i found them. but forgot what size they are.
www.northernbrewer.com sells rubber stoppers for the 5 gal poland spring bottles.
www.northernbrewer.com sells rubber stoppers for the 5 gal poland spring bottles.
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Kit Winemaking Tutorial
- Thread starter vintner
- Start date
Homegrow3r
Member
I'm just capping the bottles with tin foil, no need for bungs I believe.
I do intend to cap them when I do my next equipment order, have a big one about to go through in the next few days, but for now they'll do with foil.
I do intend to cap them when I do my next equipment order, have a big one about to go through in the next few days, but for now they'll do with foil.
It's dandelion season!
It's dandelion season!
Started a 12Lt batch of dandelion wine this week.
Recipe:
6 quarts of trimmed flowers. (mostly petals, and very little green. A PAIN to process.)
4.5 pounds of sugar.
3 cans of Welches frozen white grape juice concentrate.
The zest and juice of 6 oranges and 3 lemons.
3 tsp Yeast nutrient.
1.5 tsp bentonite.
1.5 tsp pectic enzyme.
Champagne yeast.
Respect your zester LOL
Once the flowers are trimmed, a gallon or so of boiling water is poured over them and they get stirred twice a day for 2 days. No more than that. Then zest the citrus, and bring the flowers back to a boil. Once they've cooled enough to handle, strain out the flowers, add the rest of the ingredients, and let er rip!
It's dandelion season!
Started a 12Lt batch of dandelion wine this week.
Recipe:
6 quarts of trimmed flowers. (mostly petals, and very little green. A PAIN to process.)
4.5 pounds of sugar.
3 cans of Welches frozen white grape juice concentrate.
The zest and juice of 6 oranges and 3 lemons.
3 tsp Yeast nutrient.
1.5 tsp bentonite.
1.5 tsp pectic enzyme.
Champagne yeast.
Respect your zester LOL
Once the flowers are trimmed, a gallon or so of boiling water is poured over them and they get stirred twice a day for 2 days. No more than that. Then zest the citrus, and bring the flowers back to a boil. Once they've cooled enough to handle, strain out the flowers, add the rest of the ingredients, and let er rip!
Homegrow3r
Member
Never even considered that. Thanks Homegrow3r
Have you tried them on water bottles?Homegrow3r
Member
Never even considered that. Thanks Homegrow3r
Well no, cos the bottles that I have came out of the office cooler and still had the top on which has about a nine millimeter gap on it, so I cut a hole in the small plastic cap which blocks that hole and then siliconed a normal bubbler in. You have to be careful taking the caps off so as not to rip them beyond use, but you can get them back on and they seal.
But, if these ones rip too much and fail sometime, I'll be using those carboy caps.
Wine update
Wine update
Back in early April or I racked the Whelches wine out of the cracked carboy. Last month I racked it again into five 4Lt jugs and used to rest to determine how much I wanted to resweeten the wine. First I stabalized each jug w/a campden tablet and 1/2 tsp of potassium sorbate and let them sit for a week. Then I stirred in different amounts of sugar into 4 of the 5 jugs, and left one unsweetened. Final SG on this one was 0.996 which will give me an ABV of roughly 13.8%! As my good friend DonCotyle used to say "WEEEDOGIES"!
The dandelion wine was racked last month. I got two 4Lt jugs and a gallon jug. I didn't have enough sorbate on hand at the time to stabalize these, but will do so soon. Haven't decided if I'm going to sweeten any of them. Maybe one.
Nice and clear!
Both still need to sit and degas for a while before bottling.
Wine update
Back in early April or I racked the Whelches wine out of the cracked carboy. Last month I racked it again into five 4Lt jugs and used to rest to determine how much I wanted to resweeten the wine. First I stabalized each jug w/a campden tablet and 1/2 tsp of potassium sorbate and let them sit for a week. Then I stirred in different amounts of sugar into 4 of the 5 jugs, and left one unsweetened. Final SG on this one was 0.996 which will give me an ABV of roughly 13.8%! As my good friend DonCotyle used to say "WEEEDOGIES"!
