Okay I am new to the whole home brewing of anything, but my friend made some so I decided to give it a try.
My first batch is a strawberry wine (sweet), and I got the recipe from the book "Alaskan Bootleggers Bible" which basically tells you how to make alcoholic beverages in the cheapest way possible. So my instruction and recipe from that book may not be ideal when it comes to quality or process. So this is why I have some questions to ask here.
First the recipe was:
3.5 pounds of strawberries
2 pounds sugar
1 gallon water
1 packet red star champagne yeast
That was all mixed in a fermentation bucket sealed with a bubbler, it started fermenting pretty quickly so I know I at least did that much right, but now I have some questions.
1. Based on what I have in there, am I suppose to take off the lid and stir it up? There is a good amount of foam and whatever at the top right now.
2. Is there any way you could tell me how long this should stay in the primary fermenter, or how long it will take altogether to be "done"? I know that is probably a stupid question, but I don't have a hydrometer and am a little lost as to know when its done or ready to settle in a secondary (the book I got the recipe from doesn't even mention a secondary, if that tells you anything).
I started it on Friday (2/25)
As of now I was just gonna wait 10 days or so, or until it seems like fermentation has slowed a great deal, move it to a secondary (mainly to get out large solids), then wait another 5-7 days or so. Does that sound like a reasonable timeline?
My first batch is a strawberry wine (sweet), and I got the recipe from the book "Alaskan Bootleggers Bible" which basically tells you how to make alcoholic beverages in the cheapest way possible. So my instruction and recipe from that book may not be ideal when it comes to quality or process. So this is why I have some questions to ask here.
First the recipe was:
3.5 pounds of strawberries
2 pounds sugar
1 gallon water
1 packet red star champagne yeast
That was all mixed in a fermentation bucket sealed with a bubbler, it started fermenting pretty quickly so I know I at least did that much right, but now I have some questions.
1. Based on what I have in there, am I suppose to take off the lid and stir it up? There is a good amount of foam and whatever at the top right now.
2. Is there any way you could tell me how long this should stay in the primary fermenter, or how long it will take altogether to be "done"? I know that is probably a stupid question, but I don't have a hydrometer and am a little lost as to know when its done or ready to settle in a secondary (the book I got the recipe from doesn't even mention a secondary, if that tells you anything).
I started it on Friday (2/25)
As of now I was just gonna wait 10 days or so, or until it seems like fermentation has slowed a great deal, move it to a secondary (mainly to get out large solids), then wait another 5-7 days or so. Does that sound like a reasonable timeline?