My First Ginger Wine

[FatDad]

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Just started my first ginger wine. Here’s what I did.

Ingredients
About 8 Inches of Root Ginger
5 Litres of Spring/Mineral Water
1.5 kg Sugar
Zest & Juice of 4 Lemons
500g Raisins (chopped)
1 tsp Wine Yeast
1tsp Yeast Nutrient
1tsp Pectolase
1tsp Citric Acid

1) Peel and finely slice ginger. (You can peel ginger quickly and easily simply by scraping the skin with a teaspoon – this method ensures you remove only the skin)

2) Place in a plastic container with the lemon zest (not the juice), chopped raisins and 2.5 litres of the water which has just been boiled.

Ingredients in the container.
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3) Seal the container with a lid and leave for 24 hours.

Boiling water added.​

4) 24 hours later, in a sanitised jam jar quarter filled with tepid water add the yeast, yeast nutrient and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Put the lid on the jar and shake it to mix the yeast. Leave to one side for 15 minutes in a warm spot.

5) Add the final 2.5 litres of cold water with the sugar dissolved in it to the container with the fruit from the previous day. (I had to transfer my mix into a larger container as the one I had used originally was totally too small)

In the FV ready to seal for 3-4 days.​

6) Take the Original Gravity at this point. Mine was 1124 which means a potential alcohol content of 14.5%-15%+)

7) Add the yeast, Pectolase and Citric Acid and mix well.

8) Seal the lid and leave for three or four days.

9) After this time transfer the liquid to a demijohn using a sanitised sieve and funnel.

10) Give it a final quick shake then add a bung and an airlock.

:party:That’s it!:party:
I’m expecting to rack it a few times once the bubbles stop in the airlock to clear the wine before bottling.

 

[FatDad]

Strained and transferred to a demijohn...

Despite the small head space and the strong lava lamp effect this has been really well behaved and no blow back into the air lock yet.