Frequently asked questions

Below are a collection of questions in some semblance of order to hopefully give you a quick ref for anything that pops up!
I’ll add to the list as go. I’m still learning as well!
I’ve divided it into 6 sections – Misc/Ingredients/Meads/Optional steps/Trouble shooting/Wine kits.

Miscellaneous

There is a lot of opinion on this one but it’s important to keep it simple.
For me it’s when the initial active phase is over before the first rack i.e. from pitching your yeast until there is little or no activity in your demijohn.
During this period the yeast is populating the must and getting stuck into the ingredients and getting busy! They are basically munching through every grain of sugar that’s available primarily producing alcohol and CO2. 

Secondary fermentation is the period after your first rack until you are ready to start clearing your brew.
During this period the activity reduces in intensity and the yeast go into a sort of mopping up phase. They start to work on anything that resembles sugar, fermenting away in increasing complexity producing all the feel and depth of the finished wine. Secondary can go on for weeks or months and is down to you the brewer really.
Even if the SG levels off and all appears done the yeast will likely still be munching away.
The only thing to be mindful of is leaving the brew on the yeast cake too long after a few racks.

A typical narrow necked demijohn doesn’t provide a lot of room for fruit or ingredients and you’ve also got the hassle of getting ingredients in and out of   it. Primary therefore needs to be in a bucket or similar container before racking it off into the demijohn later.
I find the wide mouth fermentor for primary has the volume to allow all your ingredients from the start without having to move it too early and you can add the airlock at any time.
It makes things tidier and easier basically. 

There are 3 stages to complete before you know you’re done, primary, secondary and finishing/clearing. You’ll see the active primary phase then rack, then the more sedentary secondary phase and rack again followed by the passive clearing phase.
Specific gravity is also a key factor. Depending on your initial sugar load a SG of under 1.000 is a good indicator. Even better is 990-995.

Importantly ensure that you have at least two SG readings the same over a week or so before ticking it off as done.

A ‘must’ is your starting fluid/liquid with all its ingredients together mixed up well and ready to go before pitching your yeast. It could be fresh pressed grapes, a honey mix or a simple sugar/fruit brew.

When does it stop being a must?
As the ABV builds it becomes a product/wine/mead so it’s a sort of transition really.

There is always that chance that your fermentation didn’t complete. Even if you’re really careful Mother Nature can sometimes surprise you!
If the yeast are still in a position to feed the there will always gas released. So if you bottle too early you may get a slight fizz or tickle on your tongue, a cork could creep out or worst case scenario? BOOM! The bottle will crack or explode. I’ve never had this happen but I’ll confess to a slight fizz. 

Be mindful that your fermentation is complete!!

Leave undisturbed in the dark or low light somewhere around 19C/66F.
Some yeasts prefer slightly different temperatures so be sure to keep an eye on guidance.
I usually put it on a shelf in the corner of the kitchen and it does just fine.

Corked wine is a wine that has become contaminated with something called cork taint. Cork taint is not simply the taste of a cork but the presence of a chemical compound called TCA (2,4,6 – trichloroanisole). TCA is formed when natural fungi (of which many reside in cork) come in contact with certain chlorides found in bleaches and other winery sanitation / sterilization products. 
The smell is quite distinct and resembles rotten, soggy wood. The wine itself tastes pretty astringent and once experienced won’t be forgotten. My understanding is that it’s not harmful, just unpleasant to drink, but do check

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Ingredients

Almost certainly.
Good quality fresh/frozen ingredients do help for a better brew and overall flavour. I won’t say there is a stand out obvious difference but the depth of flavour and how they ferment differs.

The rate of fermentation is mainly dependent upon the sugar source eg white sugar or honey, where the fruit surprisingly, doesn’t add a great deal of sugar. So it’s more about flavour, colour and overall feel of the brew.

In short no you don’t. The main reason to chop up your fruit is to increase the surface area for the yeast to attack. Larger fruit may benefit from a coarse cut but the yeast will get there in the end.

No. You can use any vine fruit really whether it’s sultanas or currants. Each will vary the feel of the brew but it’s all about taste. Remember, vine fruit are there to add tannins and mouth feel as you may get from grapes themselves.

Dried fruit is processed using preservatives and oil such as vegetable or olive oil. The last thing you want in your brew is a preservative as it’ll kill or hamper your yeast colony and the oils tend to create a haze in the finished product that is really hard to clear.

Yes.
Some people advocate freezing all your fruit before use. The reasons are quite logical really. By freezing the fruit you expand all the water contained within the cells which then rupture the cell walls releasing the contents and making them more accessible for the yeast. Another plus is that the freezing process helps to kill any unwanted flora or fauna.

