Re: When to bottle?

Sometimes lately I have not been getting my point across as I intended.
Must be getting old or something.  I was not referring to smells coming into
the wine from the outside.  I was referring to the fact that plastic will
develop smells from the stuff that was IN them on first using them that is
difficult to remove.  After storage, even if they were well washed, they
will often take on a rancid odor.  But it probably is a good idea to move
the carboys away from any garbage or bad smells anyway.

On the grape juice, consider using Welch's frozen juices.  Jack has some
good recipes.  I am starting to use it to add body and vinuosity to fruit
wines.

22% is theoretically possible but I don't think I would accept it without
knowing the SG drop.

Ray


"Darkginger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Ray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Something is wrong with my carrier and I can see two others have
responded
> > to your post but I can not see their response.  So I apologize if I
repeat
> > them.  I also apologize if I contradict them but then ...
>
> Many thanks to you and the others who replied - although I'm not much less
> confused, I think I've decided what I'm going to do now! I was
particularly
> concerned about the idea that plastic containers were 'smell permeable' as
> right now, they're next to the kittens' litter tray (yuk!) - but I sampled
> the rosehip (which was the closest to the smelly place) and it hasn't
picked
> up anything unpleasant! So - I'm going to bottle everything that is clear
> and still, rack that which is still but not clear (with a view to fining
if
> they still don't clear - I think the plum, the pear and the parsnip are
the
> worst - must be something to do with 'P' ;)), and leave those which are
> still active to complete their fermentation (luckily, most of those are
now
> in glass, as I rack from plastic to glass whenever possible).
>
> Next question - best way to wash bottles? I've just been scrubbing 'em
under
> hot water to get the labels off, then giving them a good soak in ChemPro.
> Takes forever though, and I'm getting a bit bored with it - especially
when
> I've calculated that I'll have to wash at least 120 bottles for all the
wine
> I've got going on! I don't have a dishwasher (well, I do, but it's still
in
> the shop - long story). Any suggestions?
>
> By the way, I thought I'd see whether I could make wine from cartons of
> grape juice (y'know, just the normal stuff for drinking) - was worried as
to
> whether there might be preservatives in there - but afer 2 days of sitting
> there not doing a lot, the juice (to which I added some sugar and of
course
> yeast) went nuts and bubbled up through the airlock - 3 times! It's now
> settled a bit, but is audibly hissing - looks like it's working alright! I
> just love all this experimentation - and I have to say that I'm delighted
> with the aforementioned rosehip (which is still a baby, of course) - even
> though it's so young, it tastes like a decent dry white, with not a trace
of
> 'cattiness' <g>.
>
> Oh, and one last question - when I tried out my new vinometer on the
chilli
> wine - it came out with a reading of 22% - could this be right? I haven't
> tested any of the others, but that seems a bit high for an ordinary yeast
to
> me. I have noticed that the home made stuff I've tried so far seems a lot
> more effective (ie, I get tiddly!) than the average bought wine. Is this
> normal?
>
> Many thanks!
>
> Jo (hic!)
>
>
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