home winemaking easy and fun

[saddina]

Quote:
Not exactly, you will get one heck of a mess if the bag leaks.

 

[thepremo1]

does anyone have a good apple wine, or hard cider recipe. the first batch of apple turned out great, and it was the one i made with just suger, bakers yeast, about half of gallon of juiced apples, and water, i have done two apples after that and neither turned out near as good, the one was spicied apple and i broke sanitation, so yeah, but the other i think i just used the wrong kind of apples.

has anyone tryed to make "melomel" fruit and honey
stormthecastle.com the guy that runs that site make tons. i contacted him when i first started making mead, but then he quit emailing me and left me hanging
if someone has tryed that and had success let me know
whats your wine finishing routine stablize, sparkloid, motoroil? tell me about it

 

[saddina]

I have 6 gals of berry melomel fermenting, and technically the lemon mint is one too. Not done hard cider, but plum and cherry wines we've done.

 

[thepremo1]

I have 6 gals of berry melomel fermenting, and technically the lemon mint is one too. Not done hard cider, but plum and cherry wines we've done.

ha funny story about cherry. me and a buddy went in half and half on a vine harvest cherry fruit base, and a wine kit( right when i startedmaking wine) and i thought it was like the other wine kits, just add water and ingrediants

no way it was a FRUIT BASE and we opened it and there was cherries inside

i only had a tinny grain sock, so we spent 20 minutes cramming this can of fruit into this tiny little sock. we might have unsanitised it during the whole ordeal. im going to finish it is a couple of weeks. we'll see

have you ever made the berry melomel before? if so how does it taste, does it take as long as mead to age​

 

[saddina]

Yes melomels take as long as meads. This is my 3rd or 4th berry one. Next time use cheesecloth, when using fruit instead of juice. The raspberry from juice came out well, as did the cherry vanillia (the crazy cherry bomb recipie was used). The Lemon mint using whole lemons is sublime, and has won a few ribbons, the trick to that is in the lemon variety, Meier lemons (I had a tree in the backyard), and fresh mint (grow that too). This is the first berry batch using a mix of berries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and sundried raisins (no persertives) for tannin. looks and smells promising, good color, too soon to drink.

 

[3goodeggs]

Quote:
You may want to try some of the wine yeasts. Port gives you a high alcohol, and the champagne yeasts will ferment much longer in a high alcohol concentration before they die. I have never used bakers yeast for wine because a family friend did, and it was...not a real pleasant experience. I think it may have been his process as much as the yeast.
Google Northern brewer and E.C.Kraus and ask for a catalogue. They have a bunch of different yeasts that work better for different things. I save some live yeast from the bottom of the carboy from the first racking, and use it for later batches. Time I have, money, not so much.
I am in no hurry for finish. I just give it time and rack, rack, rack. Clear and clean- do you use pectinace in the must? If your wine is cloudy, It could be pectin from the fruit. When I first started wine making, I used the sulfur and potassium stuff. but now I do not. I am less afraid of it. I just let it age in the big carboys after the last rack and make sure it is dead still before I bottle it. I check the PA to make sure there is enough alcohol in it to store. I usually get anywhere from 17-21% alcohol. It's got legs!

 

[thepremo1]

wow! 20 percent, the most i ever got was 18% and i added suger like 4 time till it quit.
dont worry i use wine yeast that was just the first batch i every made

if its not a secret can i have your raspberry recipe?

i dont know about pectinace, but i use petic enzyme. i am assuming they are the same thing.

when you rack do you add stabilizer, campden tablets, i was reading in a different forum that this guy wold rack his 6 times and every time he would add campden tablets.

 

[3goodeggs]

I think that was campden over kill. I only popped corks once on a tangerine wine, and then I just poured it all into a carboy and let it finish off for another month. I guess I am sulfide sensitive. Way back in the olden days when you could drink the wine but not the water, they did not use campden tabs.
I guess I have gotten soft or under cautious. I have done this for about 11 years and I just don't sweat it much because I am in no hurry.

Who did raspberry? I'd love to do raspberry, but I doubt I could afford the berries. Rule one for me is, "If I don't grow it, I won't make wine out of it." Cheap cheap cheap. Blue berry is so good. and blackberry is super fine, and one of the best wines is mulberry. Terry Garey's book is just about all recipes that she has tried. none of them have failed me yet..except the banana...and I am still holding out hope for the beet. I have it on good word that tomato wine is wonderful, but it takes time to age, and I can never grow enough tomatoes to give it a go. We eat them faster than they get a chance to pile up.

