Now where are my glasses?

All is not lost on the wine front, re-took the specific gravity of my elderflower wine & Hazel (at the Hill) came to my rescue showing me the error of my ways - It was my inability to read the hydrometer correctly that had caused the problem - it was not a faulty hydrometer after all......

The SG of the wine is 1.126 and it is fizzing away nicely!

Might just tell a white lie to the shopkeeper rather than expose my complete incompetence when I take back the replacement hydrometer that I bought this morning!

On a good note - I found some bungs on the internet that are for the plastic type of demi-john, so took a gamble and ordered 4 at 48p each & the postage was 1.90. I also got 4 one gallon bottles of water from ASDA at 95p each. The bungs arrived this morning & they fit perfectly, so this means that I have got 4 plastic demi-johns for 1.90 each. The cheapest I found them for on the interweb is 3.55 including p&p so I think this is a bargain!

I have also worked out that if I bought 10 bungs (7.30 inc p&p) plus 10 one gallon water bottles (9.50) then each demi-john would be 1.68 - even better still! because the p&p does not rise drastically for lots more bungs. The cheapest you could get 10 for on the internet is 2.57 each.

Specific Gravity & yeast

When I measured the specific gravity of my fledgling wine last night it was 1.021, I took it this morning again and it seems even lower (which is what I would expect) but the reading is nowhere near what it should be - Is that because I have not put in enough sugar or have I done something wrong?

These are photos of the hydrometer

and this is the yeast I used - perhaps it is the wrong sort, but it was the only one available in Wilkinsons, however, a trip to Cutlack's showed me that there was what looked like ordinary dried yeast also available - I am now thinking that I have got the wrong sort.

I might need another trip to Cutlacks to get the right sort of yeast.

Elderflower wine - first attempt

It was raining loads today and was wondering what to do & then the post man arrived - through my letter box dropped a parcel - I only ordered the elderflowers yesterday & they arrived today - what fab service!

Well of course I had to get on with some elderflower wine!

This is what I did today:

Sterilised all the equipment I was going to use.

Weighed out the elderflowers (25grammes for 1 gallon of wine) & put them into the fermenting bucket.

Then to that I added a small can of grape concentrate.

Plus 3 pounds of sugar.

Added the zest of 2 lemons and boiling water up to the gallon mark on the bucket.

Gave it a good stir until all the sugar had dissolved.

Left it to cool (& made dinner - vegetable lasagne for daughter & beef lasagne for rest of us)

When the concoction was blood heat I then added lemon juice, a table spoon of strong tea, yeast nutrient, gave it a stir & then added the yeast, gave it another stir, took the specific gravity (1.021), popped the lid on & sat it by the radiator. I have no idea what the SG is meant to be and I averaged out the amount of sugar that the recipes used - they ranged from 2 1/4 to 3 1/2 pounds in the recipes that I have.

I have got 4 different recipes for elderflower wine, so have sort of guestimated & amalgamated them & therefore this wine is a bit trial and error!

It's my birthday!

Well today I have reached the ripe old age of 21 again! and look at the fabulous bunch of flowers that my son gave me.....Thank you Francis!

Spent the morning looking at home brew recipes and then set off in search of equipment, Initially went to the local hardwear shop which had everything you could have wanted, but it was very expensive, so took a trip over to Ely, where the nearest Wilkinson's is, to see what they had.

Came away with some seeds (Runner bean- Bunyards Exhibition, Climbing french bean - Blue lake, Carrott - Paris Market, Beetroot - Boltardy, some more sweet peas & some stocks) & more greenhouse clips.....plus most of the equipment I needed to start making my own wine.

I had hoped to get a beginners kit, but they did not have any, so got all the component parts and then returned to Cutlack's to get the siphon hose, smaller bucket (Wilko's only had ginormous ones) and a hose clippy thing to make it easier when siphoning. Cutlack's will be great to replace things when I run out, but for the initial buying of the equipment it made sense to further afield. Unfortunately they had run out of dried elder flowers & will not have any in until next week. Also scouted round the charity shops to see if any of them had any demi johns......there were none to be had, so as I have not had any replies from freecycle, I might resort to large water bottles courtesy of Tesco's but I don't need them imediately.

Impatient as I am - I hot footed it home to order some dried elderflowers on line, and now I must wait until they arrive - might get on with sterilising equipment..........

Plotting again!

I am on annual leave this week and because the weather has been so grotty & I have also been feeling grotty, today I have been forced into watching TV, reading books and browsing the internet - It's a hard life! - The trouble with this is that my mind goes into overdrive & I start planning all the other things that I would like to do - Then my husband starts groaning!

I fancy the idea of having some bees on the plot, thinking that my new orchard would be a great place for them to sit.......Might have to think again as it might be difficult to steer clear of the hives on just one plot. I think I will need to find out a bit more before any decisions are made.

I have been reading Hazel's Blog & she has been making all sorts of wine - This is something else I fancy having a go at. There does not seem to be a home brew shop in Cambridge - too full of designer clothes shops! But there is a great hardware shop nearby so I am off there tomorrow to see if they keep items for brewing your own. I am also going to see if I can get some home brew items from Freecycle.