Check Everything Works First!

[Graz]

Just thought I'd tell this tale as a lesson to others to test new equipment before setting about a brew.

So on Thursday evening the wife informs me she's having a night out with the Mums from school, great I think to myself can finally make those WOWs I've been wanting to try for sometime.

No problem putting together the two brews, a gallon each of red grape + apple and white grape + apple. Put both the DJs in a suitably sized plastic tub I had kicking around the garage, put my recently purchased aquarium heater in it and set about filling it up with water, turned on the heater and set about tidying up...

Hmm must have spilt a bit of water whilst filling this thing, I'll mop it up. Carry on, returning to water bath a while later, hmm still water on the worktop, mop up again, lightbulb moment - bet the container is leaking. Left it a bit longer and more water, bugger, took the DJs out, lifted up the container and drip, drip, drip

Search the garage for another container, found one, bigger but it will do, partially fill with water this time to check for leaks and it's all good :thumb:

Set the water bath up again but now unconvinced that the heater is doing anything but it's getting late so I decide to check it in the morning. Next morning the water bath is at 17°C, heater not working then. Luckily my second brew fridge wasn't in use so put them in there.

Had a bit of a fiddle with the heater, checked the fuse, wiring on the plug, still no joy, twiddled the thermostat setting a bit, tried it again. Now the on / heating light has lit on it. Left to see if it could heat the water and several hours later 21°C :twisted: So it seems it does work. Argghhh.

Anyway checked on the WOWs yesterday and they are both fermenting vigorously so all good. Lesson learned for next time. :grin:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If you are making wine in the house you don't really need heat my kitchen is 18c at the moment and gets down to 15c in winter when the heating is off and i have never had a supermarket juice wine fail.

.

 

[Graz]

I suspect as you say it would have been fine as is on the worktop in the utility even though it does get fairly cool in there overnight. That Youngs Super Wine Yeast compound is pretty mental stuff, I checked on them last night and you can see it fizzing like a a freshly opened bottle of pop. It's just that having proper temperature control has pretty much revolutionised my beer brewing so I thought I'd apply the same principles to wine + in the slightly warmer months having the water bath kit will allow me to ferment demijohns out in my unheated garage.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I use YSWYC and as you say it is good stuff, i was toying with the idea of getting a two DJ heater as we don't have much room for making and storing our wine so cannot have many on the go at once, when it does get down to 15c it takes a lot longer to ferment so one of these would be handy.