All wines seem to have different recommended 'maturing' times but as a rule of thumb, although you can drink your efforts earlier, I reckon that you can properly enjoy wine a year from when it was started.The wine on scrutiny in the demijohn is clear with no sediment in the bottom appearing since it was stabilised a couple of weeks ago.
It's better to be safe then sorry, though, so it is syphoned again into a bucket to leave any minute particles behind in the demijohn & crystal clear bit-free wine ready to be funnelled into the bottles.
Whilst the bottles are sterilising, it's worthwhile checking the SG reading again - the final strength of the wine is worked out by taking the final SG figure away from the initial SG, & dividing by 7.36, which gives the percentage of alcohol in the wine.This is 13.5%, so quite robust enough to be going on with.
All that is left to do is funnel the wine into the bottles, cork & label - not forgetting the most important taste test.*Don't be alarmed if you pull a face at this point - the wine will be a bit 'raw' at the moment, but once it has mellowed for a few months - and rhubarb pulling has commenced next year - I promise that it will be a delight.
*Obviously, this size sample is recommended in order to conduct a very thorough taste test
Mine needs a second racking but the flavour is definitely there. I blame/praise you for getting me back on wine making after a gap of about 7 years!
ReplyDeleteWell done! that colour is spectaular. You'll have some ready for Christmas then?
ReplyDeleteDoes look very sophisticated :} And I am sure it wasn't that big a sample glass.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you didn't need much persuading, Flum - and I bet your first batch tastes terrific.
ReplyDeleteI've got my eye on last year's apple & elderberry for Christmas, Matron, assuming that it's sweet enough for mum's tastes - otherwise I have an apple wine which coats your teeth, rather!
Yeah, you're right, Bilbo - trick if the photograph makes the wine sample look MUCH larger than it actually was {gg}