On May 1st, I went to Custom Winery, Vinters Cellar, in South Lakeland. They were going out of business and clearing out their inventory. I picked up some Carboys $10 each, some wines and a Cabernet Kit. The lady at the shop said the kit is better at 5g instead of 6g.
5/10/2010 My largest batch yet.
Started the kit and added water to 5g and a little more. Checked sg and it was 1.090. it looks like here advice was good. At 6g this would have been a batch. Added the bentonite and created Yeast starter and added it. After a day it was really going strong and starting smell up the house.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Clean Out the Freezer Mixed Berry Wine
4/12/2010:
My Wife was looking for some fruit in the freezer to make a smoothie. She came across a couple of bags that had been there awhile. She decided that they were not good enough for a smoothie. Instead of just tossing it in the trash I though a better use would be some wine. So here is what I came up with.
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(all fruit amounts as estimated)
2.5lbs Frozen Strawberries
0.5lbs Frozen Raspberries
Handful of Blackberries
12oz Grape Juice concentrate
1.5 tsp Yeast Nutrient
0.5 tsp Yeast Energizer
10 drops Liquid Pectic Enzyme
4 cups of sugar
Campden
Montrachet Yeast
Intial SG 1.030 after sugar addition 1.100
starting vol 5qts
Must has a very strawberry taste
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Thawed fruit with Grape Concentrate water and Pectic Enzyme and 1 Campden Tablet for 2 days in the fridge. Brought to room Temp overnight. Checked SG and adjusted with sugar to 1.100. Added Yeast Nutrient and Energizer. Re-hydrated Yeast and added to the must.
4/19/2010.
SG 1.010 Strained through a strainer bag and yielded 1 gal and 375lt.
4/23/2010.
Fermentation appears to have slowed to almost stopped with lots of sediment. Racked to clean Carboy. When racking accidentally knocked the 375 on the floor and broke the bottle. So all I had was the gallon, Racked, stabilized and topped up with 9oz water. Since the taste of the wine is very pronounced the water should not hurt it in flavor, just lower the Alcohol a little.
My Wife was looking for some fruit in the freezer to make a smoothie. She came across a couple of bags that had been there awhile. She decided that they were not good enough for a smoothie. Instead of just tossing it in the trash I though a better use would be some wine. So here is what I came up with.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(all fruit amounts as estimated)
2.5lbs Frozen Strawberries
0.5lbs Frozen Raspberries
Handful of Blackberries
12oz Grape Juice concentrate
1.5 tsp Yeast Nutrient
0.5 tsp Yeast Energizer
10 drops Liquid Pectic Enzyme
4 cups of sugar
Campden
Montrachet Yeast
Intial SG 1.030 after sugar addition 1.100
starting vol 5qts
Must has a very strawberry taste
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thawed fruit with Grape Concentrate water and Pectic Enzyme and 1 Campden Tablet for 2 days in the fridge. Brought to room Temp overnight. Checked SG and adjusted with sugar to 1.100. Added Yeast Nutrient and Energizer. Re-hydrated Yeast and added to the must.
4/19/2010.
SG 1.010 Strained through a strainer bag and yielded 1 gal and 375lt.
4/23/2010.
Fermentation appears to have slowed to almost stopped with lots of sediment. Racked to clean Carboy. When racking accidentally knocked the 375 on the floor and broke the bottle. So all I had was the gallon, Racked, stabilized and topped up with 9oz water. Since the taste of the wine is very pronounced the water should not hurt it in flavor, just lower the Alcohol a little.
Port Kit
Started a Port kit a couple weeks back. The kit is Porto Corinto by Cellar Craft. It currently has been in the Secondary for a couple of weeks now. The smell on this kit during the Primary fermentation stage was wonderful. Starting SG was 1.160, after a few days it was down to 1.060 so I move it to the Carboy. Ended up with 3g and 1lt. More updates coming
Good Stuff
I opened a second bottle of the Apple Wine this week. Wow this came out very good. I think a large batch is going to be in the works soon. You would never know this wine was almost completely dry (SG 1.001). Very full body and nice mouth feel with a slight taste of apple. definitely a winner.
