Maturing wine in Demijohns?

[Kyral210]

I’m making 23 litres of wine, and want to mature it for at least a year. Should I bottle the wine or should I decant it into Demojohns and let it mature that way?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

You can do either but i would bottle it and not tie up demijohns.

 

[Tommo 2]

i always mature wine in Demi johns sometimes 18 months or more , definitely think wine matures better in bulk , it is always much easier to rack off as well as in my experience a wine that is maturing always has a layer of crud on the bottom over long periods,nothing worse than finding that rubbish on a bottle side if you lay them in a wine rack like i do

 

[Stevieboy]

If you can spare the DJs, bulk maturing is supposedly better for the wine.

 

[Wynott]

I find wines mature better in DJs - and take up a lot less space. I reckon 23L would mean approx 30 bottles, as opposed to 5 DJs. This also gives you the opportunity to leave behind any sediment when bottling. I have been surprised at some of the sediments in bottles after they have been sitting for a year, which you could avoid in DJs.

 

[Tommo 2]

I find wines mature better in DJs - and take up a lot less space. I reckon 23L would mean approx 30 bottles, as opposed to 5 DJs. This also gives you the opportunity to leave behind any sediment when bottling. I have been surprised at some of the sediments in bottles after they have been sitting for a year, which you could avoid in DJs.

Couldn’t agree more , trouble is most people now days don’t have time or patience to ferment wines that are from nature’s bounty to mature them for up to 18 months or sometimes more, but there is definitely a skill to it and I’m afraid it’s becoming a thing of the past , but I for one will continue with the old wine recipes and enjoy every minute of , and the end product is in every way is superior , just need patience and to always keep a rolling stock going

 

[soupdragon]

Couldn’t agree more , trouble is most people now days don’t have time or patience to ferment wines that are from nature’s bounty to mature them for up to 18 months or sometimes more, but there is definitely a skill to it and I’m afraid it’s becoming a thing of the past , but I for one will continue with the old wine recipes and enjoy every minute of , and the end product is in every way is superior , just need patience and to always keep a rolling stock going

I've just got my first blackberry wine resting in a demijohn, looked crystal clear going in but I'm sure it'll throw some sediment over the next month or so. Do you have a go to recipe for a nice red that you could share?
I'm hoping the blackberry will turn out to be a goodun but there aren't many locations nearly where I can forage. Any good suggestions for a red from supermarket frozen fruit?

Cheers Tom

 

[Tommo 2]

If it’s any good to you I can tell you my way to make blackberry wine but I do have an allotment with a fruit cage and harvest between 20 to 30 pounds of blackberries a year , organically but I do freeze them in pound bags in the freezer as they mature until the crop as finished, then make the wine in October ( I have five gallon still fermenting now as I write this post ) not sure about shop bought freezer fruits .

 

[soupdragon]

My daughter regularly goes walking with a friend, and since I mentioned it a while ago, she's been saying they'll pick some for me. None have shown up yet and I think this year's crop has shut up shop. The gallon I've got on at the moment is from a friend's allotment. Can't rely on him as a regular source as he also makes his own wine. Will have to do some googling for alternative fruit and see how prices compare.

Cheers Tom

 

[Wynott]

Couldn’t agree more , trouble is most people now days don’t have time or patience to ferment wines that are from nature’s bounty to mature them for up to 18 months or sometimes more, but there is definitely a skill to it and I’m afraid it’s becoming a thing of the past , but I for one will continue with the old wine recipes and enjoy every minute of , and the end product is in every way is superior , just need patience and to always keep a rolling stock going

You are spot on about both the patience and the rolling stock. Initially, I was bottling - and drinking - country wines too soon. I am now trying to be more systematic about it. I aim to bottle flower wines after a year, fruit wines e.g. rosehip, pomegranate etc after 18 month, and any reds, banana, carrot at least 2 years. I haven’t completely abandoned WOWs or tea wines, as they can be useful fillers, but I much prefer wines which have matured.

 

[trummy]

Not sure I would put a time frame on any home made wine. Deffo give it six months before tasting and then take it from there. I find my red currant is very drinkable at 9 months. Leaving it much longer and for whatever reason the wine loses its colour.
Some Damson have improved after several years storing I must admit.

 

[Tommo 2]

Have grown a lot of red currants on our allotment over the years but never made wine with them ( her indoors always gets there first for red currant jelly which is gorgeous so i don’t rock the boat , always wise) but am guessing that it comes under a rosey wine which always mature a lot quicker , but with the darker fruits eg elderberries, damsons , blackberries etc can take like you mentioned up to two years to reach there absolute peak , so a rolling stock in essential, in fact I used to in my younger days make a port style with a mixture of blackberry’s, damsons, and elderberries and a kilo of red grape juice that was at its peak after four years , tasted like a very expensive barolo type wine, I don’t think there’s many that would invest so much time to a wine now days

 

[trummy]

I have done about 4 gall of R/C this year. Give yourself a treat and keep 3lb next year and make a gallon - you wont be disappointed! Then set more bushes!
I even gave a bottle as a wedding present once. ( The couple requested no one to buy presents so I gave them a bottle as a gift)

I made a Jostaberry/Damson and blackcurrant one year, that was well recieved at about a couple of years + old. Some you do have to leave alone I agree

 

[Tommo 2]

Sounds good , will have to like you say set more bushes or there could be trouble at mill

 

[Wynott]

Not sure I would put a time frame on any home made wine. Deffo give it six months before tasting and then take it from there. I find my red currant is very drinkable at 9 months. Leaving it much longer and for whatever reason the wine loses its colour.
Some Damson have improved after several years storing I must admit.

That’s interesting about the redcurrant, my strawberry wine came into its own about 9 months, but by a year was less colourful and flavour a little diminished. My scheduling is just an attempt to put the brakes on drinking them all at once

 

[Bill W]

I have done about 4 gall of R/C this year. Give yourself a treat and keep 3lb next year and make a gallon - you wont be disappointed! Then set more bushes!
I even gave a bottle as a wedding present once. ( The couple requested no one to buy presents so I gave them a bottle as a gift)

I made a Jostaberry/Damson and blackcurrant one year, that was well recieved at about a couple of years + old. Some you do have to leave alone I agree

I have a gallon of redcurrant that I started end of July that's been racked and is waiting patiently in a demijohn, wrapped in brown paper and hidden under the stairs to exclude the light. I'll be bottling that one soon and I've promised the family we can try a bottle or two at Xmas. From the little sip that I took at racking, it is very promising indeed.
I froze 6 x 3lbs bags of redcurrants at the time and have just today taken 5 bags out of the freezer to make a 5 gallon batch.

 

[trummy]

Now that is getting serious!

 

[Tommo 2]

Quite right sounds like a really good plan, good luck with your endeavours