Update (5/4/10)

Yesterday, I did a check to see how things are progressing with my currently active ferments...

So, the "Polish" honey/Chenin Blanc concentrate gallon is sitting at 0.990, nice and dry. The Oklahoma wild flower is sitting at 1.005, as is the Okie wild flower/Chenin Blanc concentrate gallon. The "mystery" red (Apple/Blackberry I think) is also sitting at 0.990, but the real "star performer", was the "accidental" straight Chenin Blanc.

Now let me explain (If I haven't already done so)...... I'd bought the Chenin Blanc kit, so I could use it for back sweetening of meads. On recommendation from my friend Keith. I'd started to use it and despite keeping the airspace to a minimum in the pack (a "bag in a box"), it started to grow some mould on the surface of the liquid.

That caused me to panic a little and I strained all the bits of mould growth out and put a couple of campden tablets in it to sulphite. I then drew off 2 x 2 litre bottles worth and put them in the fridge, but was a little unsure what else to do with the rest of it (me being a tight fisted git - and not wanting to waste about 9 litres of concentrate..... so I just put it in a bucket, made it up with water and sprinkled the yeast in it. After a fortnight it was doing absolutely nothing, so I sort of planned that I'd be repitching yeast etc to try and get it going - I did give it a bit of a stir.

Anyway, the day that I was going to do that, I opened the bucket and bugger me if there wasn't signs of bubbles coming to the surface, so I just thought "fuck it" and left it alone.

It's fermented dry and sitting nicely at 0.990 so I've racked it off the lees to clear into 2 x 1 gallon DJ's. I'm also quite surprised, because when it comes to "proper" wines i.e. made from grape, I've always favoured heavy reds of the Bordeaux/Claret type. This is actually quite something. It's very fruity tasting but not overly "sweet". I'm very pleased with how it's turned out - especially considering that it was such a balls up to start with......

TTFN