help with wine please:)

[Mac]

Hi. I'm planning on starting making wine, have got most of the equipment and some really gorgous sounding recipes, just a couple of questions. What is "nutrient" and how much do you add to the wine, and how much yeast do you add (most of the recipes just say "add nutrient" or "add yeast". Lots of raspberries and red elderberries just waiting to be fermented!

[shirlthegirl43]

A good forum for you if you are looking to start brewing is this one...


Wines at Home

Yeast nutrient feeds the yeast and helps it ferment better. Amount of nutrient is usually given in the recipe, yeast is supplied in 5g packets and this is usually sufficient for up to a 5 gallon batch.

[Mac]

Thanks for that Shirl, will definataly check out the site.

[lez]

by nutrient they usually mean adding a food to get the yeast going properly. if you dump it into a gallon of mix it takes time for it to get going. to speed things up you add a nutrient. I use a mild sugar solution in warm water then add the yeast and leave it in a seperate container. you will see the yeast rise after 12 hrs then add it to your brew and it will go quicker. the yeast will feed on the broken down goodies in the suger and the only thing that stops yeast is lack of sugar, dry wine, or to hot and the yeats will die or the level of alcohol kills the yeast. hence sloe gin doesn't ferment as the level of alcohol is already to high and the fruit takes time to infuse into the liquor. good luck it is a fun hobby and as chief taster I get to sample the brew . remember for every bubble you see escaping from your airlock or in the demi there is the equivalent amount of alcohol in the brew. treat with respect as some like snips have a habit of kicking you from behind. cheers.

[Mac]

thanks Lez. Could either (or anyone else) recommend a good online retailer to get the gubbins from. There don't appear to be any shops in the Aberdeen area! cheers

[shirlthegirl43]

There are a few listed on the forum I gave the link for - some with discounts for forum members.

[Hilary B]

what brew-shops sell as 'yeast nutrient' is some chemicals that yeast uses. You might call them trace elements. After rather more than half-a-bottle of nice Merlot, I can't remember exactly what, but I THINK it is mainly potassium phosphate. Just as your veg will grow with an addition of Nitrogen, but be better for a balanced (organic) fertilizer, winemaking yeast will operate on 'just sugar'. but do better with the balanced 'feed' of a commercially produced 'yeast nutrient'. I always add 1 level teaspoonful per gallon for non-fruit wines, and half for fruit wines.

[Two_Sheds]

yeast is supplied in 5g packets and this is usually sufficient for up to a 5 gallon batch.

I didn't read the pack, and dumped the whole lot into one gallon

btw, what a brilliant site this is, I wish I'd found it weeks ago, instead of trying to decipher CJJ ruddy Berry

[shirlthegirl43]

I have been putting links in brewing threads on here for ages