Tips and FAQ

Categories:

• ----- WINEMAKING / BREWING -----
• ----- THERMOMETER / HYGROMETER / WEATHER STATIONS -----
• ----- OTHER -----
• ----- PURCHASING PROCESS -----

----- WINEMAKING / BREWING -----

1. What is must fermentation?

This is a process that involves yeast and the conversion of sugar into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. The fermentation process takes place in two stages – the first is called ‘turbulent’, and the second is called ‘stationary’.

2. What is turbulent fermentation?

This is the first stage of fermentation, lasting 2-4 days. It requires the supply of small amounts of oxygen to the must. This oxygenation is necessary for the proper development of yeast, so in the first phase, we can cork the balloon with a stub of cotton wool. A strong release of carbon dioxide usually accompanies this fermentation.

3. What is stationary fermentation?

This is the second fermentation stage, carried out under anaerobic conditions (the balloon should be covered with a stopper with a fermentation tube). At this stage, the main synthesis of alcohol takes place.

4. What temperature is best during fermentation?

The must temperature should be between 20-25°C. In the final stage of fermentation, when the wine begins to clarify, it is recommended to keep the temperature between 18-22°C.

5. What is wine yeast?

These are yeasts that belong to the genus Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces bayanus. Due to their advantages, they are used to carry out the fermentation of wines. Among the characteristics of this yeast, it is worth mentioning first and foremost: the ability to produce a high alcohol content in the liquor, giving the wine longevity; produce clear wine and produce esters – the substances that give the wine bouquet – specific to each type of yeast.

Physically, home wine yeast is sold as:

• sterile dried apples with ‘dormant’ yeast;
• cloudy fluid with suspended microorganisms;
• dry powder – the so-called “active, freeze-dried” yeast.

6. What is active yeast?

These are freeze-dried yeast cells (dry powder). Usually, you only need to hydrate them according to the recipe on the packaging. This usually involves pouring the yeast into lukewarm water half an hour before adding it to the must.

7. Top fermentation yeast

These are strains of yeast from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae species, used in brewing for wheat beers, English beers, some Belgian beers and others. They ferment at higher temperatures (15-25°C) and during the turbulent phase of fermentation, they collect on the surface of the wort and only settle to the bottom over time. Top fermentation yeasts do not occur as separate cells or in pairs, but form whole groups of fermenting cells – which makes them different from bottom fermentation yeasts. The aerobic type of metabolism prevails in them. Due to their greater spore capacity, they form a greater biomass after fermentation than bottom fermentation yeasts do. Top fermentation yeast yields a highly attenuated beer with less clarity than bottom fermentation yeast. They also have a more intense aroma and a higher content of fermentation by-products, particularly higher alcohols and esters.

8. Bottom fermentation yeast

Strains of brewing yeast belonging to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae species are used for bottling beer wort and obtaining lager beers. A characteristic feature of this yeast is its ability to ferment at 5-10°C and settle (at the end of the process) at the bottom of the fermenter.

9. What are the best conditions for yeast development in must?

The best conditions are when the sugar concentration does not exceed 22⁰Blg. Association also requires an adequate amount of mineral compounds containing nitrogen and phosphorus, which are present in the so-called “yeast nutrients”. The acidity of the must is also important.

10. What is fruit must?

Fruit must is called a juice solution with fruit, suitably diluted and sweetened, enriched with nutrients, which can then be subjected to ethanol fermentation.

11. Why should you use noble wine yeast?

Noble wine yeast has priceless advantages:

• a high alcohol tolerance – about 14-18%;
• resistance to high concentrations of sugar (honey or all-purpose), carbon dioxide, tannins;
• withstands greater concentrations of sulphur, such as after using potassium pyrosulfite;
• the fermentation process driven by them is faster, which reduces the likelihood of contamination;
• the finished wine is stable and well-fermented;
• the colour of the wine is persistent and the bouquet is appropriately selected.

Disadvantages of conducting fermentation with wild yeast:

• alcohol tolerance up to about only 10%;
• low resistance to acids, greater concentrations of sugar, large amounts of tannins (e.g., chokeberry wine);
• the fermentation driven by it does not proceed to completion;
• the finished wine is often unstable, easily contaminated;
• the wine colour is often impermanent;
• the taste and aroma of the finished wine are largely the result of chance.

12. How do you seal the fermentation container?

Fermentation containers can be further sealed by greasing their edges with petroleum jelly or edible oil.

13. Where can I find recipes for homemade wines?

Recipes for homemade wines (as well as other delicious homemade liquors and delicacies) can be found in the recipe book on our website, as well as in the quarterly magazine we publish.

14. Do we add the entire amount of honey at the very beginning of the batch when making trójniak [mead with a 1:2 honey-to-water ratio] and dwójniak [mead with a 1:1 honey-to-water ratio]?

