Who's vinting?

[jay.sharkbait]

cider? what can you do with cider?  they told me anything apple never tastes good  i REALLY want to make her blackberry but could not find any juice that was no preservatives 

Cider is good too, you can do sparkling and bottle it like bear or you can do apple wine.  The same thing happens with cider as wine though, it can get real dry (not sweet    ).  I've seen people drink homebrew cider and beer right out of the bottle, yuck, unless you like the taste of yeast sludge.

The last blackberry I made, I used something like 45 pounds of berries for 5 gallons, pure juice, a lot of work but wow.  I would think you could find organic juice?

I added lots of sugar to a cherry batch many years ago figuring that the yeast would die off at 15 or so % alcohol and le3ave a bunch of residual sugar, it actually finished out at 21%.     This is my "happy wife" wine.   

I think there are some yeasts that die off at a higher alcohol content.

[lokidog]

cider? what can you do with cider?  they told me anything apple never tastes good  i REALLY want to make her blackberry but could not find any juice that was no preservatives 

Cider is good too, you can do sparkling and bottle it like bear or you can do apple wine.  The same thing happens with cider as wine though, it can get real dry (not sweet    ).  I've seen people drink homebrew cider and beer right out of the bottle, yuck, unless you like the taste of yeast sludge.

The last blackberry I made, I used something like 45 pounds of berries for 5 gallons, pure juice, a lot of work but wow.  I would think you could find organic juice?

I added lots of sugar to a cherry batch many years ago figuring that the yeast would die off at 15 or so % alcohol and le3ave a bunch of residual sugar, it actually finished out at 21%.     This is my "happy wife" wine.   

I think there are some yeasts that die off at a higher alcohol content.

I don't care if they have to GMO it, I want some yeasts that die off at certain KNOWN percents.   

[Kc_Kracker]

ok so i got my airlocks cleaned, sterile, and reinstalled with water in them 

i notice my sugar in the bottom of the jug, because i tried to stir them up, is almost rock hard, is this normal? so do i add anything else for the month wait or just watch? i bought a hydrometer but no idea when to use it 

[lokidog]

You can use the hygrometer a couple of ways.  One is to test your juice as you add sugar. This will allow you to put enough sugar in to get to the alcohol level that you desire.  As the sugar is eaten up, the hygrometer will approach the level of plain water and actually be less dense as alcohol is less dense than water.  You can also measure the S.G. of your juice in the beginning and then again at the end, the change in S.G. will give you the approximate alcohol percentage.

Regarding sugar in the bottom, you should dissolve all of the sugar as it is added.  Sometimes, you will need to heat the juice a bit to dissolve all of the sugar you want in there.  Once your yeast starts to settle, you do not want to mix it back up into the juice.  The sugar you have on the bottom is gone now.  If you desire to increase alcohol content, you can add more dissolved sugar  later, before the ferment is over.

A quick question... did you do a primary ferment in a bucket/garbage can and then rack to your carbuoy or did you mix it and add it directly to the carbuoy?  If the second is the case, you had better put those jugs into a bin or something so when they bubble over they don't make too much of a mess.  The first fermentation is an aerobic (with Oxygen) one, this creates lots of foam and bubbles and will usually blow out the top of a carbouy.  During the primary ferment (in a bucket or clean garbage can with a tight weave cloth towel over it) you want to stir it once a day, if I recall.  This will allow the yeast to use up all of the oxygen, don't stir super vigorously or you will just add O2 back to it.  Once the foaming/bubbling has calmed down, about 4 days to a week, then it should be siphoned off into the carbuoy.  Be sure to put the end of your tubing all the way to the bottom of the empty jug as you do not want to add air to it since the more O2 in there now, the less alcohol will be produced.  Try not to get too much sludge into the jug, a bit doesn't really hurt though.

[Kc_Kracker]

so i should add sugar if its hardened to the bottom of the jug? its still bubbling air every second but in the jug its hardened. so how do i add dissolved sugar? i didnt use any water at all just pure juice. im so lost 

[Duffer]

afa the settled sugar: there are a couple ways to deal with your oops. Here's what I would do. real soon. Prep more bottles. Transfer most of your liquid to the new sterile bottle. Warm the rest of the liquid and caked sugar until it dissolves. Cool it down and pour it back in.

You can try to guestimate how much sugar is settled and replace it but that would be tricky. You could leave it alone and the yeast may eventually work thru that sugar. Eventually. Maybe.