Tannins are a natural polyphenol found in plants. They are responsible for the bitter and astringent taste you often associate with red wines and to a lesser degree white wine.
They are one of the four groups of profiles including acid, fruit and alcohol.
For me they provide they ‘biting yum’ factor but for you it may be different.
Tea, nut skins, dark chocolate, cinnamon and ironically grapes are a great source of tannin.

Everyday table sugar is  sucrose. Sucrose is a disaccharide made up of two simple sugars, Glucose and Fructose.

Inverted sugar is made by bringing a sucrose/water mix to the boil then simmering for ~15 minutes and allowing to cool. Adding a bit of acid like citric or tartaric will help the conversion. This liberates the simple sugars into it’s constituent parts of free glucose and fructose. This syrup is sweeter and more soluble than sucrose and widely used in food preparation.

It’s great for back-sweetening  brews due to it’s stability.

Yes.
As long as it’s a fermentable sugar then absolutely. Be mindful that different sugars impart different flavours and notes and all contain different relative amounts of sugar. Sounds odd but some sugar has more sugar in it than others!
Demerara sugar has 98g per 100/g whereas Muscavado has 94g and molasses only 75g.

Experiment with the different flavours! We don’t all enjoy the same things….

Sugar per-se is a generalised term for a sweet-tasting soluble carbohydrate of which there are numerous types with varying degrees of sweetness, usability and complexity. Yeast love them!

A non-fermentable sugar is as it suggests a sugar that can’t be fermented. But why? In essence they are used for their sweet properties but yeast just don’t recognise them as food. Their make up is such that they can’t be digested and therefore are left unaffected.
Examples are:

  • Xylitol.
  • Erythritol.
  • Stevia.
  • Sucralose.
  • Lactose.
  • Maltodextrin.

There are plenty more of course.

Answer

Meads and beyond.

A mead is it’s own thing!

Mead is an alcoholic drink where the fermentable sugars used are liberated from honey.

The million dollar question.
You can use any honey but quality ingredients often pay dividends. That said there is cost ceiling where no great benefit would be gained. It’s down to taste and conscience as well.
Check out the ‘how to’ honey for further guidance.

A melomel is a Mead that has been fermented using fruit as an addition influencing flavour and profile.

Very much so:
Importantly the base sugar is always predominantly honey.

Melomel: Flavoured with fruit. (click here for example)

Cyser: Made with apples and/or juice like a cider.

Pyment: Grapes have been used to flavour, colour or influence the Mead.

Metheglin: Brewed with herbs and spices.

Capsicumel: Flavoured with chillies or peppers. (capsicum)(click here for example)

Acerglyn: With maple syrup.

Sack Mead: Very strong with copious honey stretching the yeast tolerance.

Hydromel: A session type mead with lower ABV <7% or thereabouts.

Bochet: Here the honey has been caramelised or somewhat burnt.

Braggot: Hops have been used at some stage of the fermentation. 

There are numerous other lesser known or preferred variations but these are quite accessible to the home brewer.  

Raisins are one type of dried vine crop popular in home-brewing, the others notably being sultanas and currants.
Ultimately they are grapes and as such supply the benefits accordingly.

Raisins are for flavour notes and a small amount of fermentable sugar and genuinely influence the profile of mead. 

For me though the main reason is for tannin and mouth feel, how it rolls around your tongue and bites. 

This is rather subjective as it depends what type of yeast you like.

However, yeast definitely  influence the profile of a mead.

I would suggest:
Lalvin D47 for a full bodied mead that facilitates medium/sweet meads.

Lalvin V1116 is reliable and  enhances fruit flavours ideal for a melomel. I would suggest nutrient with this.

Lalvin EC-1118 or Gervin GV3 will give you a strong dry mead as the alcohol tolerance can be 16-18%. These are good examples of champagne yeasts.

Mangrove Jack MO5 is a forgiving all rounder.

Red Star Montrachet is excellent for dark fruit melomels.

This is not exhaustive but are my favourites go to yeast.

Check out ‘which yeast’ for more information.

For Mead it’s best to use nutrient in some form or another. 
There are a variety of different nutrient products but all serve to supply the yeast with vital nitrogen and raw materials that a honey must may be devoid of.
Staging nutrient is a good idea as well.
Raisins are not nutrient!

Check out ‘how to nutrients’. (coming soon)

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Optional Steps

Absolutely not. There are themes and routines to bear in mind for all your creations but Mother Nature has a habit of occasionally throwing in a curve ball.

