Scalli
Active Member
Just spotted these kits, if I wanted something a bit stronger do you think it would be OK to increase the sugar or reduce the water to get to something around 13 =14% ?
Scalli said:Just spotted these kits, if I wanted something a bit stronger do you think it would be OK to increase the sugar or reduce the water to get to something around 13 =14% ?
The rest had to go into PET bottles that formerly contained lemonade or some such, about which she was most disparaging.
Chippy_Tea said:The rest had to go into PET bottles that formerly contained lemonade or some such, about which she was most disparaging.
One advantage of using plastic over glass is plastic speeds up the ageing process as they are permeable to air, they are not so good if you intend to age your wine over a long period.
As you have already said the wine is a bit rough when new, give it a week or two in plastic bottles and you will notice the difference.
Just bottled 33 star bright bottles of Rose. :razz: Tastes fruitier than the last batch I think, but it is a bit rough at 2 weeks from pitching.There is still one bottle of the 27 or so I got out of the first kit.
It's a very good, workmanlike kit that does its job - at less than £1 a bottle at 11.5 - 12% range its a good bet.
Over the last couple of weeks, I picked 2.4kg of blackberries and froze them. Yesterday, I defrosted the berries in the microwave (to zap micro-organisms) and added boiling water to a Pasteurisation temp at 50 - 60 C in a large pot. Left to cool and added campden tablet and pectolase to leave overnight.
Managed to strain the juice through a hop bag wrapped around a sieve, perched in a collander, into a FV containing 4kg of sugar dissolved in boiling water. This was less messy than I feared. Used a ladle to get the juice from the 15L pan to the FV via the sieve set-up.
Topped up to 25.5L and pitched the yeast at 25C.
On the experience of the first batch, I am planning to rack this before de-gassing (due to the little bits of blackberry stuff that will have gone through the sieving) and adding the stabiliser and finings. I also intend to add a concentrated cordial of blackcurrant juice (750ml) at the racking and stabilising stage, instead of back-sweetening with sugar.
Incidentally, there are more raspberry beetle grubs this year, following a great blackberry season last year. Don't suppose they will drink much, though. :drink:
A word of warning if you haven't read the full review -
The instructions tell you to add 750g of sugar to back sweeten, i decided to leave it dry as Mrs Tea doesn't like sweet wine, i am glad i did it would have been sickly sweet if i had followed the instructions.
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