When making mead, we suggest that honey is added in portions, such as in two or three, around once a week. Then there is no danger that fermentation will stop due to over- saturation. Honey is added after diluting it in water. In case you have ‘unreliable’ honey, such as from the market, we suggest boiling it beforehand and collecting the resulting turbulence (impurities).

15. Can mineral water be used for wine?

In our opinion, there are no greater concerns in this regard. You can use low-mineralised water as, sometimes, some contain greater amounts of minerals that can be felt later. It is worth using ‘tap water’ but boiled.

16. What are the differences between LS2 and Enovini yeast?

• LS2 ferments up to 16% alcohol – Enovini up to 18%;
• LS2 is recommended for all types of wines, including grape and sparkling wines – Enovini is designed especially for fruit wines (white and red), other than grape wines;
• LS2 is one species of yeast – Enovini is a blend of two species of yeast, which is why it gives such a unique bouquet of wine;
• LS2 forms less sediment and the wine clarifies very quickly – ENOVINI clarifies more slowly.

17. Is it necessary to conduct turbulent fermentation under anaerobic conditions with a fermentation tube?

The use of a fermentation tube is not necessary during turbulent fermentation. During this time, large amounts of carbon dioxide, a ‘heavy’ gas that sufficiently insulates the wort from oxygen and the influence of other atmospheric factors, are emitted from the fermenting wort. During this fermentation stage, for example, a rolled up cotton ball can be used to prevent contaminants from entering.

18. What is the difference between Klarowin [clarifying agent] and gelatin?

DIFFERENCES:

KLAROWIN:

• comes in powder form;
• • Binds in its structure various types of substances, mainly proteins;
• • it is mainly used for white and rosé wines;
• • 10g packaging is enough to clarify 10L of liquid.

GELATIN:

• • comes in crystalline form;
• • removes turbidity caused by the presence of dye and tannin substances;
• • it is mainly used with red wines;
• • 7g packaging is enough to clarify 30-50L of liquid.

19. When are clarifying preparations added to wine?

Use clarifying agents only if you are 100% sure that fermentation is over. Otherwise, the carbon dioxide formed during fermentation will prevent the precipitation of molecules adsorbed by clarifying agents.

20. What is the angle fermentation tube for containers?

This type of tube is mounted on the side of the fermentation container so that they can be stacked (stacked on top of each other).

21. I can't put the cylinder stopper in the bottle. What should I do?

Cylinder stoppers are wider than a standard bottle's diameter, usually by a few millimetres. This is intentional to keep the stoppers tight after corking. Bottles with such stoppers can be corked only with a corker – a hand-held, so-called “hammer (sleeve) corker” will suffice. For a greater number of bottles, we suggest using a three-arm corker. The stopper should be properly prepared before corking. At home, the stoppers simply need to be immersed in hot water for about 5 minutes or placed covered over boiling water. This will make them more malleable, making it easier to cork the bottles.

22. Is a glass tube or a plastic one better?

A fermentation tube filled with water is used in the fermentation process to protect the contents of the settee from oxygenation and, at the same time, allows the carbon dioxide produced during the process to escape regularly. The process works well whether you use a glass or plastic tube. However, a plastic tube has several practical advantages. These include the bubbles of this type of tube are larger, which means that you do not need to refill the water too often and there is no fear that such a tube will be accidentally broken.

23. Is it better to clarify or filter the wine?

If you want to preserve the beautiful bouquet of the wine, we suggest clarifying with an agent suitable for the type of wine. However, this requires time and patience. So, if you care about time and the wine has a very intense bouquet (high tannin wines), you can filter it using various machines and filters. Pressure filters give very good and immediate results. However, it should be remembered that with such filtering, we lose not only a certain amount of bouquet, but also some of the tannins. Unfortunately, sometimes clarification does not work and then only filtration remains. Such wine can then be left for coupage.

24. How and why use herbs to flavour wine?

We use herbs to make vermouth-type wine. Sometimes we can also use them when the resulting bouquet does not satisfy us and we want to ‘cover it up’.

Flavoured wines can be obtained by the following methods:

• adding a composition of herbs directly to the fermenting batch;
• adding the herbal essence prepared in 0.5-1L of young wine before ageing;
• initially pouring a set of herbs with water at 70°C and then adding spirit so as to obtain a 40-50% alcohol solution in the mixture (at this concentration, the aromas are best extracted).

Herbal wines should age for at least a month after adding essence. Beneficially, the taste, aroma and stability of the wine will be affected by cooling the wine at 3-6°C for several days.

25. What is beer yeast?

Yeasts are relatively anaerobic organisms. This means that instead of fermentation, they benefit from a more efficient aerobic respiration process in the presence of oxygen. All beer yeast is classified as a species of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Among brewing yeasts, however, there are two groups: top-fermenting and bottom-fermenting yeasts, which differ both morphologically and physiologically. They are added to the beer wort to induce alcoholic fermentation. Thanks to their enzyme, called zymase, they break down the glucose, fructose, sucrose and maltose present in the wort into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide.

