Two_Sheds' Greengage Wine

[shirlthegirl43]

No worries. Hope there are no bugs in it and you get a good brew

[Keith2202]

Great
Thanks for your help.

[shirlthegirl43]

Yike, you deffo need to half fill with water. Just pop them under the tap (running slowly)

I would suggest you have a good check of your wine to make sure there are no bugs in it.

[Keith2202]

Winemaking / Homebrew Airlock and Bung 2's Wine Making on eBay (end time 11-Oct-09 09:47:54 BST)
looks like one of these (without the lid on)

[shirlthegirl43]

what sort of airlock have you got?

[Keith2202]

Oh right.

Next stupid question, how do I fill it with water? Won't the water just run out into the "wine"?

You can tell I didn't bother with much reading up on this, just dived straight in!

Thanks
Keith

[shirlthegirl43]

Does that mean I am supposed to have filled the airlock with water somehow?
I bottled my first demi john last night and just stuck the airlockbung in the top, I didn't know I had to do anything else!?

The airlock should be half filled with water - it stops fruit flies getting in to your wine.

[Keith2202]

Does that mean I am supposed to have filled the airlock with water somehow?
I bottled my first demi john last night and just stuck the airlockbung in the top, I didn't know I had to do anything else!?

[Hazel at the Hill]

It went into a glass demijohn, and is really fizzing, but not blupping

The 'blup' factor depends on how full the airlock is, I think (i.e. if at the 'bubble point' the water level is on a thin or a fat bit of the airlock)

As long as you have some fizz going on, it's doing it's stuff.

[Two_Sheds]

It went into a glass demijohn, and is really fizzing, but not blupping

[Two_Sheds]

SG was 1030 before adding sugar, 1100 afterwards

[Two_Sheds]

I am desiring a strength of 12% (which is an SG of 1090, or 235g of sugar per litre).
an SG of 1030 = 78g of sugar per litre.
Little bit of maths, following my book: 235-78= 157. So I needed to add 157g sugar per litre. I have one gallon. or 4.5 litres

157g x 4.5 litres = 706 grams of sugar. That isn't enough! I added 1400g.

[Two_Sheds]

some recipes suggest using 250g minced barley, which gives a sherry flavour. It's not needed.

Greengage Wine (Chardonnay-ish)

4lb greengages (or other plums) (mine were frozen)
1 litre white grape juice
1.5 kilo sugar
1 tsp citric acid (or juice of 1 lemon)
1 tsp pectolase
1 tsp nutrient
yeast for a white wine
(original recipe said 1 tsp tannin, but plums are naturally high in tannin so I left it out)

In a fermenting bin, pour 5 pints boiling water over the fruit & leave overnight, then add everything else the next day. Check SG (should be about 1090).

Leave to sit for 1-3 days, stirring daily, then strain into a demijohn, adding another half tsp of pectolase

Ferment as usual. When it stops bubbling, rack into a clean DJ, add one campden tablet and one potassium sorbate tablet (not sure if both are strictly necessary, I just used Campden)

Leave about a month to clear before racking again.

Bottle when sparkling clear.

This is really nice after maturing for a year