Wine Nos. 1 and 2: Racked

Wines No. 1 (damson) and No. 2 (elderflower) have been racked into clean demijohns and put into the cellar. A couple of weeks ago I added potassium sorbate and sodium metabisulphate to kill off the yeast. I didn't add any finings as I thought there were looking pretty clear, and Ian Ball suggests it's not necessary if you rack them for long enough.

During the transfer process I was able to have a little taste. The elderflower tastes pretty good; with 9 months maturing I hope it will be rather pleasant straight out of the fridge. The damson was less impressive; it doesn't have the body of a true red wine so, if it is drinkable, may end up as a rosé.

The picture below shows the homebrew-shop demijohn retailing at about £7, and the Iceland demijohn retailing at £1 and including a gallon of free mineral water.