26. What if, after opening a carbonated beer, all the sediment rises up and mixes with the beer within seconds and the beer then ‘escapes’ from the bottle in the form of foam?

This is not a normal situation; the beer is probably over-carbonated (i.e., it contains too much carbon dioxide [CO2]). To prevent the beer from over carbonating, check the amount of sugar (such as with a sugar meter) to see if there is too much [sugar] unfermented left before pouring it. If the amount of sugar is high, the beer should be left for further fermentation, or a little less sugar should be added for refermentation in bottles.

27. How long does it take to brew beer? How long do you have to wait?

The time it takes to make beer – from the moment the raw materials are ‘mixed’ to the opening of the bottle – depends on the type of beer you are brewing. Dark, heavy beers require a longer period of time (up to 6 months), while light beers can be ready to drink in as little as 5 weeks. However, it is important to note that the longer the beer matures and gets a better bouquet, the sediment gets heavier and stays at the bottom of the bottle. This makes the beer taste better.

For example, brewing lager or full-light (brew-kit) require, respectively:

• primary fermentation: about 7 days;
• maturation in bottles: about 14 days;
• bottle ageing: 7-10 days.

In total: about 5 weeks.

28. Do brew-kits emit unpleasant odours during brewing?

When brewing with brew-kits, there is no question of unpleasant odours. As the ingredients are poured and stirred, a peculiar malty aroma rises in the kitchen, while during the first 3-4 days of fermentation, a faint, pleasant smell of fermenting beer will come out of the fermenter.

29. Can bentonite be used to clarify beer?

Bentonite was – and still is – sometimes used in brewing. Its activity is the adsorption of proteins, which protects the beer from so-called “cold turbidity”. Today, silicon gels and solvents are more effective, so bentonite is unlikely to be recommended in home brewing.

30. Can a microwave oven be used to sterilise bottles?

Of course, microwaves are used to disinfect/sterilise a variety of objects. The disinfecting agent is actually the temperature generated by radiation-absorbing water molecules. A two-minute exposure to a clean, moist bottle in a home microwave oven should be enough.

----- THERMOMETER / HYGROMETER / WEATHER STATIONS -----

1. How does a bimetallic thermometer work?

The principle of activity of bimetallic thermometers is based on the use of the phenomenon of different thermal expansion of metals. The temperature is measured using a bimetallic sensor. The measuring element (thermocouple) is a special spiral provided by two glued strips of metal tape: steel and copper – with different temperature expansion coefficient values. One end of the tape is attached to a wire, the rotation of which directly causes the pointer to move. The other end of the tape is attached to the screw at the end of the sleeve, which is used to zero the thermometer and is also a thermally conductive element. Under the influence of increasing temperature, the strip bends toward the metal with less expansion, causing the pointer to move.

2. What is a hygrometer?

It is an instrument whose primary function is to measure the relative humidity of the air.

3. What do we call relative humidity?

Relative humidity determines the ratio of the amount of water vapour contained in the air to the maximum water vapour content at complete saturation (100% humidity) – at the same pressure and temperature. Note: warmer air holds more water vapour than colder air at the same pressure. Therefore, cooling results in saturation of the air with water vapour and its condensation – i.e., its conversion into water (dew, fog, cloud).

4. How does a bimetallic hygrometer work?

The bimetallic hygrometer has a screw-coiled bimetal composed of specially selected materials with high thermal stability. The principle of their activity is to change their length under the influence of changes in humidity. This phenomenon causes the pointer, which rotates around the scale, to move.

5. What is atmospheric pressure?

This is the pressure exerted by the atmosphere, so it is the weight of the air layer over a unit area.

6. What is worth knowing about the pressure unit?

Atmospheric pressure used to be measured in millimetres of the column of mercury (mm Hg). The current SI unit of atmospheric pressure is Pascal (Pa). Since the values given in Pascals would be huge, atmospheric pressure values are given in hectopascals (1 hPa = 100 Pa). The relationship between the old and new units is as follows: 750 mm Hg = 1000 hPa

7. Why have the window thermometers faded?

This effect is identical to that of posters exposed to prolonged sunlight. The thermometers have an ink print on a cardboard backing, so it is best to mount them in a place not exposed to direct sunlight. This information can be found in the descriptions of our products. In addition, direct sunlight on the thermometer falsifies the reading of the actual temperature.

----- OTHER -----

1. What is a juicer?

It is a vessel consisting of three stacked elements:

• The bottom vessel, into which water is poured to steam the fruit;
• The middle vessel, into which the juice of the fruit, isolated under the influence of steam, flows;
• The top vessel in which the fruit is placed.

