Ginger wine

I am already scheming blackcurrants, and as I sit here I am eyeing up the elder tree at the back of the garden which has its last blooms fading.....

 

OK, so its straight into the demijohns on day four or five, then whack the airlocks in?

When do I add the campden tablet(s)?

I have just cancelled the order for the stainless steel funnel and ordered a larger plastic fellow instead, my thinking being that it will hold the large sieve and allow me to decant directly to the demijohns

 

So the first one should be tonight then, as yeast gets added tomorrow?

 

OK - the entire mix was decanted into the bucket yesterday, and yeast added once it had cooled a bit; this evening, the snap on lid had a bit of a bulge suggesting the yeast has started doing its thing. I chopped the raisins, and Mrs C juiced the lemons and the bucket was opened (with a nice wee hiss) and these ingredients added. I gave it a good shoogle about to stir it up, and the lid is back on.

So, questions now are:

Am I still going for 5 days as opposed to the recipes 14?

Is 5 days enough for the flavour/body of the raisins to be imparted to the wine?

Should I be drilling a wee hole in the bucket lid to insert one of the airlocks? (how do they work by the way?)

Anything else I should be doing?

 

Never even heard of Pectolase let alone added any so this batch will have to go without.

The colour has changed today (the bucket is semi-opaque), and the lid has puffed up a bit, but doesn't seem strained too much. I don't have a spoon that is long enough at the moment (will need to get one), so I am giving the bucket a right good agitating (lid shut) to mix stuff back up - hopefully that will be the same as stirring it? I'll stick to opening the lid to release gas for the time being, and decide on drilling etc next time round.

 

Looks like I need to get a Wilko order together - no chance of getting near one this side of next week, I have far too much on. Cheers @Scrungee

 

I have just strained the mix out into the two demijohns, and had to rapidly wash out a few whiskey bottles in very hot water as I didn't have enough demijohn space. I had a wee taste of the mix, and you can detect an alcoholic edge to it, but it doesn't taste very 'gingery'

@Scrungee @Zigs - I have retained the fruit must in a bowl and have it covered by cling film, pending the answer here - should I be returning this all to the bucket for a while longer and in the meantime get a couple more demijohns and some pectolase?

 

Thanks @ Zigs - Will lob it all back together after dinner.

 

Already done - lobbed back into the bucket, and have just ordered another two demijohns, a long handled spoon and some pectolase from Amazon...