Selfsufficientish.com

I think we have a problem with our alcohol once it's been made.

It doesn't stay nice tasting.

I was thinking about it and when you open a bottle of wine if you put the lid on and put it in the fridge after a week it's gonna taste bad. So how is it different when you empty your demijohn into bottles?

Have I explained myself well enough?

When you put wine in a demijohn you also put in an airlock and bung it excludes air. Oxidisation occurs when you let air into alcohol, great if you want sherry not so great if you want wine.

Mind you some wines, especially ones brewed to a higher ABV will stay ok tasting for a while longer.

Never left alcohol long enough to oxidise

If you don't want to let the air in i.e. you don't remove the bung and ari lock then how do you get the wine/cider out of the demijohn and into the bottles - thats my trouble

P&P, it takes about three months to get the full oxidisation, so just decanting will not effect it.

I suspect, like me you are drinking it too soon. You need to wrack off the demi john 3 times over 12 months to get rid of the sediment, its this must which I suspect makes it taste rank.

Mikes the man though on this, I could be wrong.

So now it's in bottle just leave it to settle?

It depends really, what sort of a funny taste is it, is it cloudy, what wine are you making, how long has it been, there are just so many things, I can't help much, and suspect that you might be better reading up on what you have done, put the bottles that taste nasty in a cupboard and leave a year to see if it helps.

Pumpkin&Piglet wrote:I think we have a problem with our alcohol once it's been made.

It doesn't stay nice tasting.

I was thinking about it and when you open a bottle of wine if you put the lid on and put it in the fridge after a week it's gonna taste bad. So how is it different when you empty your demijohn into bottles?

Have I explained myself well enough?

Nope

You're going to have to try to describe that "not nice" taste. And you're going to have to tell us how strong you make your wine, and with what main ingredient.

Apart from that, in general terms, oxidation is guarded against at the racking stage by a) using metabisulphite (Campden tablets) or b) by being damn careful not to splash the wine all over the place - you run it gently down the sides of the receiving vessel.

All wine - even the most expensive, heaviest red ever produced, will deteriorate after the bottle is opened. The effect is more pronounced with whites than reds because of their more delicate structure. Basically, the first things that suffer are the esters - the things which provide bouquet - and smell has a lot to do with taste. Other changes take place after that, further altering the flavour. Reds will begin to taste rusty. Whites will taste thinner and more acidic. The cure is not to leave an opened bottle of any wine in the fridge for too long a period. Better still, finish the bottle within a day.

On the other hand, this may not be an oxidation problem at all - so do give us more details.

Mike

[quote]Apart from that, in general terms, oxidation is guarded against at the racking stage by a) using metabisulphite (Campden tablets) or b) by being damn careful not to splash the wine all over the place - you run it gently down the sides of the receiving vessel. (quote]


Mike that's the first time I have registered that info. I do not have a pipe (suctioning thingy) so hold the demi under one arm then glob it into a measuring jug. Then sloosh it through a funnel with a cloth sieve on the slosh it glugging all over the place into the bottle.. oops

Now you know why I previously called it Mikes muck ..

Now I'm used to it, it doesn't taste so bad!

What we did was get some apples last september, chop them up, juice them and pop ut in a demijohn. I racked it about xmas time and bottled it at about easter. That's it.

It's lovely and clear. I think the tast has improved in the bottles we left to settle for a bit. The bad taste is the acidic one you get when a bottle of wine has been left open in the fridge for about a week.

When we racked it we weren't very careful about sloshing it about as you put it! Just let it pour from the syphon and hit the bottom of the bottle. We'll know for next time