Great video as always. You’re always telling us these words of wisdom in each video. If someone doesn’t follow your videos, they’re not really paying attention. This video would be for them. But it’s good that this is out there. Right on!
Excellent video! I don’t use campden tablets or chemical stabilisers but apart from that, it looks like our methods are pretty much aligned. When asked what are the most important ingredients in my wines, ciders or meads I usually answer something along the lines of “time and sanitiser… and love. Oh, and your flavourings and yeast of course.” It surprises people until I start explaining. You can use the very best fruit, honey and yeast, but if you rush it or don’t properly sanitise you run the risk of being stuck with vinegar or a mouldy mess that’s only fit for the compost heap. I also tell them that unless they’re kinda lazy, they’ll get frustrated because good home brews (unless you’re talking about beer) needs time. Once fermentation has taken off, your brew needs time, and lots of it. I explain it as ‘selective laziness’. You can’t be lazy about sanitising, shouldn’t be lazy about breaking the fruit cap, and it pays not to be lazy when developing a recipe or doing your research when developing a recipe that combines fruit and spices. But once you’ve got your recipe and don’t need to break that fruit cap, for all the good things on this Earth’s sake, PLEASE sit back and chill. Don’t focus on how many days, weeks or months it’ll take. It takes whatever time it’ll want to take. Don’t fret if you don’t have the time to rack your brew over to another fermenter this week. As long as it’s under airlock and there isn’t too much head space, chill out. Same goes for once your brew has been bottled. There is no need to hurry and drink it all as long as you have the space to store it. Fermentation after all, is a method of preservation. As far as equipment goes, a selection of fermenters in various sizes, airlocks, sanitiser, racking cane, hydrometer & graduated cylinder, bottle brush, bottles with their appropriate caps/corks (and whatever you need to install them) and preferably a bottling wand are essential to anyone who wants to keep home brewing. They just make sense. I’ve never recommended anything else as ‘essential equipment’. For a beginner who wants to have a go the first time I either tell them to use a 1-gallon water bottle and buy an airlock, they can borrow my racking cane and bottling wand. If I trust them enough they can borrow one of my fermenters. I tell them to collect a series of swing top bottles or buy a few at the local recycling bottle exchange and clean them thoroughly, it’s sufficient for a first brew. I’ll have them order a small bottle of sanitiser and will gift them a bit of Fermaid O, or show them how to boil baker’s yeast for a home made nutrient. I’ll come over with my hydrometer and teach them how to use one. Once they’re properly hooked, I guide them through their shopping for their own equipment. Usually that first shopping spree is for their own hydrometer, graduated cylinder, 2 fermenters, yeast nutrient, racking cane, bottling wand and a few yeasts. From there on out, they usually do their own shopping. 😊
Thanks for making your videos, I watch them over and over you are my go to when it come to wine making! I would love for you to make a watermelon wine video.
Thanks so much for being a loyal subscriber... something special coming up im doing a live stream in next week or so. Watermelon wine is in my list. 👍👍
Good afternoon. My wife and I have watched all your video,s but we could do with some advice please. We put the wine in bottles whichbis really clear but after a week or so we get a white mist a d sometimes crystals. What is it and how can we prevent it. Thanks Wayne and Heather
That's interesting. Did you backsweeten and add stabilizer and campden tablets. I never had that happen. Did your bottles have anything in them. Thanks for watching our channel. 👍👍🍷🍷♥️♥️
We always add the right amount of Camden tablets and potassium sorbate. We are not sure if we are mixing the bentinite right as yours look a lot thicker than ours and also we add hot water to the sugar to sweeten it so it may not be devolved properly. So two things we can try.wish I could send you a photo of the wine. Thanks Wayne
Definitely wanna make sure your sugar water is cooled to room temperature. That could cause issues. If you are racking the bentonite out and is clear should be removing all the bentonite don't think that is the problem. Just mix according to the package.
My S water seal went dry in my last racking. I really hope my wine is still good. Ugh! After almost 4 months this happened. 18 pounds of fruit. MY hubby got excited and I saw the S seal was dry. Don't know how long. No yeast or mold growing so I added water and I am hoping for the best.
You have great content and instruction. I know you like to use a mesh bag but I am not a fan at all. I prefer to have loose fruit to help with fermentation and juice extraction.
