[WeavingGryphon]

Hello.

Can anyone tell me what, if anything we can use instead of camden tablets?
Husband is sensitive to sulphite.

Thank you

[Growster...]

I gave up on them, Weavers - mainly because we don't let any wine last too long, and yes, it may be a preservative, but if you're making stuff for a few weeks hence, which we do, I never bother!

Any help?

[WeavingGryphon]

I gave up on them, Weavers - mainly because we don't let any wine last too long, and yes, it may be a preservative, but if you're making stuff for a few weeks hence, which we do, I never bother!

Any help?

I'm not sure, how do you define long? 
Because the (parsnip and citrus) wine recipe says leave to sit for at least 1 year in bottles and it says you can leave it for years. We've no way to ensure it's sterile. I read on the internet you can boiling it before bottling. But that's going to cause the alcohol to evaporate off.
We made a double batch to get rid of the parsnips, it cooled overnight and was filtered, yeast, yeast nutrient and pectrolase was added yesterday and it smells nice and is frothing away merrily away to itself in a food grade bucket.

Actually can I ask another question, can I just make wine in food grade buckets rather than demijohns. We have 2 proper demijohns and I'm hoping to do everything before the bottle stage in buckets and those 2 demi johns. Seeing to the bottom to see if it has legs or lees or whatever it's called will be a problem but I am hoping that's the only one.

Can you recommend any books? That's what I'm learning from.

[Growster...]

I'm no expert, but maybe a year would need some sort of preservative, to stop the wine going 'off' at some stage. I understand parsnip is one of the best and well worth the effort, but have never made it. There is a wine-making section on our chat line here, and there might be some useful tips!

When I say 'not long enough', we always use a recipe for a red wine called Christleton, it's ready in three weeks, and finished after a suitable time...

See here - blimey, was it that long ago!
https://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=77564.0

As for books, try this one. https://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Steps-Winemaking-C-Berry/dp/1854861395 The book we have is from Boots, around 1973, and probs isn't in print now!

I'd often use food-grade buckets, but keep them covered with a cloth (to keep the flies out), at least until everything has settled down, and you can then decant into the demijohn. I think some people buy gallon water bottles from the supermarket, which work quite well - we always use five gal containers, but I usually up the quants to make seven gals, and they turn out just fine! Plenty of containers for sale on Ebay! We use these people, but they're struggling a bit at the moment... https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/index.html

I'd have thought the residue from sulphites would have little consequences if used in such small quants, but again, don't quote me on that!

Hope this helps!

[TonyB.]

I thought camden tablets were sulfides?

I use 5 gallon wine/beer making buckets. The lid flap need to be lifted up to get the lid off - having done that lid goes back on without me locking it down. You can see the sludge at the bottom through the sides. When it comes to syphoning off I syphon into 2 Gal bucket then pour into the 5 Gal as I have difficultdy carrying 5 Gal.

The "top class" wines do not use sulfides at all and they last. It just takes longer to clear.

[grinling]

I make cider and beer in food grade 6 gallon  buckets and have a hole in the top with a bubble trap.

I have forgotton to do campden tablet in demijohn before and found the wine can keep a fizz. I bottled up recently 4 year old demijohns. I use stoppers.

[WeavingGryphon]

Where did my reply go? I am really sorry everyone, I've replied 3 times to this and it never seems to post.

The yeast we have is a generic wine yeast, and it seems to be working in both our current wines, a parsnip and John's raspberry. Is John going to publish a wine book any time soon? Hint hint, you'd know it'd be reliable.

Wiki says

Campden tablets (potassium or sodium metabisulfite) are a sulfur-based product that is used primarily to sterilize wine, cider and in beer making to kill bacteria and to inhibit the growth of most wild yeast

.

He's one of the people why gets wheezy when there's too much sulphites. 

I make cider and beer in food grade 6 gallon  buckets and have a hole in the top with a bubble trap.

I have forgotten to do campden tablet in demijohn before and found the wine can keep a fizz. I bottled up recently 4 year old demijohns. I use stoppers.

Thank you, for that information. I'm really pleased I can leave the future "wine" in the buckets rather than loads of bottles. We got 5x 5L buckets for just under £13. 5x 10L weren't much more.
We'd rather not spend on demijohns when for far cheaper we can get food grade buckets. Opaque, but lighter and unlike demijohns if they broke. There's no smash, uggh, glass everywhere. When the kids are older maybe. Also we're keeping an eye on gumtree for people clearing out. We can get glass kit gradually.

Here is both of ours after being stirred. The raspberries are almost colourless, it releases bubbles when stirred. Both are much less bubbly than a few days ago. The parsnip will need filtered and away into the only 2 demijohns we have.

Okay, so we can get away without killing Husband by inducing asthma like symptoms. All we currently need is a siphon. Can you get away without a siphon and instead filter through a straining cloth?
Would I be okay to store it under the stairs? it's a steady cool temperature and the kids won't knock it over?

[grinling]

Problem I see is eliminating the air inside which will turn the wine into vinegar. Cider and beer is about 10 days max before bottling.
I currently have rhubarb which will be racked into a new demijohn.

[WeavingGryphon]

Problem I see is eliminating the air inside which will turn the wine into vinegar. Cider and beer is about 10 days max before bottling.
I currently have rhubarb which will be racked into a new demijohn.

We were hoping that the yeast would displace any reactive air with carbon dioxide. Husband has a severe reaction so we don't have any choice, some beers have actually nearly landed him in hospital and certain brands are a no go.

We've just filtered our raspberry into it's demibucket and it's not bubbled since so we're worried about that. Do you have any suggestions? Both of the parsnip demijohns are bubbling away the best.

[grinling]

You can try restarting the wine with yeast and sugar.
Looking online, you can buying an additive to remove sulfites from wine

[WeavingGryphon]

You can try restarting the wine with yeast and sugar.
Looking online, you can buying an additive to remove sulfites from wine

We siphoned it yesterday into a demijohn so we could see what is happening, also the recipe said to. It had white bits on the surface and a lot of chalky white sludge on the bottom. It's now bubbling away to itself like crazy.

We don't know if the white blobs are a problem. I was worried it was mould but it looked a lot like the powdery sludge on the bottom. But once it was in the demijohn it started to bubble away a lot. It's subsided a bit but you can hear a bloop every so often. So it's clearly alive.

[Growster...]

You can try restarting the wine with yeast and sugar.
Looking online, you can buying an additive to remove sulfites from wine

We siphoned it yesterday into a demijohn so we could see what is happening, also the recipe said to. It had white bits on the surface and a lot of chalky white sludge on the bottom. It's now bubbling away to itself like crazy.

We don't know if the white blobs are a problem. I was worried it was mould but it looked a lot like the powdery sludge on the bottom. But once it was in the demijohn it started to bubble away a lot. It's subsided a bit but you can hear a bloop every so often. So it's clearly alive.

I'd keep going then, Weavers - bubbles mean a result!