I received an Orange Muscat Port Style kit from my wife for Christmas. Unfortunately the bag has a leak and some juice has been leaking out. I contacted the Company that it was ordered from and they are shipping a replacement kit. They did not want it shipped backed, they will put in a claim with FedEx. Since I still have the kit I figured I might as make it. Followed the instructions provided except I added 3 Campden tablets to sterilize the must in case the leak causes a problem with it. Added the Bentonite and will add the yeast after 24 hours. Staring SG is 1.160 using Lalvin EC-1118 Yeast this will finish sweet at about 18-19% alc. Includes a Flavor/Juice pack to add at the end. Let see what happens. The Juice could be bad so it may not come out. I taste tested the juice and it appeared to be ok.
12/29/2009: Added yeast starter prepared the method in the instructions
12/30/2009: No Active fermentation. Completely still and almost clear. Created a new starter with a similar yeast K1V-1116 incorporating 2 packages as originally suggested in the instructions. This is one very active yeast starter before adding to the must.
I recieved some new wine making supplies for Christmas including 3g carboy. So now it is time to increase the batch sizes. I had a can of Alexanders Suncountry Juice Concentrate (Zinfandel). So I created this Blackberry Zinfandel Recipe to make.
Zinfandel – Blackberry
Base Recipe
1can Suncountry Zinfandel Concentrate
2lbs Frozen Blackberries
3tsp yeast nutrient
5lbs sugar? To 1.095
1tsp Tannin
1 ½ tsp Pectic Enzyme (dry)
3 Campden Tablets
water as needed
Premier Cuvee Yeast
Add Medium Toast French Oak during aging
Day 1 (noon)
Added: Juice, Blackberries (crushed) in net bag.
1 ½ tsp Pectic Enzyme
3 Campden Tablets
5lbs sugar dissolved in water
starting SG 1.098, 23.5 brix, PA 14%
begin yeast starter. Premier cuvee ½ tsp yeast energizer
--12hrs. later--
add 3tsp Yeast Nutrient
Check SG was 1.098
check and adjust acid level (added 7tsp Acid Blend to 0.60%)
Day 2 noon
Pour in starter.
***Notes: Brought the water to 3 gal before checking SG and adding sugar. That would have been OK if I would have used the juice to dissolve the sugar in instead of creating a simple syrup of water and sugar. I only used 6 cups of water for the 5lbs of sugar. But it added well over 2qts of volume. It will probably be a little light on the body
Served a bottle of my Polk County White during Christmas Dinner. It was a hit. Mother in Law and her husband liked it. The wine turned out much better than I thought it might. I was very please. Not bad for some Welch's White Grape juice, Sugar and yeast. Only one bottle left.
I think I need to make another batch of the same stuff in the future.
Been a month since the last racking. The wine is super clear with some crystal looking sediment. Racked and filtered through a sanitized coffee filter. I adjusted the SG (sweetness) level of both gallons during the previous racking to different levels between the to gallons. I took very small samples and like the difference in flavors between them. One gallon I was adjusted to an SG of 1.012 and the other I adjusted to 1.006 and added 1/8tsp of Tannin.
The finished wine is a far cry from the completion of Primary fermentation.
If there is no sediment in next 2 weeks I will be bottling the wine to free up my carboys for wine to make more.
12/3/09: Still dropping sediment. Guess I better slow down and wait. Just let nature takes its course and not try to rush it.
The bubbles were noticeably slower today. Checked the SG and it was at 1.012, with it starting at 1.110, puts the wine at. just over 13% abv with a semi sweet finished. Racked, stabilized and degassed the wine. There was lot sediment left, but since I started 5 qts, I still have a gallon.
It has bee a month since racking and stabilizing. Wine has not cleared any since the second day from racking. There is almost no deposits in the jug. Decided to add some Sparkolloid to try and clear it. Mixed up a batch and stirred it in thoroughly. Now I wait and see.
11/19/09: Placed jug in Refrigerator for cold stabilization and help to clear the Apple Wine. Wine appears to be stable but just not clearing, even after adding Sparkolloid.
12/8/09: Not clearing yet. Racked and added Bentonite. Lets see what happens now
12/12/09: Looks like it is beginning to clear.
The Polk County White is 3 months old and has been in the bottle for a month. I decided it was time to give one a try.
Nose: Light fruity and tart aroma.
Taste: Slightly Tart and Sweet at the same time. Light fruit with a hint of Muscat or Muscadine taste and a good sweetness balance.
Alc: I did not have a hydrometer when I started the batch, so I am unable to determine the alcohol content of the wine. The feel is around 10% if I had to guess. It definitely is not prominent or over powering at all just sort of in the background.