The juicer is used to isolate the juice from the fruit under the influence of hot steam without losing much of the vitamins.

2. What are the advantages of potassium saltpetre?

Potassium saltpetre (potassium nitrate), next to table salt, is the most important additive when curing meat. This additive guarantees the preservation of its pink colour. In the first stage of curing, nitrate ions derived from saltpetre are reduced to nitrite under the influence of enzymes in the meat. In the second stage, nitrite ions react with myoglobin, the protein responsible for meat's pink (but not permanent) colour. The product of the reaction is nitrosomyoglobin with a persistent pink colour, even at higher temperatures. Using potassium saltpetre containing only nitrate ions is healthier and safer than commercially available curing mixes containing nitrites, which can be harmful to our health even in small doses.

3. Do moles dig in the winter?

Moles also dig on plots in winter (less intensively, of course). Thus, the adage that ‘when moles are digging, the spring is already beginning’ is untrue. These animals dig deeper in winter in layers of unfrozen soil. If the winter is not too harsh, they make mounds on the surface, thus supplying oxygen to the corridor and providing better weather guidance.

4. What is titration?

It is an analytical technique to quantify a specific substance (analyte) dissolved in a sample. Titration uses a complete chemical reaction between the analyte and the reagent (titrant) added to the sample at a known concentration.

5. What is sucrose?

It is an ordinary table sugar obtained from sugar cane or sugar beets. The sum formula of sucrose: C12H22O11. Sucrose is made up of two simple sugars: glucose and fructose, and is – therefore – classified as a disaccharide.

6. What is dextrose?

It is the most important ‘simple sugar’, generally known as ‘grape sugar’ and in medicine as ‘glucose’. Dextrose is a sugar found naturally in, for example, sweet fruits and honey. It is also extracted from starch such as corn starch.

7. What is fructose?

It is a fruit sugar, a monosaccharide that occurs in a free state (in fruit, honey and flower nectar) and in a bound state (among other things, it is included – along with glucose – in the composition of sucrose as well as inulin).

8. What is a distillery mash?

In colloquial terms, mash is associated with home distilling, in which case it can be said to be a mixture of water with added sugar or high-sugar fruit preserves. A typical mash for distilling purposes is prepared from potatoes, grains or fruits. The mashing process can be carried out using enzyme preparations of a microbial origin containing α-amylase, amyloglucosidase and pullulanase. After the fermentation process, the resulting ethyl alcohol is distilled.

9. What is distillation?

It is the separation of a liquid multicomponent mixture by evaporating and then condensing its components. It is used to isolate or purify one or more component compounds. The process takes advantage of the different relative volatility of the mixture's components. The main product of distillation (i.e., the liquefied liquid) is called ‘distillate’.

10. What is stacking?

It is the piling of something one on top of another. The term is often used in the context of aligning fermentation containers in a single column.

11. What is the degree of Fahrenheit?

It is the oldest known scale used to measure temperature, named after its creator, Daniel G. Fahrenheit, currently used mainly in Anglo-Saxon countries. On the Fahrenheit scale, the temperature of the thermometric points of the Celsius scale is:

• • 212°F – the boiling point of water (100°C)

180°F corresponds to 100°C and, therefore, 1.8°F = 1°C

12. What is a thermometric liquid?

It is a mixture that includes toluene (used as a solvent) with kerosene and food colouring. The mixture has a low freezing point, a high boiling point and high thermal expansion.

----- PURCHASING PROCESS -----

1. Is it possible to cancel an order that has been placed?

There is such a possibility. After placing an order in the online store, the client receives an email informing them that the order has been accepted. If the client wishes to cancel the order, the client should write an email with the cancellation information or call the phone number provided in the email.

2. Payment - how can I pay for my order?

Payment can be made by electronic transfer to the account specified on the website or in the email confirming acceptance of the order. You can also pay for the ordered products with cash on delivery. If the client prefers another form of payment, they should contact the store and arrange the details.

3. What shipping methods are available?

The ordered product, depending on the client’s preference, is shipped via the Polish Post or courier service.

4. How can I get a VAT invoice for purchased products?

When placing an order, enter the data necessary to receive an invoice and select the ‘invoice’ option before approving the order.

5. Is it possible to check the contents of the package before paying the courier?

Unfortunately not, but you should check that the package is intact. If you notice tampering with the contents of the package, please report it to the courier. After paying for the package, open it with the courier and inspect the contents. If you find any shortages or any damage, you can request a report.

6. How should I proceed if I do not receive an order confirmation email?

You should contact us immediately – perhaps the transaction was not carried out correctly, or the wrong email address was entered by mistake. The absence of a confirmation email may also mean that the order has not yet been registered.

7. What if the wrong payment option was selected during ordering?

You should contact us by email or phone. An order that has been placed can no longer be undone, but we will do our best to allow a convenient way to pay for the goods.