Greetings Todd ! First of all thank you for your video series , you do an outstanding job of demonstrating and explaining each step of the process and reinforce each one throughout the videos excellent! My question is about corks you state in the cork video that you prefer #10 corks looking myself and checking through your link they don’t seem available anywhere like they do not exist the only #10 I found was a tapered stopper for a jug not good for wine bottles. Natural cork looks like the best to use , the AGGLO and various other products are less superior than the pure natural cork and it has the longest sustainable shelf life pure synthetic is only good for five years, are #10s simply not available anymore? Researching I have found there 4 grades of natural cork in #9 with the Flor grade being the highest with 12+ years and going down to the lowest grade which is still good for 7 years so I believe these will work just fine for all practical purposes. I would also like to pass along to you some tips that I have found helpful and maybe useful to you, I use large glass balls in my must bag to weigh it down to keep it completely submerged, I also get my water to the boiling point turn off the heat then add the sugar so there is no way that you will scorch the sugar and it dissolves completely, another thing I do is use a seedling propagation mat with a thermostat control to keep my fermentation vessel at a constant 72 degrees and wrap it with a towel or small blanket and it usually finishes consistently before 10 days and lastly I use diluted Star San in my air locks for an extra layer of protection you can never be too careful right? Wishing you well have a great day!
Some great tips and information for my subscribers thanks for sharing. As far as the corks the only time I could get number 10 corks was from a friend who got at a commercial winery Havent seen them since. I'm strictly using number 9s now they work great.
made some mint wine --- just pitched the yeast --- started the clean up noticed about 100g of sugar I had not used for some reason --- well didn't mix it with something to liquefy it ever seen a mint popped into a coke bottle well thing 50 times worse --- my gallon of mint wine became a bomb with me looking down the barrel -- me the whole room everything got coated you could smell my place (a small 2nd floor flat) 600 yards away -- knew this as I heard some people talking about it hope this isn't a common mistake I laugh now but at the time is was not funny 👍👍👍👍
Dear Todd, I really need your advice, I making red wine with 17 lbs black grapes, 10 litre pomegranate juice and 2.5 lbs sugar and No water at all, with all chemicals you recommended, with initial Gravity 1.108. Stir every day for 9 days. Today after 9 days gravity is 1.000 but taste is sour, please let me know what to do get a little sweeter taste. Please reply/advice, Thanking you in anticipation
Thats a strong wine 14.18 abv... if you have sour grapes and pomegranate juice is sour it will br sour... but don't worry... after you rack a few times and before Bottling you will back sweeten. That is when you will get rid of sourness. After each racking top off with some water...Great job😁😁👍👍🍷🍷
Thanks for a quick reply 👍🌹, how much water in litres. Also I read on internet to add Potassium bicarbonate to reduce acidity for soreness, what you say ?
Since you used a different recipe than mine it's hard to say... this video may help and show you how to add water upfront. th-cam.com/video/eNXP5UPGJ9M/w-d-xo.html
We now have a store for everything you see in our videos for supplies. www.amazon.com/shop/howtodoneright
Great video as always. You’re always telling us these words of wisdom in each video. If someone doesn’t follow your videos, they’re not really paying attention. This video would be for them. But it’s good that this is out there. Right on!
Thanks so much. 😁😁
Thank you for making these videos.
Thanks John. More coming. 👍👍
Thank you for all these lessons
Thanks so much😁😁
Very Useful. Thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching👍👍
Todd - i LOVE your videos - i have had GREAT GREAT GREAT success using your method !!! - its all i have ever used - THANK YOU !
Thank you so much.. that means so much to me and is why I keep making videos.. have a great weekend. Very special.👍👍😁😁♥️♥️
Hey Todd, Does my corks have to go all the way into the bottle? Thanks love your channel.
You want them flush to the top of the bottle. That is best practice.
Excellent video!
I don’t use campden tablets or chemical stabilisers but apart from that, it looks like our methods are pretty much aligned.
When asked what are the most important ingredients in my wines, ciders or meads I usually answer something along the lines of “time and sanitiser… and love. Oh, and your flavourings and yeast of course.” It surprises people until I start explaining. You can use the very best fruit, honey and yeast, but if you rush it or don’t properly sanitise you run the risk of being stuck with vinegar or a mouldy mess that’s only fit for the compost heap.