Friday, April 9, 2010
April Wine Updates
I know it has been a while since I wrote anything. Not to worry I am still making wine. Just nothing to really update. everything is just aging and clearing. It is getting time to do some racking in the next couple weeks. The last I checked the Blackberry/Zinfandel had a good taste and mouth feel. It may be ready to bottle soon. The mead is just aging. since its first racking and stabilizing when the SG was at 1.012. It appears to be clearing on its own. My Grapefruit is completely clear. The 2 gallons of Muscat is also clearing nicely. The Apple Wine I made Is looking good and I added to Oak chips the other day to try and add some vanilla taste to it.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Down the Drain
I had to pull the plug on the Cinnamon Wine. The fermentation stalled at 1.052. Which gave it about 10.5% alc. But it was the taste that did it. The cinnamon taste was ok, but there was a woody taste that followed. Something like I was sucking on an old popsicle stick. So down the drain she went.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Muscat
Started another new batch of Vino. This is from a can of Sun Country's Muscat Juice Concentrate. Originally I was going to blend this with peaches for a 3 gallon batch of Peach/Muscat Wine. But I decided to just make a 2 gallon batch of a full/medium body Muscat Wine. Using the Recipe from the can as a guide here is what I came up with.
Sugar to SG 1.085 about 2 cups (just a little over)
Water to 2g + Finger width over Mark
2 tsp Yeast Nutrient
3 tsp Acid Blend (acidity to .6-.7)
4 drops Liquid Pectic Enzyme
Lavlin 71B-1122 Yeast
1oz Light Toast American Oak
Added Concentrate and most the water near the 2gallon mark, took SG reading 1.070. Created a simple syrup of sugar and water bases upon some calculation from charts I have found at Jack Keller's site. and then added in and checked SG. with temp correction measured 1.085. right were I wanted it. Adjusted the Acid level and added Yeast Nutrient and Pectic Enzyme. soaked the Oak in Sulfite solution for 30 mins and then added to the primary fermenter (actually a 4 gallon carboy I have). Re-hydrated yeast and made a starter. Added The yeast starter after 60 mins and lots of foaming action. I am trying for a Dry Muscat wine with a little hint vanilla maybe from the oak in the primary. Alcohol between 11-12%. I plan to leave the wine for 3 weeks before racking. Stirring twice daily for the first 5 days and then adding an airlock. Hopefully this achieve my desired outcome.
Dry Muscat (Concentrate) 2 gal
1 Can (46oz) Sun Country "Muscat" Juice ConcentrateSugar to SG 1.085 about 2 cups (just a little over)
Water to 2g + Finger width over Mark
2 tsp Yeast Nutrient
3 tsp Acid Blend (acidity to .6-.7)
4 drops Liquid Pectic Enzyme
Lavlin 71B-1122 Yeast
1oz Light Toast American Oak
Added Concentrate and most the water near the 2gallon mark, took SG reading 1.070. Created a simple syrup of sugar and water bases upon some calculation from charts I have found at Jack Keller's site. and then added in and checked SG. with temp correction measured 1.085. right were I wanted it. Adjusted the Acid level and added Yeast Nutrient and Pectic Enzyme. soaked the Oak in Sulfite solution for 30 mins and then added to the primary fermenter (actually a 4 gallon carboy I have). Re-hydrated yeast and made a starter. Added The yeast starter after 60 mins and lots of foaming action. I am trying for a Dry Muscat wine with a little hint vanilla maybe from the oak in the primary. Alcohol between 11-12%. I plan to leave the wine for 3 weeks before racking. Stirring twice daily for the first 5 days and then adding an airlock. Hopefully this achieve my desired outcome.
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