Final Notes: For a first batch, not bad. It makes for an average White Table Wine. I actually wish I had left it dry and had not sweetened it. It is very easy drinking and goes done very quick. I might actually be able to make this stuff.
If I make this again I think I will leave it dry and definitely make the alcohol near 12%.
I was going to wait another 30 days before messing with this wine. But there had not been a hint of a bubble in over a month and with cooler temps in the house the air lock level was moving back towards the wine. So I decided this would be a good time to rack and sweeten. Racked both gallons to one of my primary buckets. Adjust the sugar to taste. (measured sg 1.006) Just a little off dry. Taste other than being high in the alcohol department (over 15%) was good. similar to a high alcohol version Southern Red from Lakeridge Winery. A little lighter on the body but good. Transferred back to the cleaned gallon jugs. To one jug I added 1/8tsp of Tannin. To the other a little more sugar (sg 1.012). Airlocks back on and put away for a couple of months.
It has been about 3 weeks since the first racking. Fermentation has slowed considerably , bit still some signs of fermentation and thin firm deposit on the bottom of the jug. Checked the SG and it is .995, that puts it at 12.9% abv. Racked to a clean jug, added 1 Campden tablet and Potassium Sorbate. Did some degassing and topped up. Put it away for 2 months. Taste is a little rough but I could taste its potential.
10/9/09: Started my Cranberry Wine today. The picture shows the cranberries I used in it. I am following the recipe in the previous post. With one addition; 6oz grape juice concentrate to add a little more body to the wine.
10/10/09: Pitched the yeast this morning from a starter. Decided to use Lalvin 71B-1122. The must started at SG of 1.110, the higher starting SG combined with the yeast should give about 13-14%abv semi-sweet to sweet wine. I have about 5qts of must including the rehydrate Cranberries. As of 12 hours the Must was showing very little signs of fermentation. I snapped the lid down tight on the fermentor and it was pushing some bubbles but very slowly. If the fermentation does not improve by morning I will probably make a new starter and toss it in.
10/11/09: Checked this morning and the fermentation is starting to get going a little better, I can actually here the bubbles working through the fruit. Starting to produce that distinct odor of fermenting fruit. By the afternoon (almost36hrs.) it is rolling good now.
10/15/09: Been punching the cap and stirring twice daily. Checked SG this morning now at 1.060 (6.5%abv). targeting 1.030 to rack.
10/17/09, Day 7: Racked to secondary ended up with 1 gal + 750ml. SG at 1.046. Fermentation is a little slower than previous batches I have done. Hours later in the secondary lots of sediment appearing.
10/18: Appears the 1 gal shows no sign of fermentation but the residual in the 750ml is going like gangbusters. The sg on the 1 gal had not changed from 24hrs earlier. Added 1/2 teaspoon of nutrient and by afternoon still no sign of active fermentation. Recombined the 2 bottles in the primary fermenter and active fermentation again. I am not sure what happened. Maybe not enough of the yeast transfer with wine? Will just monitor and try again in a couple days. This time wait to rack/transfer until below 1.030.
10/19: Stll not making progress. Added a new yeast starter. I will have really review my notes to see what went wrong on this one.
10/22-23/09: Fermentation has been continuing since adding a new starter. Slow but still working. On 10/22 stirred must and transferred to the secondary fermentation containers. (1gal and 750ml), after a couple of hours a lot of sediment. 10/23; fermentation is still continuing nicely and the lees (sediment) are compacting down. I can actually see the bubbles coming up from the bottom of the sediment area. I think it might end up being ok.
10/25/09: Checked on the secondary and it is bubbling good
I came across a recipe for using dried Cranberries on Jack Keller's site, that looked simple and inviting. So I was at the store with my wife tonight and picked up some Cranberries, good ones, no sulfite or sorbic acid, Just cranberries and sugar. This should be ready in time for Thanksgiving 2010. I may use this or kick up sugar and alcohol content and make a dessert type. I will need to use a different yeast for that purpose.
Here is Jack's recipe:
DRIED CRANBERRY WINE
1 lb dried, unsulfited cranberries
2-1/2 lbs granulated sugar
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/8 tsp tannin
1 crushed Campden tablet
water to one gallon
1 pkt Lalvin RC212 (Bourgovin) wine yeast
Chop the cranberries or run them through a mincer. Place in primary and add one quart warm water. Stir in crushed Campden tablet. Cover and set aside 12 hours. Add pectic enzyme, recover primary and set aside another 12 hours. Meanwhile, bring remainder of water to boil and stir in sugar until completely dissolved. Cover sugar and allow to cool to room temperature. When 12-hour pectic enzyme treatment is complete, combine remaining ingredients in primary and add sugar water. Stir well and cover primary. Stir twice daily for 7 days. Strain out cranberries, rack liquid into secondary and fit airlock. Rack every 60 days for 6 months, topping up and refitting airlock each time. Stabilize, sweeten to taste, wait 10-14 days, and rack into bottles. Store in cool, dark place for additional 6 months.