It is possible that your oops is beneficial if you are trying to make a really high alcohol wine. In essence you have started your fermentation with a low sugar level and later you would be hitting it with a 2nd dose of sugar. this is a common method for making really high alcohol wines because if you put ALL of the needed sugar in all at once the yeast is overloaded and can't get started. Too much sugar can kill some yeasts.

[lokidog]

so i should add sugar if its hardened to the bottom of the jug? its still bubbling air every second but in the jug its hardened. so how do i add dissolved sugar? i didnt use any water at all just pure juice. im so lost 

There are two ways to add sugar after the ferment has started.  One is to draw out some of the juice and stir it in, you may have to heat it to dissolve enough.  You will likely lose whatever alcohol has formed in the liquid that is heated.  This is where your SG reading at the beginning would have been beneficial as you could tell how much has been converted to alcohol already and then add accordingly.  The other way, and this might be the easiest, is to mix up a sugar syrup and use it to top off your carbuoy each time after you rack it.  This is a good time as you should always have a full jug and you will be losing volume that is left behind with the dead yeast.

There is a tool called a vin-o-meter that is a tiny glass funnel with a gradiated capillary tube attached to it.  You can put some of your wine into it, wait for it to drip through, then turn it upside down.  As gravity pulls your wine out, it will stop at a certain level because of the attraction that water molecules have for each other.  The more alcohol, the less attraction, and the farther it will fall down the tube.  This reading is not entirely accurate hwile there is still a bunch of sugar, but it could be close.  I have calibrated mine by testing wines with "known" alcohol contents as it does seem to be about 2% off.

If you have not picked up a good beginning wine making book, I would suggest you do so.  It may be even more beneficial for you now as you have specific questions to watch for.  Sorry I have no suggestions for such book.

[Hawgdawg]

so, you have water in the air lock, we have the juice were using in the air lock. does it matter?
also, one of the flavors we tries was pomegranate, and we made sure it was NO preservatives,  but 16 hours after adding yeast all are making foam and bubbling, BUT that one. ideas? 

use vodka or better yet ever clear.

[lokidog]

did you put your sugar in water and bring to boil and mix completely up before adding to your carboy?should not have hardened up on the bottom...I suggest you watch a utube video you are getting some bad advise here in my op. 

What bad advice?  I don't think anyone told him to just pour it into the juice and stir....   I try to use pure juice when I make wine so I don't have water to dissolve my sugar into, however, I do heat the juice enough to get it to dissolve.

 

[lokidog]

Huh?  That's quite helpful, I guess.

[fastdam]

Steve, are you saying its bad advice to put water in the wine or bad to put the water in the airlock (bubbler)? Please elaborate. I

[fastdam]

Im not arguing with you, just tying to be clear about your point. The acohol in the airlock is a good idea. I have never done that and have never had a problem with clean water and sterilized equipment. I think i will in the future. Loki has been spot on with his advice.

[lokidog]

Its bad to use anything in the airlock that wont kill airborne bacteria on contact.I use vodka because if it does happen to get in my drink it wont hurt it at all.when you clean your equipment before putting your drink in it to ferment or age you can simply put some of it in your carboy,but if it accidentally does get in your carboy it to can ruin it.if you ever open the lid on your carboy because it is stuck during fermentation you risk ruining it,if you open it to draw off it to check the abv. you risk it.You can always get away with things like water sure until you dont.I have tried all sorts of stuff over the last 30 years making brew,wine,and other stuff lol.you can take this advice or not really doesnt matter to me i probably wont have the pleasure of drinking yours.But there is a real distinct possability that you have tasted or will taste mine if you drink,or go to competitions for homebrew,or micro beers.I have a porter that took me almost 6 months in 55 deg. to brew up.it is 13.9 abv  want some of it?

No.

Look up Louis Pasteur, see if he used alcohol in his airlock.  Nope.  You don't even need to put a liquid in it, the water simply helps you tell how actively it is working.  A person is much more likely to get contamination while racking than from an airlock, filled with juice, water, alcohol, or nothing at all.  Sure, you risk drawing liquid into your jug removing the lock, if you overfill it, but that's why they have a fill line on it.

So, mr I'm god's gift to brewing, stick it!!!   

Fastdam, thanks.

[bowhunterwa87]

Cool thread. This looks fun...wonder if it could save me as much money as reloading 

[fastdam]

Cool thread. This looks fun...wonder if it could save me as much money as reloading 

Once you have your equipment its almost free. Get your fruit freee, then buy sugar, yeast, caps/corks, and sterilizer of some sort.  Campbden tablets and sulfites are optional.
 Homemade booze is way better yhan commercial stuff in my opinion.