The dandelion wine was racked last month. I got two 4Lt jugs and a gallon jug. I didn't have enough sorbate on hand at the time to stabalize these, but will do so soon. Haven't decided if I'm going to sweeten any of them. Maybe one.
Nice and clear!
Both still need to sit and degas for a while before bottling.
mjcuresall
Active member
We still stop by... Gonna be a while yet before I can contribute...
Simplify.
Simplify.
The lazy man's way?
Use less bottles.
Less to wash, yah?
I rack to buckets and have wine and mead on tap.
I pipe the Co2 to my grow room.
Waste not.
Then I rack it to a bucket and put the bucket on the shelf.
The 2' X 4' room is insulated with reflectix and uses a small room air-conditioner to hold 68 degrees F.
Usually fill 1/2 gallon bottles and put 'em in da fridge in da summer.
(dat's all year roun' here :-}).
That's Christmasberry mead and cranberry/cherry wine.
Minimum wasteful washing, minimum effort per gallon.
Like I said LAY Z.
But it works.
Aloha
from da Hawaiian inebriatti.
Weeze
Simplify.
The lazy man's way?
Use less bottles.
Less to wash, yah?
I rack to buckets and have wine and mead on tap.
I pipe the Co2 to my grow room.
Waste not.
Then I rack it to a bucket and put the bucket on the shelf.
The 2' X 4' room is insulated with reflectix and uses a small room air-conditioner to hold 68 degrees F.
Usually fill 1/2 gallon bottles and put 'em in da fridge in da summer.
(dat's all year roun' here :-}).
That's Christmasberry mead and cranberry/cherry wine.
Minimum wasteful washing, minimum effort per gallon.
Like I said LAY Z.
But it works.
Aloha
from da Hawaiian inebriatti.
Weeze
Thanks for stopin by guys. MJ: I was just kidding. I don't come here much either LOL Still makin wine though. Got a merlot and a very potent white zin clearing, and a peach/apricot in the secondary. All kits.
randude101: I hate washing bottles too. What is this "tool" that you mentioned?
Weezard: Those sounds delicious! Very nice setup
When I have more room, I plan to do that as well. Good for masking smells too IMO, all wines and meads will benefit from time in the bottle. I've only ever let one go too long. They always get better and better.
Not tryin to start an argument. Just makin conversation. Just like w/growin pot, there aint no right or wrong way to make wine. You do what works for you. With that in mind, got to ask... if you like to drink it right away on tap, why don't you make beer instead? Don't know much about making beer.
randude101: I hate washing bottles too. What is this "tool" that you mentioned?
Weezard: Those sounds delicious! Very nice setup
When I have more room, I plan to do that as well. Good for masking smells too IMO, all wines and meads will benefit from time in the bottle. I've only ever let one go too long. They always get better and better. Not tryin to start an argument. Just makin conversation. Just like w/growin pot, there aint no right or wrong way to make wine. You do what works for you. With that in mind, got to ask... if you like to drink it right away on tap, why don't you make beer instead? Don't know much about making beer.
Mahalo! Did I mention dat I'm lazy?
Mahalo! Did I mention dat I'm lazy?
"Weezard: Those sounds delicious! Very nice setup When I have more room, I plan to do that as well. Good for masking smells too IMO, all wines and meads will benefit from time in the bottle. I've only ever let one go too long. They always get better and better.
They age well, if slower, in the buckets too.
The downside?
Contamination.
Could ruin the whole enchilada
Not tryin to start an argument. Just makin conversation.
It's a good point.
And I do bottle some.
But, usually end up gifting what's in bottles before I get to taste it myself.
Just like w/growin pot, there aint no right or wrong way to make wine. You do what works for you. With that in mind, got to ask... if you like to drink it right away on tap, why don't you make beer instead? Don't know much about making beer."
Not right away, jus' all da way. ;-}
Hello, lazy guy here!
Got very tired of brewing beer.
Thought I'd give da wine a try.
Wine's expensive, beer, I'll buy.
Vinting is a gentleman's game.
Brewing is long, hard, work.
I can knock out 5 gallons of wine in an hour.
