Wine making question

Now after you get real fancy there are temperature charts available that give you a correction number to add or subtract from you hydrometer reading. I used to use all that and brought most any book available on the subject. Some thick and some thin. And I studied and studied. Now days I just relax and do it simple and it works out.

Now corking is a long story in itself but I will save that for another time. And these days I have no books on the subject; just my memory and how feble it is.

I am new to this so bare with me please, yesterday i started a 1 gallon batch of pineapple wine from concentrate, i followed the recipe to a T and after the first 12 hours i put the yeast in like it said. When i woke up this morning i thought that it looked way different than the batch of fruit wine that is started, what i mean by different is that nothing was happening in the bucket till i stirred the must. Now the batch of fruit wine that i have going you can watch the yeast work, in the concentrate batch after i stirred it i now have about a 1/2 inch layer of yeast on the top and can only hear the fermentation going on and not see it. I also want to add that the kinda yeast i put in was Montrachet i hope that it is just the way that the concentrate batches are or am i or did i do something wrong. ??? Here is a couple pics of the batch in question.


I was just going to let this go and see what happened but i want to know what my wrongs are if there are any so i don't do it again.

Everything is fine. Just relax now and let it do its thing. I have used Montrachet yeast many times over the years. I think most any good wine yeast will work as long as you do not use natural yeast (floating around in the air) or bakers yeast. No need to stir it a lot as it will take care of itself. You might scrape down the edges once in a while especially after the bulk fermenting slows down.

You are doing great! Enjoy the simple things in life. For thousands of years people have been making wine. Remember the Wedding feast? They must have drank a lot of wine as they ran out before the Miracle was done. Then they drank more only better stuff. My my such a happy time. Ahhhhh good friends and great wine. What more could you ask.

Thank you again Bernie i was a bit worried about it, tomorrow i should have my last shipment of stuff that i ordered and will post a few pictures as soon as i get it this is rather fun i must say so myself and i do like a challenge.

Sounds like you are doing everything just like you are supposed to Mike & Beth!~! Great job on the first batch of homemade wine!~!~!

bluegill wrote:

Sounds like you are doing everything just like you are supposed to Mike & Beth!~! Great job on the first batch of homemade wine!~!~!

Thanks it's alot of fun learning this stuff, it also helps to have hands on help from good friends thank you Bernie.

Yep yep it does, Mike!~!

Hey Mike here's a page with links to wine labels. The best thing I've found for applying them is milk. Yep just print it on regular paper, and then float the back side in a bit of milk, and then just apply to the bottle. I tried glue sticks and that was a mess trying to get off the bottle. With the milk applied label you just soak it in water for a bit and it peels right off.
http://wine.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Free_Printable_Wine_Labels
http://www.onlinelabels.com/templates.htm

Thanks Ridge that is cool to.

Ok today i racked my first batch into there secondary jugs and put the air-locks on, this is my apricot batch and it tastes awesome already even though it's a bit cloudy. I had a bit extra at the bottom that had a lot of pulp in it and wouldn't fit in the gallon jugs so i put it in a gallon glass jug to let it settle in there i think that should work, couple more days i will be able to rack the pineapple batch and then it will be payday and i can order more jugs and get a couple 5 gallon jugs for bigger batches the little woman wants watermelon wine so i have to get that going soon. Here are a couple pictures of the wine already racked in there jugs yep it's cloudy but it smells like wine in my house.

Looking good! You'll find out on this journey that some batches will be great and some won't be so great. It helps to keep a log or notebook about what you did when you did it and conditions of the fermentation. That way it will be easier to duplicate the good ones. I made some sparkling wine by mistake once. I tasted the wine before bottling and it was bitter, I added some grape juice about a week before bottling, and it had a secondary fermentation in the bottle. I didn't have wine bottles or a hydrometer, so I put it in beer bottles and capped it off. One of the bottles burst. The other bottles were outstanding though.

Awww man,you said wine making?I thought ya said wine DRINKING!!

Hey Mike, one more tip you may want to think about is get one set of utensils reserved just for wine making. That way it would make a little easier to keep it clean and sanitized.

ridgerunner wrote:

Hey Mike, one more tip you may want to think about is get one set of utensils reserved just for wine making. That way it would make a little easier to keep it clean and sanitized.

That is funny, it was suppose to be here friday but will be here tomorrow lolol i ordered all that stuff on Thursday.

Looks like you have it going on pretty good, Mike!~! Hope it turns out good for you!

Is it ready to DRINK yet mike?

Hey; this is a lot of fun isn't it!

I have learned that you have to have patience even thought it is hard to do, nope not yet it is not ready but im waiting lolol.

How's the winemaking going? I need to rack mine into another fermenter this weekend if I can find the time. I have a 5 gallon batch of watermelon, and 2 1 gallon batches of apple. They've been working for about 10 months now.

As wine goes slow but sure, i will take a few pics later and get them posted.

Well i guess i forgot the pictures but i can say that i had 20 liters a few days ago on the 25th i now have 17 un-open and 2 open, BUT i also have a gallon of apple started again, a gallon of grape started again, 2 gallons of white grape raspberry started, and a 5 gallon batch of apple started, and a 3 gallon batch of blueberry from fruit started. and man are they starting to bubble away it smells cool in the house with all the gases they are giving off, and yep i have some going from the bread yeast to and it should be done by Christmas but i may not touch it till i do the rest im not sure yet. Good old Bernie would be proud of me yes he would, he inspired me the most to do this and i am going to do just that and pass my knowledge to my kids thanks old friend.

Hey Mike did you know that you can use the pulp/residue in the bottom of a batch to start another one? I did that with the apple wine I made. When I racked the first batch into another fermenter, I just added the juice to the other jug. I've done that with beer before too. Have you tried making mead yet? I'd like to find a local source for honey and give it a go.

Nope haven't tried the mead yet, i think once i get caught up on funds for the holiday i may have to look into it.

Hey Ridge, hows the wheat wine coming. ???

Here is what i have going.

In the box that you see behind the 2 jugs with balloons on them is a BLACKBERRY wine, now i still haven't read up as to why they want the jugs either in a brown glass bottle or a bottle with brown paper wrapped around it so i just put the 2 jugs in a box and taped things up. In the far side of the pic is a 5 gallon jug of APPLE wine that has been cooking now close to 3 months yummy. The jugs with the balloons on them (i had to put a new balloon on the one this morning because the other one blew up) is a GRAPE wine and a WHITE GRAPE/RASPBERRY wine. The jugs in the middle is Beths favorite PINEAPPLE , there is also WHITE GRAPE and APPLE, and WHITE GRAPE/APPLE. The WHITE GRAPE and the APPLE and the PINEAPPLE has been racked 1 time already just waiting for it to clear to rack a second time, it really smells like a brewery in my house lolol im hoping to get my room back up stairs before to long so it can be taken up stairs.