I look at the carboys and KNOW it's time to rack...sigh. But when it warms up. Hands aren't happy cold...and probably neither is the yeast! I just thought of that! I am not heating the house, so it may be stuck. I better test the PA before I rack. -Ha! I just bought myself more time!

 

[thepremo1]

Saddi did raspberry mead
i have apple trees so in the fall i make good on the apples i would love more carboys, but like you said cheap cheap cheap
i to have heard great things about tomato wine, but everyone would rather eat them than let me make wine from them.
about how many times do you rack your wine?
i usually only do two times, after that there isnt any more sediment in mine
if you could i would like that mulberry recipe.

 

[saddina]

Berry Mead: (origional recipie was done for strawberries, I used a berry blend)

18lbs Wildflower Honey (OG 1.140)
17lbs of frozen then thawed Strawberries
3 crushed campden tablets
4 tsp of nutrient of your choice
Water to 6.5 gallons
5g KV-1116

Personally i'm a fan of using campden sparingly, with only 1 fizzy explosion (on a 3 year old bottle in 110+ weather for days), but I want carbonation in bottle and now stash my aging in a wine temp fridge, to avoid this).

The cherry bomb recipie, think it came out to $60 to brew this one. It's fab but i'll break it into 1/2 batches or buddy brew to cost split.

I Cannot Tell A Lie Cherry/Vanilla Mead
O.G. 1.120-1.130
2 to 3 gallons Cherry Juice
Water to 3.5 gallons
8-9 lbs Meadowfoam Honey (has a vanilla/marshmellow taste)
1 lbs Dark Sweet Cherries, Dried (Trader Joe's)
8.0 oz Tart Cherries, Dried (Trader Joe's)
2 Whole Vanilla Beans (Secondary)
1 Pkg Lalvin D-47 or 71B rehydrated w/Go-Ferm
Fermaid-K and DAP
Pectic Enzyme ???

Step 1 (Feb 21): Put 1 qt Cherry Juice in sanitized vessel. Add dried cherries and soak overnite. I use juice made from concentrated Cherry Juice (68 Brix) from Ostbaum Orchards. Trader Joe's also has straight cherry juice. Also if you prefer to use pectic enzyme, now is the time to add it.
Step 2 (Feb 22): Coarsely mash the berry mixture with hand blender. Add Cherry Juice, honey (Flying Bee Ranch) and water to make at least 3.5 gallons . Mix and aerate well. You will need about 3.5 gallons in primary to get 3 gallons in secondary after the first rack. Add Fermaid-K + DAP. Pitch yeast (consider Hightest's new method) and cover with sanitized cloth or lid.
Step 3: Check must every 6-8 hours for end of lag phase (foaming). At end of lag phase add Fermaid-K + DAP.
Step 4: Aerate daily until 1/3 sugar break.
Step 5: Once past 1/3 break, stir the must daily (as opposed to aerating) until the 2/3 sugar break.
Step 6: At 1/2 sugar break add Fermaid-K + DAP and mix well.
Step 7: Rack to secondary when finished (2-3 weeks) and add vanilla beans. Top off with cherry juice. I use whole vanilla beans. If you like to split and scrape, you might want to try one and give it a taste after sitting a month.
Step 8: Rack after 1-2 months. Taste for level of dryness/sweetness and vanilla. Adjust if necessary.
Step 9: Rack every 2-3 months until clear then bottle.

As much as it may kill my brewing rep, the lemon mint is a JOAM variation I tripped across when messing with an extra 1/2 jug of meadowfoam (see above)...

Lemon mint sipper:

Heat 1 gal water to 170.

Add:

5 lbs Honey
2 lbs Corn Sugar
5 tsp Yeast Nutrient

Dissolve all.

Add 4 cans of All Natural MINUTE MAID Premium Lemonade Frozen Concentrate, 12 oz cans (15% Real Lemon Juice)

Bring water back up to 170F.

As with my beer water I always place 4 gals of PUR filtered tap water in the freezer for top off water. I don't always use all of it, but I want if available if I need more colder water.

Add some cold water to pot to bring down temp and pour into a sanitized carboy. If you use a funnel it'll be OK since this is where it's OK to aerate your wort/must.

Top off with 4 gals of water.

Rack onto 1lb fresh mint after 4 weeks, let it refizz out (1 bubble/3 mins is about right), bottle.