November Update

In the past months I have continued to Rack and monitor the following Wines.  Red Muscadine, I racked and Stabilized.  White Muscadine/Scuppernong was racked and sweetened just a little off-dry.  The Elderberry was racked and seperated into 3g and 2-1gal.  In the 1gal I added light toasted American Oak.  After 2months i will evaluated both wines and decide on a blend.  By the way the Elderberry, even being very young, tastes great.  The Elderberry Rose is completely clear and stable so I bottled it today (pictured to the right).

During the last 2 months I started and completed a Wine Expert VR Liebfraumilch  Kit.

Apple Wine batch #3 5 gal.

I started a batch of 100% apple Yesterday and in less than 24 hours I am getting foaming in the airlock.  I even had over 2 1/2" of space in the fermenter. So, I added a blow-off assembly help eliminate a possible disaster. The ferment was also creating a lot of heat. So I placed it in a tub of water and added ice to cool the ferment down a little.  I will try to keep the water between 60-68deg.

Here is the Recipe for what is in the bucket.

Apple Wine (Full Body)

5 gal seasonal Apple Cider with lots of pulp. (pasteurized)
5.75lbs sugar dissolved in 5 cups hot water. Achieved a starting SG of 1.085
1.25oz. Tartaric Acid to get .6TA
5tsp Yeast Nutrient
2tsp. Yeast Energizer
1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1 pkg. Montrachet Yeast in a starter.

I have had mixed results using Montrachet.  But I have real good results with the first Apple Wine I made.  It did require some aging but it came out great.  I actually still have 2 bottles left.  going open one at Christmas time.

I have had troubles in the past getting my Sugar additions correct until I found Fermcalc .  It is a fabulous tool.  There is an online version as well as a Downloadable standalone application.   If you enter accurate information it will return extremely accurate numbers.