[poultrygeist]

I'm following John's blackberry wine recipe from the Frugal book (substituting blackberries for rasps) and have put the must in a bin with sugar, yeast and nutrient.

Do I keep the lid on loose for gases to escape or keep it on tight to omit contaminents ?

Obviously opening to stir daily 

Ta v much

Rob

[joyfull]

don't know Rob but let us know when it's finished and I'll bring my glass round, never tried raspberry wine but it sounds luurvley 

[poultrygeist]

Needs at least 12 months to mature apparently    Need to make somethign a bit more 'instant' in the meantime 

Rob

[joyfull]

12 months!! and theres me with me pint glass in hand  and engine running  (wouldn't help me though as I don't know where you live around boston, suppose I could ask people for the family who take in stray ducklings sure someone would know 

[Jay Dubya]

Hi, lid on tight as they are not airtight and will protect your wine better.

[poultrygeist]

Cheers JW.

I had a chat with my Dad earlier, who was a winemaking geek in the 70s and 80s but he couldn't remember what he did 

When I stirred it, it took me straight back to my childhood. Smells lovely, although I overdid the sugar so it may well be too sweet but I'm sure it'll be within limits.

Rob

[GrannieAnnie]

JW beat me to it Rob!  Those vinegar flies are tiny little things and will get in anywhere!  so yes, keep lid on tight til you want to stir, stir quick and replace lid quick!!!

And don't worry if its a bit too sweet, raspberry liquer is very nice, and will go down well over your bowl of ice cream.  Oh sorry, you don't eat much ice cream do you?  but WE do!!!! lol

[poultrygeist]

Quick update on the rasp wine.

It wasn't really doing anything after I transferred it to a demijohn so I tried makign a little starter bottle but that didn't do a lot so I went for the bold move of splitting the wine into 2 demijohns, adding a teaspoon of yeast and nutrient and topping up with water and they're both now bubbling away well, so at least I'll get something.
The bit I got from the syphon tube tasted very nice so I can't wait for the next racking to try a bit of the now watered down stuff.

Rob

[Kate and her Ducks]

Have to say the syphoning bit has got me foxed. Everything goes on about how clean you have to keep things and then you suck on the end of the syphoning tubing. Even if you brush you teeth surely it's  hardly clean!

[poultrygeist]

I did think that myself as I got a mouthfull but I suppose it's clean on the inside of the tube. Avoid dipping the end in the wine. Unless oral bacteria won't multiply in the presence of alcohol ?
Maybe there's a moral there.

ROb