StillSmart

Ribena Wine.

2.5 Litres Ribena blackcurrant Juice, 2 Litres pure apple juice 600g sugar 1 tsp youngs super wine yeast 1 tsp youngs yeast nutrient. Actually I added the juice and sugar in 1 litre and 100g batches every other day or so. It's still bubbling away in the demi-john. If it turns out well I'll do a bigger batch. It's one I intend to rack once it looks like fermentation has completed then let it clear on its own.

Don't you need to boil the Ribena for a while first to get rid of the preservatives otherwise it's the apple juice only that ferments out.........

knobby wrote:Don't you need to boil the Ribena for a while first to get rid of the preservatives otherwise it's the apple juice only that ferments out.........

The preservatives listed on ribena wont be changed by boiling, that said I have no idea if Potassium Sorbate or Sodium Bisulphite would affect yeast.

crapula2010 wrote:Actually I added the juice and sugar in 1 litre and 100g batches every other day or so

Is the Ribena the concentrate? or are you watering it down? i find getting fruit flavour to carry over in the distillate quite difficult the couple of times I've tried it - but the concentrated flavour might be a different kettle of fish.

Don't know about the Sodium Bisulphate but Potassium Sorbate is used to kill off yeast cells and stop fermentation to prevent wines from continuing to ferment after bottling.

Sodium Metabisulphate is a sterilising agent and antioxidant - again used in some winemaking.

AM

From my research a while back with Vimto, I believe the preservatives merely stop yeast muliplying but they don't kill it, which means if you hit it with enough live yeast at the start it should churn through whatever it can.

I did mess about with this kind of thing for a while, until someone pointed out the obvious - if you want it to taste like Vimto, why not add it at the end, or do a sugar wash and then just add a bottle or two before running it in the still? Obviously wine is a bit different.