I challenged my daughter with designing me a label for my homemade wines. We decided it needed a catchy fictitious Winery name as well. The picture shows what she came up with. A very classy label with a Cool name. (Click on image for a larger view)
The wine is nearly 2 months old. Clear and stable. I had sweetened it a couple weeks ago and it actually tastes OK. A little off the dry mark and good flavor, a nice light table wine and cheap. A little more time in the bottle and might actually taste real good.
Checked the S.G. and it was below 1.030, so I racked it into the secondary fermenter last evening. Taste good, a little yeasty, it actually has a beer type taste. I would imagine that would be from of all the yeast and CO2 in the must.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
My Wine projects. Back to front (White grape concentrate), Muscadine Noble from grapes (2gal), and Tennessee Apple.
Finally located some 1 Gallon jugs. A freind of mine brought back some from Tennessee. Only Problem they are full of Apple Cider from The Apple Barn, 2 solutions; drink it or make wine from some of it. Found the following formula from Jack Keller's site which I followed.
1 gallon pure apple juice (no preservatives)
1 lb. granuated sugar
1-1/2 tsp. acid blend
1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme
1/4 tsp tannin
1 crushed Campden tablet
Champagne yeast and nutrient
Put juice, sugar, crushed Campden tablet, pectic enzyme, acid blend, and tannin into primary fermentation vessel. Stir vigorously to dissolve solids and cover. After 24 hours, add yeast and nutrient and cover. Stir daily. When S.G. reaches 1.040 (3-5 days), rack into secondary fermentation vessel and fit airlock. Rack again after 30 days and again after two months. When wine is clear, rack again and bottle. Taste after six months. [Adapted from Raymond Massaccesi's Winemaker's Recipe Handbook] The only change I made was the Yeast I used Red Star Montrachet. And made sure I added the correct sugar for an SG of 1.090. This morning 12 hours after putting in the stater, the Must fermenting well.
Racking went smoothly. Had to make up some volume after racking off the lees. I used some cheap Merlot I had on hand and some water. This gives a full 2 gallons still. Took a taste, Alcohol Level is real high (about 16.4% before topping up), I may sweeten it at the end to bring some flavor back, time will tell. But there is the underlying flavor of the Muscadine Noble grape. The Wine is completely dry with SG at 0.990. Added 1 Campden tablet per jug and Potassium Sorbate to hopefully stop the Yeast. Now to put it to rest for a couple of months.
I am thinking of making a Blueberry Port styled wine and possibly a Cranberry Wine for the holiday season next year (2010). Since fresh cranberries will start being available soon. I will be definitely starting my Pumpkin wine in the next couple of weeks.
2 1/2 weeks since transferring to the 1 Gallon jugs and there is still active fermentation going on. A pretty good sediment layer is forming on the bottom. Also some dead yeast sediment collecting on the ridges on the sides so I just give the jug a jiggle every few days to knock it down.
Racked off the Bentonite today, stirred vigorously to degas the wine. The wine is very clear now, the bentonite really worked well. Added one crushed campden tablet. Took a taste and it is not too bad. Added a little sugar and topped up with a little water. Refitted airlock and will watch out for fermentation restart. There should be none since I added Potassium Sorbate at the last racking. This stuff might not even taste too bad when finished.
Appears that all fermentation has stopped. No indication of a bubble in many days. There was a small Amount of lees on the bottom. Racked over to a temp container and washed out bottle. Racked back added 1 crushed campden tablet and 1/2 teaspoon potassium sorbate to stabilize. In a couple days to the fridge to cold stabilize.
Had a small taste, not too bad. very dry and lots alcohol. Needs to be sweetened up a little and might actually be OK.
Transferred wine to secondary container and removed the pulp and seeds. I now have 2 gals of beautiful deep ruby red Muscadine Nobel Wine and actually doesn't taste to bad. SG was 1.032 at the time of transfer from a starting level of 1.111 on 8/23. When it was time to transfer I only had 1 airlock and the only thing large enough (2gal) was my 2.5 gal primary bucket. Transferred to that, but by morning it did not see the bubble rate I expected to see. But by afternoon my other airlocks arrived. So I transferred to two 1gal bottles. I am not sure the bucket had an air tight seal, since these are bubbling quite well still.
