Sap Wine Update

Some people have said they are interested to see how the whole thing progresses and what happens, so here is some information about it all. Yesterday evening, I was finally able to complete the first stage of my Birch sap wine project :) . This second batch of Birch sap amounted to a gallon, so I needed to use our preserving pan to be able to boil it all with the orange and lemon zest. With citrous fruits, I always use just the zest and juice because the pith can impart an unpleasant bitter flavour. I added this to my first batch of sap into a brewing bucket - now I was ready to introduce all the other ingredients; these were: rasins, a cup of tea, a little malic and tartaric acid, some pectin enzyme,  brewing sugar and yeast nutrients.

I love the simplicity of my hydrometer - the amount it floats, depends upon how much sugar is disolved in the liquid. This is becaurse the more sugar there is in the liquid, the denser it is. Toward the top you can see 1.000 - this is the level it would float in pure water (a specific gravity of 1.000). I was aiming to get enough sugar disolved in my 'must' to reach a specific gravity of about 1.090. I have never achieved this first go - until now -yippee!!! Usually I have to fiddle about adding more sugar solution a little at a time until I get it there. As I like dry white wines, I will let this ferment right out. So with a reading of 1.090 I should obtain a wine that is nearly 12% alcohol by volume. The final reading I will aim for is 0.990, right at the very top of my hydrometer (the alcohol makes a finished wine less dense than water).

Once all the ingredients have been added, I'm ready to pitch my yeast. For wine, this is the most important part of all. Yeast is a fungus that basically converts sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The more you pamper your yeast, the better the resulting wine. A good wine recipe is one that gives the yeast everything that it needs - sugar, oxygen, vitimins, some acid, nitrogenous matter, a little warmth and no competition from other yeasts and bacteria (which is why keeping everything sterile is crutial too). This picture shows the finished 'must' with the yeast sprinkled on the surface. I had to wait until the temperature had dropped to 21deg before doing this, because too warm a temperature can damage or even kill the yeast.

And here it is this evening (24 hours later). This stage, while it is fermenting in my brewing bin, is called the primary fermentation. This usually lasts about a week and during this time, the yeast is multiplying at a phenominal rate. As you can see, it has already started to froth and I need to stir it quite thoroughly, several times a day because the yeast needs plenty of oxygen while multiplying. The carbon dioxide given off helps to prevent airborne bugs from reaching the brew, but as the fermentation settles down and becomes less vigorous, I will then strain off the liquid into a demijohn and prevent the air from getting to it with an airlock. This creates is a much slower fermentation and is known as the secondary fermentation. I'll try to put this up in about a week. If anyone reading this is still awake it'll be a miracle - but if you have read this through to the end - thanks!