I also tell them that unless they’re kinda lazy, they’ll get frustrated because good home brews (unless you’re talking about beer) needs time. Once fermentation has taken off, your brew needs time, and lots of it. I explain it as ‘selective laziness’. You can’t be lazy about sanitising, shouldn’t be lazy about breaking the fruit cap, and it pays not to be lazy when developing a recipe or doing your research when developing a recipe that combines fruit and spices. But once you’ve got your recipe and don’t need to break that fruit cap, for all the good things on this Earth’s sake, PLEASE sit back and chill. Don’t focus on how many days, weeks or months it’ll take. It takes whatever time it’ll want to take. Don’t fret if you don’t have the time to rack your brew over to another fermenter this week. As long as it’s under airlock and there isn’t too much head space, chill out. Same goes for once your brew has been bottled. There is no need to hurry and drink it all as long as you have the space to store it. Fermentation after all, is a method of preservation.
As far as equipment goes, a selection of fermenters in various sizes, airlocks, sanitiser, racking cane, hydrometer & graduated cylinder, bottle brush, bottles with their appropriate caps/corks (and whatever you need to install them) and preferably a bottling wand are essential to anyone who wants to keep home brewing. They just make sense. I’ve never recommended anything else as ‘essential equipment’.
For a beginner who wants to have a go the first time I either tell them to use a 1-gallon water bottle and buy an airlock, they can borrow my racking cane and bottling wand. If I trust them enough they can borrow one of my fermenters. I tell them to collect a series of swing top bottles or buy a few at the local recycling bottle exchange and clean them thoroughly, it’s sufficient for a first brew. I’ll have them order a small bottle of sanitiser and will gift them a bit of Fermaid O, or show them how to boil baker’s yeast for a home made nutrient. I’ll come over with my hydrometer and teach them how to use one. Once they’re properly hooked, I guide them through their shopping for their own equipment. Usually that first shopping spree is for their own hydrometer, graduated cylinder, 2 fermenters, yeast nutrient, racking cane, bottling wand and a few yeasts. From there on out, they usually do their own shopping. 😊
Thanks so much for sharing your techniques. I love your detailed instructions... 👍👍♥️♥️😁😁
@@HowToDoneRight - And I love your detailed videos!
Thanks for making your videos, I watch them over and over you are my go to when it come to wine making! I would love for you to make a watermelon wine video.
Thanks so much for being a loyal subscriber... something special coming up im doing a live stream in next week or so. Watermelon wine is in my list. 👍👍
When doing first rackin & using 5 gallon carboy. So how much air space should you have after racked 5 gallons in plastic carboy, not glass?
2 inches from top.
Do you use regular tap water or distilled water
Tap water is fine. Wine needs minerals in tap water. 👍👍
Good afternoon. My wife and I have watched all your video,s but we could do with some advice please. We put the wine in bottles whichbis really clear but after a week or so we get a white mist a d sometimes crystals. What is it and how can we prevent it. Thanks Wayne and Heather
That's interesting. Did you backsweeten and add stabilizer and campden tablets. I never had that happen. Did your bottles have anything in them. Thanks for watching our channel. 👍👍🍷🍷♥️♥️
We always add the right amount of Camden tablets and potassium sorbate. We are not sure if we are mixing the bentinite right as yours look a lot thicker than ours and also we add hot water to the sugar to sweeten it so it may not be devolved properly. So two things we can try.wish I could send you a photo of the wine. Thanks Wayne
Definitely wanna make sure your sugar water is cooled to room temperature. That could cause issues. If you are racking the bentonite out and is clear should be removing all the bentonite don't think that is the problem. Just mix according to the package.
That may be where werengoing wrong. We are mixing the sugar in hot water and tipping it in hot. Will try next time and allow it to cool thanks
Let me know if that works. I could see where the heat may not take well with some of the ingredients in the wine.
My S water seal went dry in my last racking. I really hope my wine is still good. Ugh! After almost 4 months this happened. 18 pounds of fruit. MY hubby got excited and I saw the S seal was dry. Don't know how long. No yeast or mold growing so I added water and I am hoping for the best.
Interesting... it should be fine. Now im going to check all mine... lol. Keep me posted. 👍👍
@@HowToDoneRight Thank you for the response. I appreciate it.
Ok I made some peach wine with 4 ounces of blueberry for color 5 weeks ago my question is how and can you add fruit after stabilizing?
