Am I doing it right?

[Kaizoku]

Firstly, Hello!

I've been lurking around here for a while, thought it was high time to register and start posting :)

Almost brand new to this and some of the reading i've been doing on here makes me question the method i've come up with based on various other sources so I thought i'd post up what i've been doing to see if i'm actually going about this the best way.

I'm using a primary fermentation bin, dumping the "flavour" in there with enough water and sugar and acid to get to around 1.7-1.75 SG and Ph3-4 with the required volume then preparing a starter bottle (with the above ratios plus nutrient and yeast) while the whole thing cools down. The starter bottle goes in once it's bubbling away nicely. It sits around for about a week or so (pushing the fruit down once a day if i'm using chopped fruit) and then I siphon it to a demijohn and let it bubble.

I haven't got further than this yet, my first batch is still in the demijohn- made with a pomegranate and blueberry juice (will be one month this weekend) and is still bubbling. Plan is to rack it to another (i'm unclear as to whether some yeast starts dying before the bubbling stops) to allow it to start to clear as it's rather opaque right now.

Does this seem right? I note some stories on this board where a mixture is topped up with water only once in the demijohn...

[gregorach]

That's pretty much how I do it... I think a lot of folks 'round here are starting off in DJs rather than buckets, so they can't start with the full volume and have to top up later.

[Kaizoku]

ahhhh, that makes a certain amount of sense.

Did my first racking yesterday and the sediment left in the demijohn suggests that some of the yeast does indeed die while the thing is still bubbling. Unless it's something else entirely of course.

[gregorach]

That'll certainly be yeast, but not all of it will necessarily be dead (although some of it will be) - it just settles out as fermentation slows down. Perfectly normal and expected. There will still be plenty in suspension to finish fermentation.