HOME BREWING

[stuhan]

On our way to pick up our new car this morning, will stop off at macro on the way home for some frozen cherries and fruit juices.

[Faraday]

Nice glass of Blackberry/Mulberry wine, with some Hickory smoked Pork. 

Temperature is 19°C

 

 

[Marble-eye]

I ordered 5 litres of Chardonnay, 5 litres of Muscat and 3 litres of Sauvignon Blanc yesterday just to round it off to 4000 baht to get the free delivery. The lady from Jamago rang me up and asked me where the payment was and I told her it would be transfered to their bank tout suite. While she was on the phone I asked her how long this offer was on for and she said 'just as long as stocks last', whether that was a sales ploy, who knows, and she also said 'that there wasn't much stock left of the white wine'. Probably not as popular as the red wine must be the reason to get it moved on. 

Anybody thinking of ordering might be wise to order it sooner than later.

But my wine making is on hold at the moment as I am stuck in Bangkok due to seen and unseen circumstances, been here 3 or 4 weeks now and have left 12 litres of red grape cold crashing in the fridge at home, hope it's cleared by the time we're united.

 

Edited December 8, 2021 by Marble-eye

[Marble-eye]

I asked for a recipe to accompany these Jamago juices. This is what they sent me, are they inferring that the wine will be ready to drink after 7 days?

 

[WilliamG]

2 hours ago, Marble-eye said:

I asked for a recipe to accompany these Jamago juices. This is what they sent me, are they inferring that the wine will be ready to drink after 7 days?

It will be drinkable alcoholic after a week, but as it says, or be kept in a bottle for ageing.

I have left my Jamago stuff for a month after bottling and it is pretty good.

[stuhan]

Started a 6L batch of Pomegranate today, just prepared all the ingredients while waiting for yeast to arrive.

[Marble-eye]

1 hour ago, stuhan said:

Started a 6L batch of Pomegranate today, just prepared all the ingredients while waiting for yeast to arrive.

Get as much of it as you can Stu, it is so good for you, I have told my wife the more I drink pomegranite wine the healthier I will get.

 

Pomegranate aril juice offers about 16% of an adult’s daily vitamin C requirement per 100 ml serving. It is also a very good source of vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), potassium and natural phenols, such as ellagitannins and flavonoids. Pomegranates belong in some high-fibre charts of nutritional value. Wine made of pomegranate has more antioxidants than blueberry wine and aronia berry wine. Here are some of the health benefits that you can get from drinking wine pomegranate wine:

• May help decrease the risk of having heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes. There is evidence which shows that drinking pomegranate juice daily may help sustain the normal blood flow to the heart. Because of its antioxidant properties, pomegranate prevents bad cholesterol from forming, and therefore, may help maintain the arteries clear of blood clots.

https://www.dailyfruitwine.com/pomegranate_wine/

 

[stuhan]

So my pomegranate wine while waiting for yeast picked up wild yeast from somewhere and started fermenting, so had to boil the juice and clean the bottle, now everything is ok new yeast added and bubbling away. As for my  passion & banana wine it reached 1.000 on friday 1 week from start thats pretty good going, but still fermenting so i will leave until 990 or 995, also added another 100g of sugar to boost the abv, i am sure the yeast can handle the extra, will maybe clear for christmas.

[stuhan]

Had some banana's spare so started another batch of banana wine.

[stuhan]

My wife said 1 glass of wine is enough per day, i totally agree with her

[Faraday]

Just got a few bottles out ..

 

The Mao Luang that we made in August is gorgeous!!

 

 

[stuhan]

Hoping everyone has a great Christmas & new year.

 

[SkipsPa]

On 12/12/2021 at 12:33 AM, stuhan said:

So my pomegranate wine while waiting for yeast picked up wild yeast from somewhere and started fermenting, so had to boil the juice and clean the bottle, now everything is ok new yeast added and bubbling away. As for my  passion & banana wine it reached 1.000 on friday 1 week from start thats pretty good going, but still fermenting so i will leave until 990 or 995, also added another 100g of sugar to boost the abv, i am sure the yeast can handle the extra, will maybe clear for christmas.

If it's fermenting already with wild yeast then there's no need to stop or interfere with it. Add some wine yeast if the wild yeast doesn't work at a high enough level. Also don't regard the specific gravity as particularly important at the finish - it's when the fermentation lock stops showing any activity. If the product is too sweet when the fermentation stops it's because the alcohol level is inhibiting the yeast - i.e. sending it to sleep - just add more ingredients (not sugar!) and it will wake up and start working again.

[SkipsPa]

1 hour ago, SkipsPa said:

If it's fermenting already with wild yeast then there's no need to stop or interfere with it. Add some wine yeast if the wild yeast doesn't work at a high enough level. Also don't regard the specific gravity as particularly important at the finish - it's when the fermentation lock stops showing any activity. If the product is too sweet when the fermentation stops it's because the alcohol level is inhibiting the yeast - i.e. sending it to sleep - just add more ingredients (not sugar!) and it will wake up and start working again.

