Will this wine be okay?

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I may have got into something that I will regret. I am making dandelion wine for the first time..have read several of the recipes and decided to go with one without the yeast..okay..yesterday picked the blossoms, poured the hot water over them, let them sit overnight..This morning I strained the blossoms, put the juice back on the stove, added the lemons and oranges and sugar..brought it to a near boil, turned it off,,strained it again..let it cool and poured it into a gallon pickle jar(would not all fit in the crock I have)..I put the lid on it and took it to the basement and put it in a dark closet.. Should I have put the lid on it?? It says to let it set for 3 weeks and then bottle it..is the glass jar okay to use? Help me people..Thanks.

-- Lynn(MO) (mscratch1@semo.net), April 09, 2001

Answers

Lynn,

thinking of amking some dandelion wine too this yr, seems i always miss the season. i have a few good recipies, but don't have time to post right now. If I forget please e-mail me and i'll do it this weekend. Good Luck. i make homemdade blackbery wine without yeast, just berries and sugar. it potent stuff, ahvwe a bottle from 2 yrs ago i just opened.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), April 09, 2001.


Lynn she may blow. be better put in a gallon jug and put a condum on it when it goes flat ite done. Bob se.ks.

-- bobco (bobco@hit.net), April 09, 2001.

Get the lid off QUICK!! When it starts fermenting the carbon dioxide will blow that jar like a hand grenade. Instead cover it for a few days with a clean t shirt. Then if you want to use the pickle jar , insert a piece of sterilized tubing (like fishtank air line)in a hole on the lid and seal it air tight. run about 2 ft of this tube from the lid to a glass of water. stick the end in the water as a airlock and let the wine thump (bubble the co2 through the water). The co2 in the jar will help the natural enzymes convert the sugars, while the airlock will relieve the pressure in the jar and keep air from killing the microbes. Fermentation is an anarobic process.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 09, 2001.

Bernice, Would it be possible for you to post the blackberry wine recipe that doesn't require yeast? Rita

-- Rita in TN (felfoot @twlakes.net), April 10, 2001.

take a look at this site:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp

besides the great recipes there is also technical help

-- Ima Gardener (ima@gardener.com), April 11, 2001.



Thankyou..I have installed the syphon tube and informed my husband that I won't blow up the basement nor posion us..LOL.. He insists that I sample the wine first when it is ready...gee, you would think he didn't trust my winemaking skills..

-- Lynn(MO) (mscratch1@semo.net), April 11, 2001.

Be sure to save a small bottle of it no matter how good or bad it is. I have one bottle of my fist try (now aged 22 years ) in my wine celler sitting in the same rack as my better vintings in years since. It was supose to be grape table wine, instead ended up with a nose reminiscent of mimeograph fluid and compost and its bouquet is still as rank. I labeled it "grape grbage` 1979". with it as a standard, all my wines are "fine wines". :>) If you decide to order supplies for future makings, order from E.C. Kraus. They give a free recipe book with your first order.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 11, 2001.

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