Strawberry Ribena Wine

[BrotherMalice]

Well since I have started drinking/conditioning my 1st brew & my wife is away I thought I would get onto the next one (for her) since SWMBO had already bought the ribena I thought it was only fair to brew it for her...

I hadnt realised how heavy 8kg of sugar would be, next time I wont walk to the shop...

All the ingredients together ready to start (equipment left sterilising while I went to the shop for the sugar & yeast:

I emptied the 2 bottles of strawberry ribena into a pan and started the boil to get rid of all the **** that will stop it fermenting well:

While it was starting to boil I juiced the lemons and made the tea (for tanin)

Ribena happily boiling away and water boiling next to it for the sugar solution:

All the important bits now in the FV just got to add more water now:

It is still rather warm at the moment so I am waiting for it to cool down before I take a reading and then pitch the yeast:

Hope I have done it all right :) I have a table spoon of tomato puree in there as yeast food, I will update when I get the OG reading in a bit :)

:
Colin

 

[NathanJR]

It looks like we were doing the same thing yesterday!

I made a DJ of strawberry and one of regular Ribena.

The recipe I used didn't have citric acid though - what does it do?

 

[BrotherMalice]

If I am honest I am not sure, it was on the list so I did it :)

I eventually got it cooled last night so I could take a reading and encountered a problem:

any idea what that reading would be?!?

 

[ingypingy2]

Ah, the hydrometer stops short lol!! :) I have heard of other people having that problem before too. Luckily, mine goes up to 1.150 so it hasn't been an issue for me yet. You should be able to work out a rough percentage from the total sugar in your recipe. If you add up the total sugar content, including that of the undiluted ribena, then divide by the number of litres you have topped it up to, you'll get an average of g's of sugar per litre, there are tables to then work out an average potential % for your brew and most hydrometers will also have this up the side :) Mine says approx 340g per sugar per litre is equal to roughly a 20% potential alcohol after fermantation :) I have to say though, 8kg sugar is a hell of a lot to put in any brew, in October, I did a 4 gallon batch of strawberry ribena wine and used 2L ribena, 4L white grape juice and 2.5k sugar which gave a SG of 1.110 giving an approximate 15% alcohol, having sampled quite a few glasses of it 2 weeks ago, and finding myself probably drunker than I've ever been before, that is probably too high for a general drinking wine and I would be adjusting the sugar so it ends up with a lower percentage next time :)

 

[BrotherMalice]

I followed the basic recipie in the how 2 section but I bought 4 2kg bags of sugar and was having a bad day so I didnt bother measuring the last of the sugar out, I just chucked it in :)

A new hydrometer is now on the shopping list :)

 

[NathanJR]

My two OG were 1120 & 1130. Like a div, I didn't write them down so I'm not sure which was which. I'm assuming the Strawberry was the higher one as the Sugar content in the syrup was more than the blackcurrant.

 

[BrotherMalice]

what temp should I be fermenting this at? - I am using a brew belt that does not seem to be adjustable, its at 22/23 at the moment

 

[BrotherMalice]

Well its been 9 days and I thought I would test a sample, its down to 1.113 ish, still bubbling away quite happily but I tested anyway, still tastes VERY sweet.

Does anyone know what it is likley to go down to?

 

[BrotherMalice]

Anyone?

 

[BrotherMalice]

down to 1.108 now so getting there.....

 

[alanywiseman.]

down to 1.108 now so getting there.....

Is this right? Do you mean 1.008?

If you are using a wine yeast then it should reach 0.995. If the reading is 1.108 did you boil the syrups to get rid of preservatives?

 

[BrotherMalice]

Yup, boiled it for ages, its currently more like strawberry arcers at the moment....

 

[NathanJR]

A little over 2 weeks in, still bubbling away nicely.

FWIW, my instructions did not tell me to boil the syrup at all.

 

[alanywiseman.]

Yup, boiled it for ages, its currently more like strawberry arcers at the moment....

I bit more information would be good. What yeast have you used? What temp did you pitch it at? How much did you pitch? and how long has it been fermenting?

from looking back your OG was up at about 1.150 which is very high. It could take over a month to ferment out.

 

[BrotherMalice]

Yeast was this stuff: http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/home-brewi ... iuAw%3D%3D

Was about 22 degrees when I pitched it, 5 spoons as suggested in the yeast instructions, I started the wine on 21/04/2012

 

[alanywiseman.]

Be patent. It will take time as your OG was very high. I would leave it alone for a month then see what it is doing.

It took my WOW three weeks to ferment out and it had a OG of 1.115 i think.

 

[BrotherMalice]

Cool, I will leave it alone then :)

Will it be OK just fermenting away in the cupboard if I leave it another month?

 

[alanywiseman.]

Yes it will be fine. check on it in 2 weeks time as that will be it fermenting for a month in total. Look for bubble rising through your wine, not a water trap as a sign of if it is fermenting or not.

 

[BrotherMalice]

Will do, plenty of acivity from the bubbler at the moment though although slower than it used to be

 

[shearclass]

I hadnt realised how heavy 8kg of sugar would be, next time I wont walk to the shop...

Brilliant! :lol: