Mead...

Bottle the Mead Thursday.  I am very happy with the Mead.  I turned out exactly as I thought it would.  I actually like it better than the commercial Mead I had last year.  It ended up a Semi-Sweet with an SG of about 1.012 and at about 11-11.5%abv. It is a nice balance between sweetness, acidity and Alcohol.  Very nice, but also very young.  It has only been 5 months since it was started.  After few months in the bottle it may actually improve a little more.  If it lasts that long.

June Updates

Started 3 new batches this month.
Peach Wine from my neighbors peaches.
Blueberry Burgundy
Welch's White Grape (from Concentrate)

Existing batches:
Racked the Cabernet kit of the heavy sediment and added more oak since the oak powder supplied did not seem to leave much of an impact.
The Porto Corinto sat on some additional oak after stabilizing and clearing for 1 month and has now been bottled.
My Semi-Dry Muscat has been bottled.
The Grapefruit and Apple Wines are stable, clear and sweetened a bit.  And are now aging
The Clean out Freezer Berry is finished fermentation and is just aging and clearing.
The Mead is just waiting to be bottled.

Welch's White Grape

Since my first batch of Welch's White Grape turned out so well I though it was time to start a second one.  This time a little bigger 3g.  I followed the below recipe:

• 7 cans (11.5 oz) Welch's 100% frozen grape concentrate
• 3-1/4 lbs granulated sugar
• 4 tsp acid blend
• 9 drops pectic enzyme
• 3 tsp yeast nutrient
• water to make 3.25 gallon
• wine yeast (RJ Spangols unknown yeast, probably EC-1118)

6/28/10
The starting SG was 1.094 after temp correction.  I just so happen to have 4 gallon Pet 1 bottle that works real good for fermenting my all juice 3 gallon batches.  Made a starter and pitched the yeast in the evening. 

Blueberry Burgundy

Started a new wine from scratch.  I had this can of Sun Country Burgundy Concentrate and thought this would be a good idea for a wine.

Blueberry Burgundy

6 pts  Blueberry (about 4 ½ lbs)

1 (46oz)Can  Sun Country Burgundy Concentrate

3tsp Yeast Nutrient

3 Campden tablets

3 tsp Acid Blend

30 Drops Pectic enzyme

Approx. 4lbs sugar to 1.095 with temp correction

Cote des Blanc Yeast

6/28/10

Rinsed and froze blue berries after purchase.  Thawed berries and crushed into sanitized primary bucket. Added the Sun Country juice concentrate.  Water to 2.5 gallons 3 Campden tablets added..

6/29/10

 After 12 hours added Pectic Enzyme, Yeast Nutrient and Acid Blend.  Checked SG 1.055 and used Ferm Calc and came up with 10 cups water 4 lbs sugar to get 3.4 gallons must at 1.093.  Created starter with 1 cup water and 1tsp sugar and adding 1 tsp every couple hours.  Boiled 9 cups and added 4 lbs. sugar to water.  After cooled added sugar water mixture to the 3 ¼ gallon level.  Checked SG and it was at 1.095 with temp correction.

Cabernet Sauvignon Kit

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.

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.

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