6 months storage? - not likely! I'm going to purchase some Wilko's pectolase and have a go. I'm supping some of the grape/apple/raspberry now -it's delish. The pineapple batch has pushed the top off the airlock a couple of times - it's bubbling away furiously
Once you drink some, you will see why it is worth building up a stock and letting it mature a bit - I am next going to do one strawberry jam wine, and a pear & ginger, then the next four batches will be jam wine of one form or another. If you really get serious about home brewing, I would recommend going to homebrewonline and getting their bulk 1kg pack; it sounds a lot for something you use at 1 or 2 teaspoons at a time, but the saving long term is significant. Their prices are really (really) keen, and their customer service is top notch.
That's £1 for 17g which is £58.82/Kg ! The online supplier where I get my Kg bags charges £13.82 (+ P&P), but I don't pay any P&P as I collect them when passing. For those that use less, look around for 200g tubs or 500g bags. A heaped teaspoon of Pectolase weighs 4g (it's lighter than sugar), so 1Kg will last 2 years of 100 galls p.a. with a bit of double dosing when making high pectin content wines. Keep it cool as it degrades in heat.
My four x 6 gallon batches started on 17/1/17 have stopped bubbling (well, almost stopped, but they'll carry on a bit as they naturally de-gas) so I've been taking Brix readings using a pipette & refractometer to extract just a single drop of liquid to take a refractometer reading. 2 Consecutive days of 5.8 Brix indicated it should be around my 0.990/11% ABV target, so I've just taken a hydrometer reading from one fermenter (no need to check all 4 as they're all the same Brix) and it was 0.990, almost matching the calc. Time to rack off, de-gas and fine.
Wow, homebrewonline do a home made irish cream liqueur kit - just add water, sugar and a single cream to the kit to produce a gallon - at 20% booze content, 3% more than Baileys. I'll have a go at this after the strawberry jam wine.
Easy white quick maturing wine 11% ABV, approx. 35p/bottle, yeast starters pitched on 17/1/17, fermentation finished (0.990) and racked off on 1/2/17 (+ 15 days): De-gassed and finings (Wilko A & B sachets) added on 2/2/17, crystal clear and racked off on 3/2/17 (+ 17 days and ready to drink):
Started off the strawberry jam wine a couple of days ago. It was quite difficult to cram in 3 jars of jam (metled in hot water) and a kg of sugar. Nearly fell off my chair when it looked like the wine had a solidifying core - but i did add pectolase - all looks fine now - phew. It has developed a thick scum on the top which makes it difficult for the yeast to work - the co2 can't get through the scum - so I'm having to shake it all the time to distribute the scum in the wine.
All wine and beer kits [1] half price at Tesco Direct. Free collection instore. Buy All Home Brewing from our Home Brewing range - Tesco I've still got several 36 bottle quality kits from when they were 75% off at Wilko, but bought some of these for use in white wines Tesco direct: Youngs Definitive Grape Juice White Wine Enricher, 245 grams , probably in flower wines. [1] It's all those sold by Tesco, and that link will only show their half price proucts, and not those of other sellers on Tesco Direct.
We're now 3 weeks into the strawberry jam wine. It's looks odd in that it's bubbling away - yet the body of the wine is as clear as if I had used finings. In fact I could siphon it off now, add the stabliser and not bother at all with finings. I've had a devil of a job clearing the pineapple. I'm starting to think that jam wine is the way forward from now on - - just the taste test to pass .
It could have fermented out and the bubbles are the result of de-gassing. Have you checked the SG? EDIT: N.B. Keep Strawberry wine protected from daylight to avoid browning and maintaining a red colour. Pineapple always gave me that problem, until I started using Wilko A + B finings following a vigorous de-gass.
