First go at proper wine

by Chilli-head 31st August 2018, 10:57 pm

So, those grapes now look like this:

De-stemmed and lightly crushed by hand - a bit tedious. Yeast has just gone in, I want to ferment on the pulp for a day or two to try to get some of that blush colour from the Schuerrebe grapes. Then I'll press it, and finish fermenting in a demijohn. Quite excited to try this, but not expecting great things.

by Ploshkin 2nd September 2018, 7:34 am

Oh, that disappointing Chilli Head. I was hoping to see a picture of you treading your grapes!

by Chilli-head 8th September 2018, 9:05 pm

After a vigorous and slightly messy start, it is now bubbling nicely, and has picked up about the right blush colour from the skins:

Now I just need to go and clean the garage floor ...

by FloBear 9th September 2018, 1:18 pm

Oops!
I have to say that looks exactly like my grandmother's rice wine that she tried to make once. She was a bit of an experimenter and most of her concoctions turned out a bit odd, I believe!
Good luck with the fermenting or whatever it's doing.

by Chilli-head 10th September 2018, 10:07 am

I have some Sake - Japanese rice wine, that my friend gave me to drink on top of Fuji to celebrate. I'm not such a great fan as to carry it all the way up there !

A lot of home brewing is a bit dodgy. I think pride that you made it yourself in a necessary ingredient ! My day used to make "Country wines", and had the classic books by CJJ Berry. The recipies puzzled me; many were just fermented granulated sugar with botanicals really. I stick to mead an fruits with enough natural sugar.

It has now slowed down somewhat, and is beginning to settle out. Once the murk settled, it's a pretty shade pink, at least Very Happy

by Chilli-head 27th January 2019, 6:07 pm

The weather being a bit cold, I decided to stay home and do some bottling today. So, whilst siphoning, I drew off a glass of this for tasting. A pleasing blush colour - though the photo doesn't do it justice IMHO, with a muscat-like fresh, grapey nose. And it tastes quite respectable for a first go ! Even Mrs C-H was complimentary (and she is usually honest with her opinions of my homebrews)

by freebird 28th January 2019, 2:04 pm

That looks pretty good to me, though I'm no expert. How many bottles are you likely to get?

by Chilli-head 28th January 2019, 2:31 pm

Only 6 bottles, but I had not expected to get enough grapes from my two vines for that. It was an exceptional summer, so I may not do as well in more regular years.

I have got 3 gallons of mead to tide me over though.

by FloBear 30th January 2019, 6:36 pm

Tick, vg, CH. Looks lovely and clear and, if Mrs CH was complimentary, it must be good Wink

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First go at proper wine

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