Stabilizing should be the last step before Bottling. If you still have fruit got to rack it before using stabilizer..
I need the fruit recipe for a three gallon kit
I have one three and 5 gallon recipes in most of wine videos in description.
How do I know what size cork to use
I have a video on cork sizes. th-cam.com/video/gr_SaY6HHL4/w-d-xo.html
You have great content and instruction. I know you like to use a mesh bag but I am not a fan at all. I prefer to have loose fruit to help with fermentation and juice extraction.
Thank you so much and appreciate you commenting and subscribing.. whatever works best for you is the best way sometimes. 👍👍😁😁🍷🍷♥️♥️
I'm watching banana right now and I can see how the bag would help with that one.😯
Just makes it easier to get the bulk of the pulp out.
Who do you buy your wine bottles from?
I reuse bottles and buy on Amazon. I have links in the the description for Amazon.👍👍🍷🍷
Greetings Todd ! First of all thank you for your video series , you do an outstanding job of demonstrating and explaining each step of the process and reinforce each one throughout the videos excellent! My question is about corks you state in the cork video that you prefer #10 corks looking myself and checking through your link they don’t seem available anywhere like they do not exist the only #10 I found was a tapered stopper for a jug not good for wine bottles. Natural cork looks like the best to use , the AGGLO and various other products are less superior than the pure natural cork and it has the longest sustainable shelf life pure synthetic is only good for five years, are #10s simply not available anymore? Researching I have found there 4 grades of natural cork in #9 with the Flor grade being the highest with 12+ years and going down to the lowest grade which is still good for 7 years so I believe these will work just fine for all practical purposes. I would also like to pass along to you some tips that I have found helpful and maybe useful to you, I use large glass balls in my must bag to weigh it down to keep it completely submerged, I also get my water to the boiling point turn off the heat then add the sugar so there is no way that you will scorch the sugar and it dissolves completely, another thing I do is use a seedling propagation mat with a thermostat control to keep my fermentation vessel at a constant 72 degrees and wrap it with a towel or small blanket and it usually finishes consistently before 10 days and lastly I use diluted Star San in my air locks for an extra layer of protection you can never be too careful right? Wishing you well have a great day!
Some great tips and information for my subscribers thanks for sharing. As far as the corks the only time I could get number 10 corks was from a friend who got at a commercial winery Havent seen them since. I'm strictly using number 9s now they work great.
made some mint wine --- just pitched the yeast --- started the clean up noticed about 100g of sugar I had not used for some reason --- well didn't mix it with something to liquefy it
ever seen a mint popped into a coke bottle well thing 50 times worse --- my gallon of mint wine became a bomb with me looking down the barrel -- me the whole room everything got coated
you could smell my place (a small 2nd floor flat) 600 yards away -- knew this as I heard some people talking about it
hope this isn't a common mistake I laugh now but at the time is was not funny 👍👍👍👍
Sorry Leslie confused by this? You bottled and exploded did you Stabilize wine with stabilizer. Were you fermenting in glass bottles? Confused
Trying to make cranberry wine. Maybe it ferments if it's left 6 months but I ain't waiting 6 months for a drink!
Dear Todd, I really need your advice, I making red wine with 17 lbs black grapes, 10 litre pomegranate juice and 2.5 lbs sugar and No water at all, with all chemicals you recommended, with initial Gravity 1.108.
Stir every day for 9 days. Today after 9 days gravity is 1.000 but taste is sour, please let me know what to do get a little sweeter taste.
Please reply/advice,
Thanking you in anticipation
Thats a strong wine 14.18 abv... if you have sour grapes and pomegranate juice is sour it will br sour... but don't worry... after you rack a few times and before Bottling you will back sweeten. That is when you will get rid of sourness. After each racking top off with some water...Great job😁😁👍👍🍷🍷
Thanks for a quick reply 👍🌹, how much water in litres. Also I read on internet to add Potassium bicarbonate to reduce acidity for soreness, what you say ?
Also my grapes were very sweet but juice was little sour, the reason for not adding water was to make a real red wine from juice. Thanks
Since you used a different recipe than mine it's hard to say... this video may help and show you how to add water upfront.
th-cam.com/video/eNXP5UPGJ9M/w-d-xo.html
This is how you make wine from juice..
th-cam.com/video/nWcf4lkNQRw/w-d-xo.html