First Go At WOW (A.K.A - Supermarket Juice Wine)

[ColinF]

The Prune was the last to get going, but it's going mad now. Had froth coming out the airlock. After a few hours it calmed down and I got the airlock back in. Bubbling about 3 times a second.

The Pineapple, OMG ! It went mad, it's not bubbling so much as just pouring out constant CO2 so I had to resort to a blow off bottle, using my syphon tube and tap like I read on here somewhere.

 

[Stevieboy]

Careful that tap doesn't get blocked..... (that a museum piece BTW!!!)

 

[ColinF]

My plan is:

3 (454g) jars of clear honey
1 tablespoon of dried fruit
1 teaspoon Youngs Super yeast
1 teaspoon Youngs yeast nutrient
Juice of 1 lemon

Well Asda delivery turned up yesterday and I got the Mead on the go today. Thought to myself, this is dead straightforward, knocked it all together, airlocks in and sat down to admire my work

Suddenly thought, OMG forgot the mixed fruit, so back to the kitchen and chopped a handful of sultanas and prunes. Got that into the DJs, airlocks back in, sorted

Went to wash up and noticed a piece of lemon laying in the sink from breakfast time and thought LEMON !!!

So moral is RTFM I guess

Anyway, mead is on OG 1092 & 1094

Both started bubbling within 5hrs

 

[johncrobinson]

Nice one Colin,Glad to see your making FULL use of your demijohns...

Your OGs should give you a good strong mead.

 

[ColinF]

Nice one Colin,Glad to see your making FULL use of your demijohns...

I 'offered' some of my local friends to recycle their wine bottles Now it turns out 2 of them consistently drink the same wine and nothing else. Makes for good consistency of bottles. Anyway I recently got handed a big cardboard box of bottles and noticed there was 2 demijohns and a really old glass trial jar

Apparently what ever wine my mate made last he had everyone ill for days so he's not allowed to brew any more.

So those 2 along with the 10 I got out of the charity shop means I'll be putting on some more in a week or so. I guess all I need is 1 spare DJ so scope for another 6 batches yet

If you notice the red plates (plastic party platters I think) under the 2 Mead DJs, turns out we have more of them than I have DJs

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I 'offered' some of my local friends to recycle their wine bottles Now it turns out 2 of them consistently drink the same wine and nothing else.

Get them to take a look at the Supermarket Juice Wine How To guide and Recipes thread they may start making their own -

 

[ColinF]

Ok, so here's a wee update, 2 weeks on from my first Fruit Juice Wines going on:

Batch 1 - RGJ, Apple + Pineapple OG 1098 FG 990 (ABV 14.2%)

Batch 2 - RGJ, Apple + Prune OG 1108 FG 995 (ABV 14.8%)

Batch 3 - RGJ, Apple + Pear OG 1095 FG 988 (ABV 14%)

The pear stopped bubbling on day 10, the pineapple day 11 but the prune kept going until day 13.

So on day 15 racked all 3 and put in 1/2 tsp of stabiliser. Just in the process of degassing, then I'll get the finings in and top them up.

As I took each hydromoter reading I felt compelled to pour a little into a tasting glass rather than all back into the DJ

The pineapple has a tartness to it, not unpleasant, just different. So far I'm not sure how to describe the prune , again not unpleasant. The pear is very nice, and got quite a glow from it.

 

[ColinF]

So, while I had all the gear out and 3 empty DJs ......

3 more lots on same base for each, RG and Apple.

More Apple + 700g Sugar, OG 1092

Tropical Juice Drink + 760g Sugar, OG 1090

Cranberry drink + 760g Sugar,
OG 1088

I did the usual adding up the sugar in the fruit juices, but this time reduced the sugar by 40g. My starting gravities on the first 3 were all quite high, but this time they are looking better. Strong wine is all very well but I don't want to be asleep after the 1st two glasses

 

[johncrobinson]

I dont think 40g in a gallon will make much of a difference.

I can see it now:- It was only 40g officer honest.!!


Nice to see you are putting all your demijohns to good use.Now the dark nights are coming a festive season wine would be a good idea,A spiced Mead perhaps,????.

