Wine Yeast 10 Pack Red Star Premier Blanc Fermentis Champagne Yeast

Take any good 100% juice that is preservative free or organic and make it better in a week or two.Recommended candidates are Apple, Grape both red and white, Cherry, Peach, Raspberry You get the idea.The nice thing is the juice comes with a the secondary fermenter.Store extra yeast packets in the freezer.Let them slowly come to room temperature before use.Its Easy.You will needA packet of magic juice enhancer - Red Star Champagne Yeast2 Quart bottle of 100% juice that is preservative free or organic.A primary fermenterI use a cleaned and sanitized 1 gallon milk or water jug.Using the larger container minimizes the chances of a blow off mess.Its disposable so no need to clean after use.A drilled rubber stopper or bung that fits the jugA three peace air lockA Secondary fermenter.The rinsed and saved bottle the juice came in sanitize before reusing.A drilled rubber stopper or bung that fits the juice bottleThe same air lock.A length of clear 3/8" vinyl tubingA dark place.Patients.1. Rehydrate yeast.See packet instructions - 1/2 cup warm water.Watch for a few little bubbles to form.2. pour juice in to the cleaned and sanitized 1 gallon jug airrating as you goOnly at the beginning introducing oxygen is a good thing from now on should be avoided.3. pitch yeast - pour it in the juice gently shake to mix.4. plug the jog with the cleaned and sanitized bung and filled airlock.You can use water in the air lock but I prefer to use vodka as it prevents growth of unwanted little beasties.If the air pressure changes or when the jug is moved some gets sucked in to the jug using vodka will help to prevalent an infection of undesirable little beasties ruining your fun.5. put in a dark place.6. After a several hours or the next day check the airlock for bubbles and foam in the jug.Do not open or remove the bung or air lock to look inside.7. wait a week or two.8. siphon with the cleaned and sanitized tubing to the cleaned and sanitized secondary fermenter.The bottle the juice came in.Don't suck on the tube.Fill the tube with clean water.Pinch the tube closed a few inches from the outlet end.Insert the other end into the juice holding the other end lower let the water drain out in to a pot or other container.As soon juice starts to flow out pinch to stop the flow put the end in the juice bottle and let the juice flow holding both ends of the tube just below the surface.you want to minimize airration and leave any solids that may have settled out on the bottom or be floating on top from being transferred.9. Taste!! Yum?!You could drink it now but.10. plug with the stopper and refilled airlock.11. put back in a dark place.12. Wait a week or Two more.13. chill14. drink15. EnjoyThis was fun and easy so do it again.To carbonate.By now the little yeasties have used up all the sugars and need some more sugar to eat.Make a small wort/syrup by heating about 1/4 a cup of water to at least 165 degrees but not boiling ad 2 to 3 Tbsp's of sugar stir until thoroughly dissolved.Cover and cool to room temperature.Then fill a cleaned and sanitized 2 liter soda bottle with the syrup and juice and tightly cap.Gently shake to mix.Place upright in a dark place until rock hard about 2 to 3 days.place in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to quickly chill and send the yeasties to sleep.Move to the refrigerator to completely chill up right letting the yeasties settle out.Enjoy!!Hey, you just made wine!!!!!!!!This is a basic walk through of the steps.Experiment and see what works for you.The addition of yeast nutrient and yeast energizer can improve the process.Adding extra sugar can also boost alcohol levels.The most important thing is sanitation.I use Five Star Star-San, PBW and 1-step.IMPORTANT Read the instructions!Bleach and soap can leave a residue.

As an amateur mead / wine maker this is my 3rd year using this brand and it hasn't failed to ferment yet

I received this about a week ago, September 3rd I believe. Today is September 10th. I paid the extra $1 (normal shipping was free) to have it arrive in half the time, so far it appears to have been worth it. I have taken a curiosity in wine-making and figured it can't hurt to try as it's very inexpensive. With these packets and local ingredients, it costs me about $6 a gallon, which is about 3.8 Litres. Going with a name brand would cost me about $30 to $60 for the same amount of alcohol.I'm making grape wine and apple cider. I've had it fermenting for about 3 days now and they're both still bubbling. I'm using a balloon with holes to let the gases escape. I have smaller holes than intended for the grape wine, as such I can smell more of the apple cider than the wine. The cider smells really, really good. I took normal apple juice from a store (only had vitamin c and concentrate, I believe) and added the sugar & yeast. So far it's working pretty well. I have yet to get a hydrometer so I can know my alcohol percentage. I hear though that, depending on what you're making, adding 1 cup of sugar to a gallon will give about 6 to 9% alcohol. I used almost 1 and 1/2 cups, so mine may be around 9 to 12% I'm guessing.Right now, my cider smells like champagne. Normally I hear about homebrewed alcohol being disgusting. I thought $6 a gallon might not be too bad, but so far it's smelling better than I expected. I will update when it stops fermenting and I get to do a taste test.Edit 9/10/2013It's been about 12 hours (more or less) since I wrote my review above. My brew has been going on for about 3 or 4 days now and I decided to just do a taste test anyhow. They taste WAY better than I thought. I thought it wasn't going to taste good, but I was surprised. Even though I am not much of a wine or champagne drinker (my cider tastes more like apple champagne I think), the taste seems just as good as the stuff you see on a shelf in the supermarket. I probably have about another 3 to 5 days I'm guessing before it's ready. Instructions I've found states it can take one to two weeks, it's almost one week.Edit 11/02/2013I have made a 3rd attempt at making some wine after my first two batches failed by my mistake. I left the jug brewing in my closet and almost forgot about it. I believe it's been sitting (fermenting) for about 5 weeks. This time I used up to half of a packet and 2 cups of sugar, it's still bubbling. I tried a little bit, thinking it would taste horrible. That was not the case, as it tastes pretty great.

This yeast is great for what I primarily use it for, which is meads and ciders. It adds something to the brew that I can't replace with any other variation of yeast, a certain crispness that lends itself well to fruity flavors. However, if you are trying to make red wine, I would recommend you find another yeast that will compliment the brew that you're going for.

This is some very active yeast.I set out to get the highest alcohol yield. Possible. "Why" is not important. Ahem...I used a kilo of sugar per gallon of water all totaling 6 gallons. I added the yeast and some nutrient and let it sit in my closet for about 2 weeks and then decided to try it.It wasn't bad. I'd used molasses so it was Pretty sweet. I live out in the country and don't make it to the store more than once every week or two so the sudden Infusion of liquor was appreciated. I just didn't count on it actually being liquor.Long story short I learned that this yeast is for wine and spirits for a good reason. The sugar that was left behind masked what turned put to be about 20 percent alcohol. So doing some very simple math here.... that 6 gallon container at 20 percent distills down to 3 gallons of vodka. I figured this all out when I woke up in my chair the next morning with a splitting headache.So! Great for making moonshine or your run of the mill undistilled sugar/fruit wine. Don't expect too much in terms of flavor as it's pretty dry.I think I will use this next time I make mead.