Message posted by Bob and Wendy (Uncle Bob) on 11 October 2009 at 10:18pm - IP Logged
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Bob and Wendy
Angela, being in the UK you will almost certainly need yeast in addition to the grapes, and maybe some sugar in case the juice does'nt contain enough to create enough alcohol to preserve the wine.
Otherwise good luck and give it a go. What have you got to loose.
Bob.
Message posted by angela_h on 11 October 2009 at 10:50pm - IP Logged
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It must be a Sunday thing as Warren is sparko on the sfoa too;o)) He calls it Tonk-O-Nightous or sleeping tonk-sickness (the three Tonkinese are on him), however I call it Fosters-itis;o)))
Thanks I look forward to receiving it, If I tell him I want to grow our own grapes, it might spur him to find the money to buy the house I have found, it has now garden, but is almost double what we have here and needs to be finished, so we can put our stamp on it, on and the cats can put their paw print on it;o))
Thanks again,
Have a good evening
Love Em
Message posted by YANIS on 11 October 2009 at 11:54pm - IP Logged
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Bob has a good point about the yeast. We don't use any but obviously it may well be necessary with the grapes you're using Angela. We do add sugar though.
I seem to recall Yanis that you tried some of last year's brew at the panigeri didn't you? Of course you must try this batch too - as you say, strictly for quality control purposes.
Elliemay - I'm saying nothing, but what's that old expression about caps fitting?
Rocky has now woken up, but we had an 8 hour power cut. By the time the electricity returned he'd gone out, so the recipe will have to wait until this evening, but I will post it, promise.
Message posted by Bill on 13 October 2009 at 9:31am - IP Logged
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Here it is folks - Rocky's not very definitive recipe for wine, made the village way. Obviously sizes of equipment used are relative to the weight of the grapes. What I didn't realise is that he borrows an alcohol thermometer and checks the alcohol content periodically. Whilst not absolutely essential it is recommended!
Expect to make around 65-70%yield from your grapes (ie, for every 10kgs grapes used anticipate 6.5-7kg of wine. A fluid kg seems to be very similar to a litre). Perhaps a bit less if crushing without machinery.
1. Take a big clean tub. Crush or grind your grapes into it. (This is the bit where you can trample them if you want to, as was traditionally done. We used a hand propelled grinder, but I suspect you could, other than trample, 'squish' smaller quantities with your hands or even experiment with a mincer?).
2. Once your crushed grapes are all safely in the tub put a heavy weight on the top of them - we used a circular wooden board, but any improvisation will do! Then cover it with a cloth/sheet etc (just to keep unwanted visitors such as wasps out).
3. Daily for about 5 days push down on the weight (just for a few minutes) to further press the grapes.
4. On or about day 5 strain the contents of the tub into a fresh tub to remove all detritus. Pressing the solids firmly will increase the fluid yield. (Again, we borrowed a manually operated press - but we were making a lot of wine. For smaller quantities I'd suggest using a large metallic sieve and pressing the solids in that to remove as much of the fluid as possible).
5. From the strained fluid take a litre or two (more if you're making a lot of wine), put in a bowl / bucket and add some granulated, refined sugar. The proportion we used was 1kg sugar per 50kg grapes (pre crushing). Mix the sugar into the fluid until it has completely dissolved.
6. Add the syrup to the remaining fluid, again stirring in well to ensure it is completely dissolved.
7. Place most of the fluid in barrels*, filled right up to the brim, but retain 1-2% of the fluid in a plastic bottle(s). Leave the lid of the barrel laying slightly off centre on the opening, thus allowing air to get to the fluid.
8. Store in a cool dark place (remember we're doing this in Corfu though, so cool and dark is relative! I guess it is probably because we don't use yeast we don't need the warmth for fermentation).
9. The fluid should then ferment, producing large bubbles. It is during this time that the alcohol thermometer is used. If the alcohol content needs to be increased make further syrups using the fluid and granulated sugar. If you do not have a thermometer you can do it by guesswork - if the fermentation bubbles are few or small there's a good chance that the wine needs more sugar - add in syrup form with caution, but this can be done as often as is needed.
10. Remember the extra fluid you set aside? Check your wine daily and use this to top up the barrel(s) to ensure the fluid remains right up to the rim. If you run out, a solution of sugar water is the other option.
11. When fermentation stops and the fluid clears bottle it. If using recycled plastic bottles ensure that you fill them right to the top before putting the caps on.
A few notes:
*Barrels. We were making a reasonably large quantity so demi johns are not suitable. However, if you are only making a few litres then djs are the way forward! I'm not particularly familiar with them but seem to recall that you have a stopper in them with a pipe though to allow air in during fermentation, so you don't need to leave the top off! (Please do check though).
Bottles. Like most people in our village we save plastic bottles and use them for our wine (we do a little bit for recycling!). Glass bottles are fine of course and can again either be recycled or purchased from a home brew store specifically for the purpose. However, if using any recycled bottles be absolutely certain that they have been cleaned thoroughly to remove the smell of the previous contents (eg lemonade or worst still Ouzo) as this will taint the flavour of the wine.
Cleaning the equipment. Every good wine/home brew site will tell you to sterilize all your equipment thoroughly. I wouldn't disagree with that at all.
However, just as an aside... When I tried to get sterilising tablets on Corfu (at the time I wanted to sterilise jam jars) I was told, "oh no, you can't get them here, just boil your jars or bottles". But of course when it comes to large containers there is no chance of boiling anything (and plastic bottles will create interesting modern art if boiled). So we've done as our neighbours do - sluiced everything out in the street using cold water and a hosepipe! The exception being the bottles that I do wash in warm soapy water, then rinse thoroughly. So far no upset tummys, though it would be irresponsible of me to recommend this method.
I hope this helps a bit. It is not necessarily the best, or most hygenic, way of making wine but it does produce a natural, hangover free product. Whilst not Chateau Pap de Neuf will probably be quite drinkable during a Sunday afternoon barbecue... and as Bob says, what have you got to lose?!
Message posted by angela_h on 13 October 2009 at 8:34pm - IP Logged
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Steradent - of course! I went to various chemists and supermarkets over here looking for the sterilising tablets used for babies bottles (thinking they'd do for my jam jars) and it was these that are, apparently, unavailable in Corfu. I hadn't thought of Steradent though, bet I could find them!
Glad the 'recipe' is of interest Angela - do let us know how you get on.
Bill
Message posted by YANIS on 14 October 2009 at 12:05am - IP Logged
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