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Well I have finally got round to attempting my first wine making excercise. Armed with 60lb of cherries from my tree last year and a book about how to make wine I decided to invaded the local brewing shop and refused to leave until I had completely downloaded the poor guys brain . I now have a a giant bin fermenting away in the kitchen I am so excited. I really hope it works form 12lb of cherries I got a gallon of juice!! It looks wonderful and smells even better I can't wait to taste it. Even if it doesn't work at least I've got plenty of fruit so I can try again.

Racking on tuesday (look I have even learnt the lingo)!!

How long will it be until you're able to drink it? That's always been my 'worry' when thinking of trying homebrewing!!

Sounds very tasty - I love cherries!

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Nice one Elmo! I started homebrewing two years ago and have been slowly scaling up operations. I've got birch sap wine, mixed-berry port, lime-flower mead and orange wine on the go at the moment, soon to start the gorse flower wine too. One thing I've learnt is patience, sometimes putting a bottled wine into storage for a year or so improves the flavour immensely, if you can hold yourself back for that long!

Once you get rolling it is quite easy to lay some wine down as you will have enough to knock an army down.

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Best wishes
Andrewo
Harbinger of Rhubarb tales

Beer is much quicker, can be ready to drink in a couple of weeks. You can get pressure barrels with a tap on so you don't even need to bottle it!

You soon get used to the yeasty taste sbp

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

make sure you keep the air out of your cherries, it is unusual to brew wine in a brew bin. You can use the bin to start the ferment but not for too long. One week. then into a container with an air lock, for the rest of the ferment.

One of my first efforts as wine making was orange wine. Boy was it good ... put me on my ear after one glass! The problem is, the next time you try making it, it's just not the same!

Mmmmm .. wonder if there are any decent oranges in the shops!

Elmo how is it going??. You should have racked it at least once by now hopefully more than that. I always have a taste when I rack as it lets you see how things are going. Am interested to know how it tastes and what you added to it???.

Hi everyone,

a quick update the wine is fermenting away in the demijohns so far so good its been in them for nearly a month so I was thinking about racking it again as there is some sediment in the bottom now but I wasn't sure if it was a bit soon, any suggestions??

Its very very dark so not sure how I'm supposed to tell when it starts to clear it looks like port (with a slightly pinker hue). I got the receipe from a book (a red one think the author is Berry, apparently its a good one). All I added was the cherries, sugar, water, burgundy yeast, citric acid and yeast food. I'm sooooooooooooooooooo excited!!!!

If you can see a clear line of sediment in the bottom of the demijohn and the wine doesn't look hazy then it's ready to rack. Make sure you sterilise everything! If you're not sure you could rack it anyway, does no harm.

Sounds delish!

I can see a clear line of sediment but its so dark I can't really tell if its hazy or not. Maybe I should rack it anyway its still bubbling happily, but I heard if you leave it sat on sediment for too long it can get a bit stale tasting.

I won't forget to steralise I was so worried about that bit at first that I even sterilised my hands

You can never be to clean as far as wine is concerned. You can rack it at any time, the point is to take the wine away from the sediment. You are correct that if the lees or sediment is left in too long it will impart a dead yeast taste which is not nice. So rack it and take a small taster as you do it. Wonderful

I've done it I racked it yeaterday and snook a little taste its wonderful think it might be a little strong though

Since I racked it it seems to have stopped bubbling is that normal??

Hi Elmo
I've been making fruit wines for the last 5 years. The pectin from the fruit usually gives the wine a haze, but i have recently discovered 'finings'. It magically clears the wine far more than you could by just racking.
I still rack my wine but after maybe the 3rd time use finings, this usually comes in 2 bottles. Obviously follow the instructions but basically you put in a spoonful of bottle 1, wait an hour, put in a spoonful of bottle 2. Then after 24 hours you'll be amazed at how cristal clear your wine is and how much more sediment has been seperated.
The more haze in the wine, the worse your headache the next day!
Hope this helps & Good Luck

Hi! Elmo, When you tasted it, was it sweet. If yes then perhaps the seal around the neck of the container is leaking. If the brew has stopped and it has not reached the alcohol content you expect and it is still sweet then you need to start it again. If it has been brewing for months then it will be difficulkt to start again. To start again make a yeast sugar mix and let it start to bubble then add the brew to the starter slowly. Increase the volume by 100% each day untill the whole lot is fermenting. I hope it tasted fine which will explain why the ferment stopped, then you can just bottle it.
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