How many wine makers do we have here?

[muddstopper]

Here is how my blackberry wine has progressed.
July 17, 2011
Blackberry
1qt & 1pint juice
2/3 gal blackberries (mushed)
1gal boiling water
1packet of wine yeast (red)
Put water in with berries & juice in fermenting bucket
When cooled to 70’ add yeast /put on airlock
Ferment for 4-5 days; stirring each day.


Poured blackberry must thru strainer bag to remove seeds and stems. Hand squeezed all juices from strainer bag. Added 3 cups sugar and 2 cups of water. Resealed fermenting bucket and added airlock. Bubbling really fast in air lock on July 23.

Note, no signs of bubbles on July 30. Will leave for a couple of more wks and then add more sugar

August 20, 2011
Racked wine from fermenting bucket, added 1 cup water and 2 cups of sugar. Placed in 3-1gal glass carbouys, with airlocks

Sept 24,2011
Racked and added 1 cup water+2Cup sugar syrup and 1 cup blackberry sugar syrup ( MarcoPolo brand)

As you can see, I have already added 7 cups of sugar in a 3 gallon batch of wine, which is way more than I normally use in anything. So I dont think it is a lack of sugar issue.

 

[Totalcolour]

Quote:
I don't know how much sugar that is, because being English, I use weight not cups. So, the rest of this information may not be relevant.

Just in case...

2 lbs of sugar added to 1 gallon of water = 22 brix

I don't know what your starting brix were, but it "could" be that you need a bit more sugar.

Don't know if that's any help . . . ?

 

[muddstopper]

2 cups=1lb of sugar
7cups would be 3 and 1/2 lbs in 3 gal of water or just over 1lb per gal. According to your example this should be around 11-12 brix and alcohol of around 6%. after looking at it in this manner, I too, now believe it could be a sugar problem. Looks like I only have about half the sugar I probably need. Thats an easy fix, in fact, I was going to do that this morning, but DW wouldnt let me, something about making a mess in her kitchen, yada, yada, yada.

 

[muddstopper]

My Attemp at Mead. I am cut and pasteing this from powerpoint which is how we are keeping up with how we are doing things.

6/26/2011

Making new batch of Mead.
Mead June 26, 2011 (recipe in Mother Earth News issue 11/2009)
3qts & 5 oz of honey ( 12 lbs honey = 1 gal)
2 gal of water
1packet wine yeast (Montrachet)
(see recipe on slide 10 & 11)
Boiled water, then added honey
Brought to simmer
Added 1 qt of water
When cooled added yeast mixture
3 gal of mead in fermenting bucket

7/9/2011
Mead
Racked mead from fermenting bucket into carbouys
Made 3 1ga. Carbouys
Added nothing

9/09/2011
Mead
Racked mead from 3 carbouys into 1 bucket
Put back into 3 carbouys w/ airlocks
*removed a lot of sediment
Wine tasted very good for just 2 months

11/18/2011
Visually inspected pure honey mead. Lots of sediment in bottom of carboys, but mead almost completely clear. I am going to wait another month before racking and will probably bottle sometime in January.

 

[D3invertebrates]

I left a bottle of walmart brand apple juice out for a couple of weeks before I realized it and when I opened it it had a real strong alcohol smell to it but it had a nice scent and tasted alright

better than boons farm or something like that, does that count? Ive always wanted to make my own booze one day for sure I will. One of my fondest memories as a child was walking down the train tracks with my granddad picking mustang grapes so he could make wine, he would tell me storys of the war, apparently he made a nice profit selling homemade schnapps during ww2

 

[Totalcolour]

Woohooo!

I just checked the peach and nectarine - the peach is at .9 and the nectarine at .95, lovely and dry although the nectarine has a little bit to go yet, Maybe a couple more days before we rack into secondaries.

Both light, delicate, tasting of the fruit they were made from. Sort of like biting into an alcoholic peach or nectarine.

My kind of wine.

But, having guests for the next few days, won't be able to start the next batch til the weekend. Then it's MEAD!

Oh, and got some bunnies for the freon farm before the mommies have new litters on the 30th.

Oh, and only ONE chicken laying and I have 20 hens! Is it too much to ask

 

[oesdog]

Just finished Bottling - Peach wine and strawberry wine. Had a sneek taste lovely!

Also have bottled 60 beer!!!! Should be great for christmas.

Have no idea of the alcohol content ? Not very into the science just the outcome of drinking a bottle or two will give me a better idea!!!

Oesdog

 

[anklebiter]

I've only made simple fruit wines (usually Welch's Frozen Juice based), but have had a lot of fun making Mead. Sure, it's not as popular as Wine, but has been a lot of fun and is quite tasty. I've actually turned quite a few people on to it. Strange how it isn't more popular.


Rob

 

[Totalcolour]

So, racked the peach and nectarine (about a week or so ago) - both taste wonderful. The peach is dropping out nicely, the nectarine a bit slower, but then it was slightly outgassing when we racked.

Doing farm chores this weekend but will start the mead during the week while hubby is at work.

 

[muddstopper]

We racked our mead yesterday. It is completely clear, I say ready to bottel, but wife says wait. I might wait to bottle, but I didnt wait to taste. Excellent!!!!. I am going after a couple of gal of honey next wk so we can start another batch.

Also racked the blackberry, a little taste test and it wasnt half bad. Then racked the apple mint, and another taste test, then the peach, and another taste test. Whew, good thing I didnt have anything else ready to rack, all that taste testing was making me giddy