The idea of the optional steps is to give you a few choices of how you want your brew to progress.
There are a few schools of thought on how the brewing process should go.
Some religiously use plenty of additives such as sorbates/sulphites, fining agents etc and there are those who adhere to using none at all.
My take is that the additions are tools to be used reflecting the type of wine/mead you want to create.
As you begin to become confident and experienced you’ll get a feel for what you want to use.

Metabisulphite whether potassium or sodium are simply sanitisers to use to remove/kill any unwanted wild yeasts, bacteria, or other flora/fauna that will either compete or infect your must. See the sorbate section in ‘how to’ for more help.
If I use hedgerow/wild/fresh fruit that I have picked then I’ll consider doing this but probably not for commercial/frozen fruit.

Pectinase is an enzyme that breaks down plant cell walls. It facilitates the availability of cell contents for the yeast. Yeast will ultimately munch through everything but the pectinase, amongst other tasks, makes the job a little easier.
The alternative is to chop and mash the fruit , short of blending’ to expose the contents.
See the pectinase page on ‘how to’ for more info.

It can’t hurt to leave the finished brew to sit for a while longer to mature or settle further before another racking especially if you’ve used a lot of fruit/ingredients.
It’s important though not to leave it on the lees or old yeast for too long to avoid off flavours before stabilising and clearing.

This is likely the final step once all the fermentation has finished and clearing is due to start.
It involves preserving your brew and helping to prevent further fermentation before back-sweetening or before clearing and bottling.

See ‘how to sulphites‘ or ‘how to sorbates‘ for more help.

Clearing and finishing agents can be used to speed up or help the clearing process. Ultimately they are optional but do have their place in certain circumstances.

See ‘how to clearing‘ for more help.

Answer

I really hope this FAQ section is of use. 
I’ve tried hard to encompass as many questions as I possibly could and will continue to add as I go.
My brewing journey is far from complete so we can learn together!
The content will surely encourage debate and whilst there are other views I’ve tried to ensure that the above is at least correct.

Remember, different isn’t wrong!?

Troubleshooting.

It maybe one of the following:

  1. Are the ingredients fresh and sanitised?
  2. Have you measured out the ingredients correctly?
  3. Did you actually pitch the yeast? I’ve forgotten before!
  4. Is the yeast in date?
  5. Is the temperature right?

It’ll likely be something simple 😉

This can be called a ‘stuck’ fermentation.
This can occur if there is a change in conditions once the fermentation starts. Sometimes the yeast might rebel if it gets too hot/cold or too bright. Try and keep things as stable as possible from the outset.
Other reasons might be that the yeast started out ok but began to struggle to propagate as the nutrients/nitrogen ran out? They need more than just sugar to eat so consider a nutrient addition.
Often the answer is to add more yeast such as EC-1118 as a starter. It is a robust reliable yeast that tolerates a wide range of conditions.

Firstly don’t worry. It doesn’t smell reassuring but there are ways to remedy it.

  1. Check the temp. It could be too warm which will stress the yeast.
  2. The yeast may be struggling due to a lack of nutrients or prerequisites for fermentation so an addition of nutrient may resolve it.
  3. If after a day you find it still honks give it a good splash transfer from demijohn to demijohn to aerate it. It may just need some oxygen to get going.
  4. Some advocate a half dose per volume of metabisulphite because there may be a competitive wild yeast upsetting the progress. If the yeast you’ve used is a commercial/shop yeast it is likely fairly tolerant of sulphites in low concentrations.

There are a number of reasons for this.

  • The amount of fermentable sugars at the start may have been too high. If you used 1.5kg/3.3lb sugar you’d expect, for a complete fermentation with EC-1118, to get an ABV of around 16.5%. If you picked a yeast that only has an alcohol tolerance of 13% then the yeast will choke and die leaving sugar in suspension. Hence the sweetness. A SG reading will confirm the ABV.
  • There is a possibility that your fermentation has ‘stuck’. This means that for some reason your yeast have decided that they aren’t happy and have stopped fermenting. There are multiple reasons for this such as temperature change, lack of nutrient/nitrogen, pH, or yeast viability. Correct the issue(s) and the yeast will likely kick in again.

A classic question.
I rely on time, gravity and a cool temperature as much as possible.
Things to consider:

  • Make sure your fermentation is complete!
  • Degassing is paramount. Any residual CO2 will prevent settling.
  • Keep your product cool. The less energy in the clearing vessel the better.
  • Have you waited long enough, be patient. It could actually take months.
  • If using fining agents have you used enough, a variety and for long enough?