 

[ColinF]

I dont think 40g in a gallon will make much of a difference.

Ach I had no idea, just thought I'd try

That's them fined and topped up.

 

[johncrobinson]

They look nice but will need futher rackings in the next few months or so.
Leave the airlocks on just in case there is any futher fermentation.

 

[ColinF]

They look nice but will need futher rackings in the next few months or so.
Leave the airlocks on just in case there is any futher fermentation.

Yip will do, whats the rule of thumb for further racking ? So I've got stabiliser and Kwik-Clear finings in and already I can see sediment forming. How long can/should you leave it on sediment ?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Yip will do, whats the rule of thumb for further racking ? So I've got stabiliser and Kwik-Clear finings in and already I can see sediment forming. How long can/should you leave it on sediment ?

Rack onto a crushed campden tablet, add stabiliser, degas add fining when its clear bottle there is no need to rack again just make sure your syphon tube stays above the sediment when bottling.

The guy in the video shows how to do it, at 13:06 he says he will syphon it again but there really is no reason to do this if you are bottling i never have.

 

[Bando]

Can I just ask why everyone adds in another full teaspoon of nutrient along with youngs super yeast which is already like 50% by volume nutrient in the tub surely having all that extra you can still subtlely taste it when drinking the wine? A teaspoon of the super yeast per gallon has plenty of of nutrients to reach upto about 18% alcohol with no fuss or yeast stress

 

[ColinF]

Can I just ask why everyone adds in another full teaspoon of nutrient along with youngs super yeast which is already like 50% by volume nutrient in the tub surely having all that extra you can still subtlely taste it when drinking the wine? A teaspoon of the super yeast per gallon has plenty of of nutrients to reach upto about 18% alcohol with no fuss or yeast stress

I've wondered the same, but just gone with the flow. The additional cost is minimal, think I was £1.65 for a 100g which equates to approx 10p per gallon.

As for taste, I guess the only way would be to do a comparison, one with nutrient, one without.

I bought Youngs Active Yeast AND Super Yeast and planned 2 identical batches, but with different yeasts, to compare. Not tried yet though.

I keep reading about adding Bentonite, but again it's in the Super Yeast already.

 

[Bando]

Yeah a full teaspoon extra I've definitely tastes a metallic taste long before now I realised there's plenty in the youngs stuff, and for bentonite you really need a very tiny amount such as in the super stuff, or it takes even longer to clear, but strangely if you buy a tub of just bentonite it tells you to add a stupid amount, no reason for it at all, the super compound is absolutely fine on its own and has just enough of everything I assure you they did plenty of testing before releasing it as to the perfect blend as any creator of a product would, just seems to me people are so untrustworthy of having a stuck ferment or a slow ferment in the past that they now overdo everything, but it makes no considerable difference at all

 

[Bando]

Also I believe both those youngs products use the same yeast but I make be mistakes, obviously the difference is without the nutrient and bentonite it will be quite a different ferment, all in all its much cheaper to buy the active dry and add nutrient and bentonite yourself, just mix up a large tub in the correct quantities and make your own compound then test your own plus youngs compound against each other gram for gram

 

[ColinF]

I'm certainly no wine connoisseur, I'd happily drink my wine straight after it's first rack of the yeast, without any pectolase or finings

How uncouth

 

[Bando]

I'm pretty sure we only started multi racking and clearing about 100 years ago lol before then it was just scooped from buckets in pubs while still fermenting lmao

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Can I just ask why everyone adds in another full teaspoon of nutrient along with youngs super yeast which is already like 50% by volume nutrient in the tub s

I have used Youngs Super Wine Yeast Compound for many years as it was all i could get here and have always used a level teaspoon of nutrient with it, nutrient is cheap so for me its not worth risking a stalled fermentation to save a few pence, as far as i know there is no list of ingredients that tells you how much of the additions below there are in each tub.

Specially formulated for High Alcohol, speedy fermentation and clearing contains -
-Bentonite
-Dried Wine Yeast
-Diammonium Phosphate
-Trace Vitamins
-Trace Minerals