Making wine using old 15 litre Tongariro bottles

tammythunder, Feb 17, 9:38pm
Hi Crew,
I am having a bit of fun making basic home brew using a kit etc, one of the waste products are the 15 liter TOngariro bottles I use as water sources.
I was wondering if anyone has used these in the process of making home made wine? I was wondering if getting some rubber stoppers and an airlock would give these a lease of life for making fruit wine etc.

uli, Feb 18, 3:27pm
Will certainly work well with some rubber stoppers and an airlock - give it a go. If you make apple cider then you can use one of them to make cider vinegar later - just make sure you label it and NEVER use it nor the stopper and airlock to make wine again.

punkinthefirst, Feb 19, 1:03am
I'm curious, uli. Why not?
Are they not able to be cleaned and sterilized?

tammythunder, Feb 19, 2:22pm
I was merely concerned about the pressure aspect of it. but to be honest I am thinking it seems like a great idea and will save me tying up the main brewing equipment on long ferments.

punkinthefirst, Feb 19, 6:21pm
Sorry. I'm unfamiliar with Tongariro bottles, and cider-making. Seems a great idea to use them if you can sterilize them properly. though 15 litres is a LOT of juice to press in one go to make wine at home.
It IS fun though. But don't give up on your brews too soon, as I did once. I made a batch of primrose wine. However, after a year of maturing, it tasted foul, so I tipped it down the drain. It wasn't til I was cleaning out a seldom used cupboard a few years later that I found one last 1 gallon container of it. When I tasted it, time had magically turned the foul brew into ambrosia, and I really wished I hadn't been so hasty with the rest of it.

tammythunder, Feb 20, 2:43am
thats a fantastic story. I will give it a go the lazy way first, use ribena or similar for a fruit wine

uli, Oct 21, 1:00am
punkinthefirst - no you can never completely remove vinegar bacteria - except of course you go for the big guns which will kill them like chlorine etc.

I never use that stuff (except for my dishcloth once a week!) and so I just label which containers and bubblers I use for wine and which ones for vinegar.

tammythunder if you have a bubbler onto the top of your bottles there is no "pressure" at all.