Home brew? Homebrew? Winemaking

Found out I got through to judges houses

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Well done!

Anyone got any suggestions for winemaking vessels? Guy I know is doing his own wine and looking for a better fermentation container. I think most people use plastic tubs but he's looking for ceramic. I was going to post in the kimchi thread because there's some kimchi containers that could work but homebrew sounds more appropriate.

@hippy How big does he need? Can get glass demijohns up to 5L from Wilkos and brewing stores will often sell much larger glass vessels designed for wines and meads. Glass is nice and easy to clean but obviously want to wrap it or keep it somewhere dark so the wine isn't degraded.

demijohns up to 5L from Wilkos

That's exactly what he mentioned :) I guess because it's probably out in the kitchen or something he wanted a sun-proof vessel. I'd just use a bucket and leave it in the cupboard but I presume he wants something sexier or maybe 'more traditional' is more accurate.

Brown glass stops sun degradation in beer, I don't know if it'll help wine as it has a longer fermentation period.

Yeah, no idea. I just drink the stuff, not make it.

Plastic 5 gallon buckets are optimum unless he wants to do much bigger or smaller amounts. Plastic is cheap, lightweight and bounces when dropped. Glass and earthenware, well, ya know.
@hippy

Glass also has a habit of cracking or shattering when being cleaned from shock of change in temperature if you use hot water (I sadly have experience of this). He could go stainless if he's got money to burn.

Anyone want 64 x 568 ml empty bottles for free? All clean and label free in cardboard boxes. Originally Bulmers / Magners bottles. Collect from SW17

Cheers

dibs !
could collect at the weekend?

Brilliant! PM me with times that suit and we’ll work it out!

Cracked open the ginger champagne yesterday, over a year in the making so I was pretty excited to see how it came out... Totally flat :( what did I do wrong? Not enough sugar in the priming? Left too long before bottling and priming? Something else?

Pretty disappointing tbh.

Exceptionally boring in comparison to the above but we picked up a "starter kit" style thing where you get everything you could ever need for a basic homebrew.

Just 23L of nondescript pale ale for starters and we will see how it works out, been fermenting since Sunday, but the temperature is consistently reading in the 26-27 range, when the instructions suggest 23. Hopefully this doesn't cause the fermentation to go too fast and ruin the flavour? 100% noob here.

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Speaking of kits, I never knew they were still doing those high alcohol peach schnapps etc kits that you used to get from Boots in the 90s. I put one on for a laugh since I had a spare demijohn. Be interesting to see how it comes out brewed in a proper glass demijohn, not rushed through, and with some actual brew knowledge this time round.

Fermentation has pretty much finished and I’m just letting it mostly clear by itself so the yeast can tidy up for itself. Should make for a cleaner brew overall.

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I'm taking my first step in to home brew this weekend. Home brew cider from a kit. Pictures to follow.

Any advice greatly received.

Just don’t rush it. Let the yeast do its thing in its own time and you’ll get a better brew. If it says leave it to ferment for 3 weeks then give it 4-5 instead. Don’t worry about a bit of residual yeast, it won’t do you any harm. Real cider is not fizzy or sweet - but you can sweeten it in the glass when you serve it. That way you won’t need to use any preservatives to stop it fermenting.

Supermarket apple juice and wine yeast makes perfectly acceptable cider.

Where can I pick up some Champagne Yeast (or wine yeast at a push) today between central and SE?

Water into beer?

https://waterintobeer.co.uk/collections/yeast?page=2

This my first attempt at home brew. It's from Wilkinson so we shall see what happens.

Tempted to find some grolsch bottles

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Thanks for this. Actually found some in Wilco in the end.

Bottled some cider to free up a demijohn for some elderflower wine. Cider is tasting good, dry & crisp. Unfortunately my 2nd demijohn of it has a film yeast.

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I'm going to try & make coffee wine from cold brew... has anyone here done this with any success?

^ 2.5l cold brew to get going @ 60g/l using an Ethiopian coffee, naturally processed (less "acidity" apparently).

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This is entirely news to me. Eager to see how you get on