The fourth instalment of the elderberry wine. Its December 12th, and rather later than planned (it must be said), we racked off the elderberry from one PVA barrel to another identical one.
All we've done today is to sterilise a second barrel using crushed campden tablets, and to transfer the icor into it using a tube and some muslin. As you can see, the whole thing has the appearance of a nasty blood transfusion service or a particularly gory operation. Put the tube into the full barrel which is sitting on a stool above the height of the new clean empty barrel. Suck on the tube until the wine begins to flow, then all that is necessary is to ensure that the one end stays covered by liquid, and that the squirty end doesn't pour red wine all over your clothes and the floor. Its a question of aim.
The purpose of racking off wine at this stage is to separate the useful liquid (the proto-wine) from the dead yeast cells, the bits of fruit which escape the previous filtration, and unwanted dead livestock, etc. Removing gunk from the wine is good. We should have done this three weeks ago though.
Wine transfusion.
In line with tips from my gardening diary, we have also added 14 crushed campden tablets, which should stop any further fermentation, and help to clear the wine, which at this stage is still cloudy (as expected).
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