The Must is really bubbling and still putting off a strong odor, but not quite as strong. SG down to 1.060 this morning, was 1.081 at the 36hr. mark. Color is a real nice dark ruby red. Probably will be down to 1.030 to 1.040 by tomorrow afternoon and time to remove the skins and seeds.
Gave the strainer bag a squeeze to get some more juice out. Checked the SG today it is at 1.110. Higher than my target was color of the juice is a dark pink. Added the Yeast Nutrient to the Must and created a yeast starter with Pasteur Red yeast. An hour after re-hydrating the yeast in 1 cup of warm water, added 1/4 of the juice every 1.5 hours until I added 1 cup of juice. The started was realing foaming and bubbling good (should have taken a picture). Stirred into the must and with in a couple of hours it is already bubbling real good.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Went the Grapes of Kath vineyard for the annual grape stomp celebration. Tasted some very interesting wines today. Picked some grapes (Muscadine Noble) while I was there. After arriving home almost immediately crushed the grapes and started my first batch of Muscadine wine. Took measurement of SG and calculated what should have been the correct sugar amount. Disolved and added. Oops too high. I was going for a dry wine. Added some water and brought the SG down to 1.120 still higher than I want. So I guess I will be making a semi-sweet wine instead. I will be using Pasteur RedYeast so it might push the alcohol higher instead only time will till. Added Potassium Metabisulfite and pectic ezyme. Now tomorrow i will check the SG again before adding the yeast.
Lesson learned: go slow with the sugar and add in small quantities.
It has been 2 weeks since my first batch of wine was started. The fermitation looks like it is long finished. There is positive pressure in both bottles and the wine is starting clear a little. Very tempting to open and taste, but I need to wait 2 more weeks. I will be going to a Grape Festival in Sebring Fl. tomorrow at the Grapes of Kath Vinyard and Nursery. I plan to pick up a couple a supplies and some U-Pick Muscadine grapes and start a batch of some Muscadine based wine from grapes. Stay tuned and there will pictures.
Tried a little experiment today with the 20oz bottle on the left. I had added some water to it already just to get the level up some. Here is what I tried today; Poured off a little of the wine. Made a simple syrup with about of 2tbls of sugar and added to the bottle. It appeared that there is no fermentation activity as of today. I figured the added sugar will either start the yeast back to work or sweeten the wine.
What I pored off was a little clearer then when I racked it into the bottle. Took a small taste and it was not to bad. Very dry with a good bite, but a yeasty smell. I guess time should cure this issue. The small bottle should be a good representation of what is in the 3L bottle, but a little diluted because of the water I used to top it up.
Checked the batch this morning and did not detect a bubble in the few minutes I watched it. Not using a hydrometer, so decided it was time to rack into the3L (could not find a 1gal) glass jug. It did not all fit so added the last bit to a clean 20oz bottle with a balloon (poor mans airlock). The wine? looks OK smells closer to wine. Took a small taste, almost completely dry tasting but not good. But it does have wine taste and feel, just very raw, a little yeast taste, but it also very cloudy still. Time is now going to be our friend I hope. Not much to do for a few weeks now but watch it. Hurry Up and Wait
Checked wine and it resumed the bubbles through the airlock. The rate is the same as this morning still a 65-66 seconds between bubbles. Still going strong.
Another quick stir and let it sit. Bubbles have slowed from 23 seconds last night to 66 secondes this morning. Actually smelling closer to wine than bread, unlike previous days.
I checked on my batch a few hours after giving the must a stir and there were no bubbles after watching for a few minutes. I am thinking I messed it up, but I figured I better leave it alone. Checked this morning and bubble rate resumed to the same as before I stirred it. Now just let it go for a few days until the bubbles slow down.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Nearly 48 hrs since pitching (adding) the yeast; Still a good strong fermentation going on. The Must has gotten real cloudy. Gave it a quick mix and refitted the lid and Airlock. Disturbing or not disturbing the Must? About a 50/50 opinion on it. I noticed a good layer forming on the bottom, it will resettle in a couple of days. Probably rack into a clear glass jug in about 3-4 more days.
Got up this morning and checked on the Must. No bubbles or foam, So being the rookie and chicken to mess it up I fitted the lid and airlock to the container. Yeast is working quite well, lots of bubbles coming through the airlock. I guess I could have left the paper towel covering and been ok. Better safe than sorry.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Started my first batch of homemade wine tonight. A very simple concoction from Frozen concentrate white grape juice. Mostly to get a feel of the wine making process in the simplest form. And maybe I will actually make something drinkable.
