Elderberry Wine, first attempt and I'm stuck!

[GDog]

Hi,

I've got my first country wines on the go - a blackberry wine, and an elderberry wine (separate, not mixed), and am a bit stuck. The blackberry is going fine, fermented dry after 4 weeks, campden added, now clearing in x2 DJ's

The Elderberry wine was supposed to be stirred every day for ten days, then racked to x2 DemiJohn's to complete fermentation - the instructions said this secondary stage could take up to 4 weeks.
After 7 days in the primary bucket, everything seemed to stop, so I took a hydrometer reading and it is showing 0.990. Does this mean fermentation is done, 4+ weeks early? And that is from a quite high initial reading of 1.150.
The airing cupboard may be a bit too warm perhaps at 26 degrees, and I ballsed up slightly by adding yeast nutrient, plus yeast - however the yeast pack already had nutrient in it so I may have over fed it?
The yeast was an alcotec turbo yeast that my local brew shop recommended for high alcohol wines..
I'm wondering if i should move onto the next stage now (racking and campden tablet per DJ, or wait)

Both recipe's are from Brewbitz here:
http://www.brewbitz.com/content/7-home-brew-recipes

Any advice would be very welcome!
Cheers,
Al

 

[Tau]

Yes normal if you used a turbo yeast can be done in 2 days, I do wonder if there is any flavour left in your wine by using that yeast. Have you had a taste?

 

[Rockuronium]

Yes, I think the word 'Turbo' is your answer. [emoji3]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GDog]

Yes, I've never tried elderberry wine before so I'm not really sure what to expect.
It tastes like wine, and really strong!
Have I ruined it? I've got 12 litres of the stuff.

Balls..

 

[Razor]

Yes, I've never tried elderberry wine before so I'm not really sure what to expect.

It tastes like wine, and really strong!

Have I ruined it? I've got 12 litres of the stuff.



Balls..

As far as I'm concerned, if it tastes ok it's not ruined. Just means you can get your next brew on quicker.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GDog]

you know what, I think I may have imagined the word 'turbo' - the brand threw me (alcotec)

This is it:

http://alcotec.co.uk/consumer-products/alcotec-wine-beer/alcotec-aromatic-wine-yeast-complex.html

I still wonder why its happened so quickly, and if I should add the campden tablet now?

Thanks again for the replies,
Al

 

[Roddy]

Ideal conditions (warmth and yeast to sugar ratio) could have it motoring through fermentation.... as the rest say, if the tastes OK then crack on with stablising/racking etc 😀

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[VW911]

Wouldn'd recommend using Turbo Yeast for anything other than just an alcohol "wash".
Even then it tastes pretty foul!

 

[Pete Oakley]

Taste it and if it's got loads of tannin in it (taste of strong cold tea) rack it and put it somewhere for a year or so. The tannin should "drop out". If you used a boil up recipe tannin should not be a massive problem.

 

[GDog]

Taste it and if it's got loads of tannin in it (taste of strong cold tea) rack it and put it somewhere for a year or so. The tannin should "drop out". If you used a boil up recipe tannin should not be a massive problem.

I did a boil up recipe, yes, to make ageing a bit easier and maybe quicker - what a f*** on with ten pounds of berries, had x3 pans on the go - never again!

It's clear as a bell already, don't really need the DJ's, I've acquired 9 or so, so may just age it as-is and not bottle until next year. It's got about 5mm of solid sediment at the bottom, I'm not sure when to rack it off that - it's only been a few weeks since it was first racket with campden...