Well... just had my very first homebrew disaster...
Used a recipe i have done many a time before - a very simple strawberry wine made from cheap supermarket jam. Before i get into the gory details here was my method:
In a large bowl, scoop out 6 jars of the cheapest strawberry jam you can find - mine was 29p a jar at Tesco. add a little boiling water and mash until stir-able.
Then add a couple of teaspoons of pectolase and leave overnight. It should be almost entirely smooth, maybe a few lumps left but thats no bother.
Transfer to a pan and boil. boil for ages to get rid of any bacteria that may have grown in the sugar overnight.
Then add 1tsp of yeast nutrient and 1tsp of bentonite and whisk for 30 seconds vigorously.
WAIT UNTIL COOL
transfer into a 1 gallon DJ and top up to the neck with cold water. Add yeast, fit airlock and ferment until done, rack 2/3 times before bottling
Now... heres where i went wrong this time... I forgot to let it cool completely. this would have been fine had my DJ not been rather old and worse for ware.
The moment i began adding tap water to fill it up, i began to hear creaking noises, a few moments later and the entire batch was down the sink as the DJ broke into 3 large pieces. Utterly devastating as not only had i been excited about another batch of wine for the summer, but the DJ, being old, had a lot of memories with it.
so remember everyone, let the must cool to room temp before adding to a glass DJ, or disaster may occur...
Used a recipe i have done many a time before - a very simple strawberry wine made from cheap supermarket jam. Before i get into the gory details here was my method:
In a large bowl, scoop out 6 jars of the cheapest strawberry jam you can find - mine was 29p a jar at Tesco. add a little boiling water and mash until stir-able.
Then add a couple of teaspoons of pectolase and leave overnight. It should be almost entirely smooth, maybe a few lumps left but thats no bother.
Transfer to a pan and boil. boil for ages to get rid of any bacteria that may have grown in the sugar overnight.
Then add 1tsp of yeast nutrient and 1tsp of bentonite and whisk for 30 seconds vigorously.
WAIT UNTIL COOL
transfer into a 1 gallon DJ and top up to the neck with cold water. Add yeast, fit airlock and ferment until done, rack 2/3 times before bottling
Now... heres where i went wrong this time... I forgot to let it cool completely. this would have been fine had my DJ not been rather old and worse for ware.
The moment i began adding tap water to fill it up, i began to hear creaking noises, a few moments later and the entire batch was down the sink as the DJ broke into 3 large pieces. Utterly devastating as not only had i been excited about another batch of wine for the summer, but the DJ, being old, had a lot of memories with it.
so remember everyone, let the must cool to room temp before adding to a glass DJ, or disaster may occur...