A tip for beer brewers who bottle and wish to take 2-3 bottles to work or whatever (you can't do this with quantity), place 2 full + 1 empty into fridge and when cooled down, very slowly decant top halves of each bottle to empty bottle and reseal. You now have one bottle with pressure and no sediment so desired result. The other 2 halves put in 1 bottle and reprime so no waste.

[stuhan]

3 hours ago, SkipsPa said:

If it's fermenting already with wild yeast then there's no need to stop or interfere with it. Add some wine yeast if the wild yeast doesn't work at a high enough level. Also don't regard the specific gravity as particularly important at the finish - it's when the fermentation lock stops showing any activity. If the product is too sweet when the fermentation stops it's because the alcohol level is inhibiting the yeast - i.e. sending it to sleep - just add more ingredients (not sugar!) and it will wake up and start working again.

Wild yeast is not a good idea, you have no idea what it is,no idea how tolerant it is,can produce off flavors and can ruin a batch of wine.You have to depend on a hydrometer to tell you when it's finished fermentation an airlock showing no activity does not mean it's finished, fermentation can still be ongoing at a very slow rate as i had with a recent wine,

[WilliamG]

Put some Jamago Shiraz on a couple of days ago. 2 litres concentrate, 6 of water, half a packet of Lalvin 1118. No sugar. Hydrometer said 21% !!!!! After 3 days it is showing SG of 1.030 and bubbling nicely. Ready for Songkran.

[WilliamG]

On 12/25/2021 at 8:20 AM, WilliamG said:

Put some Jamago Shiraz on a couple of days ago. 2 litres concentrate, 6 of water, half a packet of Lalvin 1118. No sugar. Hydrometer said 21% !!!!! After 3 days it is showing SG of 1.030 and bubbling nicely. Ready for Songkran.

It stopped bubbling, so just added 50gm of sugar. Man, did it foam up.

[Marble-eye]

Got back home just over a week ago, I'd left a container in the fridge with my red wine in it, it had been there for just a month and lo and behold it was still murky. However my pomegranate wine that was left on my table was as clear as a bell.

Brought the Jamago back with me and was keen to get productive, I'd even bought some yeast that is recommended especially for white wine, Lalvin QA23. Did 8 litres of Sauvignon Blanc to start with and added half of the packet of the special yeast and if by a miracle...nothing happened, added the rest of the packet, still no action, so added half a packet of the trusted Lalvin 1118 and instant success. Did 8 litres of the Chardonnay a few days layer and no problems with the 1118. Still have my Muscat juice to look forward to have a go at yet.

Hope you all had a nice Christmas, cheers.

The one on the left is the Chardonnay, the Sauvignon has lost its head but is still bubbling away like billy-ho.

 

[Faraday]

Yes, we had a great day, I drank....well, too much, & was in the doghouse this morning. 

[Marble-eye]

On 12/8/2021 at 7:31 PM, WilliamG said:

It will be drinkable alcoholic after a week, but as it says, or be kept in a bottle for ageing.

I have left my Jamago stuff for a month after bottling and it is pretty good.

William did you degas, what was the abv of the wine and was it clear when you bottled it? Having said all that I believe you did the red?

I have just done my Sauvignon Blanc and my Chardonnay and I tried to degas it and it started to ferment again, both are down to 13.8% abv now, but very murky.

Cheers

[WilliamG]

On 1/5/2022 at 5:50 PM, Marble-eye said:

William did you degas, what was the abv of the wine and was it clear when you bottled it? Having said all that I believe you did the red?

I have just done my Sauvignon Blanc and my Chardonnay and I tried to degas it and it started to ferment again, both are down to 13.8% abv now, but very murky.

Cheers

Ii have now done Shiraz, Sauvignon white & red and Chardonnay. All were clear after a week or so fermentation, starting at about the 14 ABV mark. I rack after that and leave for a couple more weeks, then bottle. All seem pretty clear without any finings. After a couple more weeks they are consumed.

[Marble-eye]

At the moment I have 8 litres of Sauv Blanc, 8 litres of Chardonnay, 12 litres of red grape juice and 10 litres of Muscat. The problem is they won't stop bubbling and thus won't clear, I will have another go at de-gassing today.

Tried a specimen of the Sauvignon Blanc a la mud last night, it actually tastes ok but looks terrible.

 

[Marble-eye]

Bottled the Sauvignon and the Chardonnay today, it actually looked clearer in the tub than it does in the bottle.

However just sampling a Sauvignon at the moment and I have to say I would pay good money for a bottle of this in a restaurant. Cheers.

[DesperateOldHand]

Well done. I might imagine that proper grape wine production, and getting it right, would be an exercise of trial and error. 

Whereas, creating distilled spirits is lesser of a challenge by the mechanics and chemistry of it all. 

[Marble-eye]

2 minutes ago, DesperateOldHand said:

Well done. I might imagine that proper grape wine production, and getting it right, would be an exercise of trial and error. 

Whereas, creating distilled spirits is lesser of a challenge by the mechanics and chemistry of it all. 

I have done beer and wine is a newish venture for me, but when it comes to distilling spirits I have read about it only, you have to really know what your doing, it must be so easy to poison yourself. Spirits are so cheap to buy here in Thailand anyway, whereas a bottle of fruit wine costs an arm and a leg and tastes like slops. IMHO.