical ability with a Hydrometer, says add this, do this to get a certain alcohol percentage, divide by 7.36, etc. etc. and to be honest, it's all gone over my head.
Added to this, there seems to be no outlet for brewing supplies in my village. Boots the Chemist used to sell these things, but when I asked today, they stopped selling brewing supplies years ago.
So now I have 3.5 gallons of crushed grapes (think it's called must?) afraid of what to add to the bucket in case I ruin it. I bet you've never had anyone quite as dim when it comes to wine making as me!
Please could someone launch me in the right direction? I need to know what to do next as I really don't want to waste the hours it took to remove those grapes from their bunches!
Thank you for listening
At this stage, SHOULD it be still engaging the airlock, or should the gas be pretty much out of it? As well, is it normal to still see little bubbles now? Thanks for your help!!!