15 gallons of beer? All day, plenty sweat!
Hard work? Not my cuppa tea.
Aloha y'all
Weeze
Mahalo! Did I mention dat I'm lazy?
"Weezard: Those sounds delicious! Very nice setup When I have more room, I plan to do that as well. Good for masking smells too IMO, all wines and meads will benefit from time in the bottle. I've only ever let one go too long. They always get better and better.
They age well, if slower, in the buckets too.
The downside?
Contamination.
Could ruin the whole enchilada
Not tryin to start an argument. Just makin conversation.
It's a good point.
And I do bottle some.
But, usually end up gifting what's in bottles before I get to taste it myself.
Just like w/growin pot, there aint no right or wrong way to make wine. You do what works for you. With that in mind, got to ask... if you like to drink it right away on tap, why don't you make beer instead? Don't know much about making beer."
Not right away, jus' all da way. ;-}
Hello, lazy guy here!
Got very tired of brewing beer.
Thought I'd give da wine a try.
Wine's expensive, beer, I'll buy.
Vinting is a gentleman's game.
Brewing is long, hard, work.
I can knock out 5 gallons of wine in an hour.
15 gallons of beer? All day, plenty sweat!
Hard work? Not my cuppa tea.
Aloha y'all
Weeze
Weezard: I love hearing about how others do things. Learning their about their tricks and techniques.
I give lots of wine away too. It's hard not to when it's so cheep to make it! Everyone who knows me knows that I'm always on the lookout for 1.5Lt bottles. When I do buy commercial wine, 1.5's are all I buy. Less bottles to wash. I'm lazy too LOL. I sort of make 2 kinds of wine. Wines for drinking now, and wines to be aged. Your post has put some ideas in my head about different ways to handle the wines that aren't going to be aged.
What kinds of things do you do to decrease the risks of contamination?
Thanks again for sharing
I give lots of wine away too. It's hard not to when it's so cheep to make it! Everyone who knows me knows that I'm always on the lookout for 1.5Lt bottles. When I do buy commercial wine, 1.5's are all I buy. Less bottles to wash. I'm lazy too LOL. I sort of make 2 kinds of wine. Wines for drinking now, and wines to be aged. Your post has put some ideas in my head about different ways to handle the wines that aren't going to be aged.
What kinds of things do you do to decrease the risks of contamination?
Thanks again for sharing
Glad you asked.
Glad you asked.
"What kinds of things do you do to decrease the risks of contamination?"
Cheap Vodka is my friend.
I buy a large bottle of it and stick 2 vanilla beans in it and refrigerate for a couple months.
I wipe down the wine-side of everything with it..
Smells and tastes a heck of a lot better than B-bright.
Also rinse Grolsch, spring cap bottles with it for stocking the wine fridge.
They hold an honest pint and save money on caps n corks.
I pour a few ounces of vodka in one, close it, shake it, and pour it into the next bottle.
Shake, pour, repeat.
When empty, I rinse with water, then vodka and it stays clean until I fill it again
I put it in the airlocks, I wet papertowel plugs for the spigot spouts and I soak a paper towel with vodka and lay it on top of the bucket when I remove the airlocks to draw off a pint or three.
Like I said, lazy.
Aloha,
Weeze
Glad you asked.
"What kinds of things do you do to decrease the risks of contamination?"
Cheap Vodka is my friend.
I buy a large bottle of it and stick 2 vanilla beans in it and refrigerate for a couple months.
I wipe down the wine-side of everything with it..
Smells and tastes a heck of a lot better than B-bright.
Also rinse Grolsch, spring cap bottles with it for stocking the wine fridge.
They hold an honest pint and save money on caps n corks.
I pour a few ounces of vodka in one, close it, shake it, and pour it into the next bottle.
Shake, pour, repeat.
When empty, I rinse with water, then vodka and it stays clean until I fill it again
I put it in the airlocks, I wet papertowel plugs for the spigot spouts and I soak a paper towel with vodka and lay it on top of the bucket when I remove the airlocks to draw off a pint or three.
Like I said, lazy.
Aloha,
Weeze
