Madly hunting for demijons

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Madly hunting for demijons
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jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28126
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 6:12 am Post subject: Madly hunting for demijons

Since restarting winemaking in late August, I have been largely using 5 gallon white plastic fermenters.

I am coming to realise that at the long term racking stage, they are something of a pain

Basically you have to rack the things simply to see if the wine is clearing and how much sediment there is.

It has to be better to leave the wine undisturbed. Since wine clears from the top down, this also may be a way to get some bottled earlier

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 7:39 am Post subject:
What is the price difference between new and second hand? Apart from that second hand can be free of course - what's the cheapest you can buy new for, esp for people like you who could probably use them for the dozen and who will be keeping them for years?

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28126
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 8:11 am Post subject:

Bugs wrote:

What is the price difference between new and second hand? Apart from that second hand can be free of course - what's the cheapest you can buy new for, esp for people like you who could probably use them for the dozen and who will be keeping them for years?

I think Arkwirghts charge £4.95 for new, less for secondhand.

I could afford to buy new, but these are things people throw away, it is entirely against my instincts to get them new.

Silas

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 6848
Location: Staffordshire

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 8:13 am Post subject:
You might be better with carboys, they are 5 gallon glass jars contained in wicker baskets. Garages used to have distilled water delivered in them. Don't know where you would get them from though...

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 8:17 am Post subject:

jema wrote:

I could afford to buy new, but these are things people throw away, it is entirely against my instincts to get them new.

I see your point, but if you waste hours and hours looking for and driving around for second hand ones, you almost might as well get them new...

ButteryHOLsomeness

Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 770

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 8:18 am Post subject:

you may want to see if there is a freecycle or a gumtree in your area. thanks to you jema i am now seriously considering making some wine and wouldn't you know it, not a single demi john to be found at the normal charity shops where i see them

go to the main gumtree site to find a local one
https://www.gumtree.com/

freecycle is the same way

https://www.freecycle.org/display.php?region=International

that's the international page and you can hopefully find your area that way.

i'm planning to post on both of my local versions to ask about them and other brewing equip...

so, what all do i need besides demijohns? a bung (is that what it's called) and....

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28126
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 8:20 am Post subject:

Silas wrote:

You might be better with carboys, they are 5 gallon glass jars contained in wicker baskets. Garages used to have distilled water delivered in them. Don't know where you would get them from though...

I have seen some on Ebay. But they have a downside. A full glass carboy is not easily luggable up and downstairs. I also want to get away from quite so much "topping up" to prevent oxidation. So moving down from 5 Gallon fermenters to 1 gallon at the end of fermentation would also be useful.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28126
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 8:23 am Post subject:

ButteryHOLsomeness wrote:

I founded a local freecycle group a month or so back. Needs more member to have much chance though.
Local charity shops were a dead loss last time I looked, and the are like hens teeth at the car boot sales.

Aside from demijohns and 5 gallon plastic fermenters if you prefer to get decent quanities brewed, you will need airlocks, proper wine yeast, corks and a corker, or plastic stoppers, and that is about it really. The article on the site explains a lot:

https://www.downsizer.net/Projects/Home_Brewing/Home_wine_making/

ButteryHOLsomeness

Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 770

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 9:04 am Post subject:
thanks jema i checked out that cherry nectar at lidl that i mentioned in another winemaking post. it's 50% fruit juice (most of the rest would be water i should think) could you still use it?

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 9:20 am Post subject:
I see that most places won't send them mail order, quite understandable, but I wonder if you could get them direct from a manufacturer? Don't suppose it happens to say on any of yours who makes them, Jema?

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28126
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 9:20 am Post subject:

ButteryHOLsomeness wrote:

thanks jema

i checked out that cherry nectar at lidl that i mentioned in another winemaking post. it's 50% fruit juice (most of the rest would be water i should think) could you still use it?

As any POW will tell you, you can make wine out of anything. You need yeast, water, suger and nutrient to make alcohol and if you are fussy something for flavour

I Have a couple of "second runs" off the same pulp batches going at the moment, and the one I tasted a few weeks ago, seemed like it could turn into a decent Chardonay imitation

with the Lidl stuff I would use a decent amount of yeat nutrient, amd may be 250gms of raisens for body. But only you can taste it and assess its potential.

Hedonists

Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 95
Location: Romford, Essex.

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 12:47 pm Post subject:

Recently someone mentioned using the large plastic water bottles (5litres???) that supermarkets sell for about 85p each - incl water

- I can't find the thread now.

Does anyone know how these might compare with glass demi-johns, regarding for instance long term storage? The poster mentioned drilling a hole in the top & fitting an airlock, but I was wondering how tight this fit would be and how easy it might be to find rubber gromets to ensure a better fit.

Also how suitable would the water be for making wine? Would mineral water have too many, errm, minerals?

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28126
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 12:55 pm Post subject:
I think it probably make little difference, unless you are talking about the real long term. I have been pragmatic this morning and racked 5 gallons of Orange Blossom into 1 glass demijohn, 1 food grade plastic bucket with an air tight lid, and one food grade plastic bottle with a screw on lid.

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 1:15 pm Post subject:
I got a load from the local tip, they are too big to put in the glass bins so they were stacked neatly next to them. But I've just thought, what about the plastic 5 gallon water coolers you see in offices, we have loads of empty ones here. I've just checked the top of one and the hole is almost identical in size to a wine bottle. You can pop the valve out and push the bung and airlock in.

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 05 1:20 pm Post subject:
Wondered about the water coolers before, but I was thinking oooh, giant bell cloches But I think they have a deposit on and are returned to be reused - which is a good thing of course.

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