Wednesday 18 January 2012

Second Time Making Rambutan Wine (Fermentation)

This would be my second time making Rambutan wine. Just like the first time, I de-seeded the rambutan fruits I have tried to use juicer to extract the juice instead of blender in order to skip the filtering process. The advantage of using juicer, is that the juice extract was pulp-free. However I have to repeat this process 2-3 times to fully obtain the rambutan juice before discarding the flesh. Then, I bring the juice to a boil to kill bacteria.
As for this time, I have added a liter of sugar into the glass jar. After simmering the rambutan juice for 20mins, I poured it into the jar that contained sugar and stirred it. I leave it to cool over night.
The next day, I filled the jar of juice with water and added another 2 cups of sugar. I did a hydrometer testing to make sure the sugar brix achieves the appropriate level for the ideal fermentation condition. The reading turned out to be 16 brix, which is good. I added 2 teaspoon of citric acid to adjust its pH. According to winemaking books, pH 3-4 is preferred by yeast. Besides, diammonium phosphate (DAP) is added in as yeast nutrients. Lastly, I added in yeast.
This time, I used a airpump to pump air into the juice for 4 hours. The reason of me doing this is that primary fermentation is an aerobic process which requires the presence of oxygen. After the 4 hours of air pumping, the fermentation turned out to be very successful. I was so delighted to see how active the yeast were when I checked on it early in the morning.
Below shows some pictures that I have during the fermentation.


The Rambutan wine that I made earlier is now ready to be drink.