If you’ve corrected the above and it’s still cloudy then the issue is likely more chemical bonding within the product itself rather than a physical suspension of particles.
You may have pectin haze….
Fear not. Take a 50ml sample and hit it with plenty of Pectinase and wait a day or two. If it clears with minimal or no sediment it’s a pectin haze and if it doesn’t clear then it’s likely particles.

It greatly depends on where your gravity stopped.
If your reading stopped high >1030 then your brew has likely stalled and you need to get it going again as per advice above.

If the reading is <1030 then this is trickier.

Take a taste, is it sweet?
You could have pitched too much sugar by mistake and the yeast is struggling to work its way through it. Give it time and check again.

Take a taste, is it dry?
If it’s dry then you’re reading is somehow incorrect. Anything around 1.000 and higher will have a sweetness attached to it.

What yeast did you use?
The yeast may have reached its alcohol tolerance and can’t ferment further meaning it’s finished. Again check the advice above to get it started.

The main reason this happens is because there are still hungry yeast particles in your brew.
Even if you added sorbate and/or sulphites any yeast remaining will promote a slight fermentation causing a haze. Remember, the additions don’t kill the yeast they just stop them reproducing. It will eventually clear again if you leave it a few weeks.
See the ‘how to’, back sweeten for further help.

Answer

A bit about Wine Kits

No, but they like you to.
The purpose of the bentonite is as a clearing agent to remove unwanted particles, particularly stubborn proteins, that may haze your brew. 
They usually ask you to use it at the start before you’ve even pitched the yeast. I can see the logic but if you clear it well at the end it seems an unnecessary step.  It doesn’t seem to do any harm whether you use it or not.

Bentonite is further explored on ‘how to’ clearing agents.

No.

Most kits are supplied with a reliable, forgiving champagne type yeast. EC-1118 being the yeast of choice by producers. This is great and almost always works well but perhaps you may want to change the profile slightly? 

White wine alternatives:
Lalvin D47 / Red Star Montrachet / Lalvin RC 212

Red Wine alternative:
Gervin VR21 / Mangrove Jack R56 / Red Star cotes de blanc

Rosé alternative
Lalvin V-1116

Wine kits are carefully balanced fermentation systems so changes in the process could alter the expected wine. By reducing the water you are concentrating the must therefore increasing the amount of sugar within a given volume. The starting specific gravity will raise increasing the potential ABV% and the blend of acid/alcohol/tannin/fruit will change thus altering the profile of the finished wine.

Reducing water too much may cause issue but 10% reduction shouldn’t hurt if you really feel you need to.

Yes you can.
Lots of sites and Youtube seem to frown upon this but in the UK I feel we’re lucky that our water is pretty good.
Chlorination is the usual sticking point and needs some consideration.
I’ve never had a problem with off flavours or difficulties with tap water and too be honest my humble palate isn’t discernible enough to notice.
If in doubt prepare the water the night before and leave overnight to aerate and allow the chlorine to gas off. Some use bottled spring water but there is an environmental impact with that that doesn’t sit well.
There are also geographical variations in taste and acidity around the country which will likely enhance a character or alter profiles. 

Kits are well balanced systems so I would say yes really.
As you increase in knowledge you may decide to alter  how you do things but be careful.

No.
The main reason for them is to clear your wine quickly and efficiently. If you have time and patience then perhaps give them a miss but again be careful. The longer the wine is exposed to headspace the more chance of reduction and acidification.

Yes.

The usual yeast in a kit is Lalvin EC-1118 which is quite robust and forgiving so as long as leave it at room temp 17-23C then you’ll be fine.
Other Yeasts are a little more demanding so just be mindful of their ranges and think ahead.

Wine kit producers are reliant on repeat business so it stands to reason that there must be a minimum standard to attain or no-one would bother with them. Any low quality producers would simply disappear thus creating shelf space for the better ones.
As to whether some are better….
Absolutely yes!
It really is a case of the more you spend for the limited edition or single vineyard kits the better the wine.
Your home-brew shop gurus will let you know what’s what.

The trick with Bentonite is to use plenty of hot water, certainly more than they recommend. Get some help and make sure the water is spinning in the base of the carboy/demijohn first. Whilst your help is quickly spinning the water you need to slowly sprinkle the powder on top being careful to spread it around to avoid clumping. Once you’ve emptied the packet keep it spinning and swirling until you’re sure it’s all in suspension. Remember, it won’t dissolve as it’s clay it will distribute itself throughout the water.

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