How many wine makers do we have here?

[Totalcolour]

Found this seriously thinking about starting my wine making here, what do you guys think???


Old Fashioned Wine Recipes
One of the most popular old fashioned wine recipes, and one that you will definitely want to add to your collection. It is called cucumber wine. This wine is simple and fresh and great on a hot summer day. You will need 4 pounds cucumbers (preferable home grown), 3 campden tablets, 2 oranges, 2 lemons, 7 cups sugar, pectic enzyme, nutrients, 1 package of wine yeast, and water.
First you want to wash the cucumbers leaving the skin on, and then chop them up and leave them in a primary fermentor. Now you want to wash the oranges and lemons and slice them thinly then add to the cucumbers which you can pick from your own organic garden or buy from the store. Now stir in the sugar and nutrients, pour 16 cups boiling water over mixture, stir, let cool, add pectic enzyme, and leave for about a week until the frothing stops.
Strain the mixture and then siphon into a secondary fermentor and attach an airlock. If you want to get a dry wine out of these types of old fashioned wine recipes you want to place them in a wine rack for three weeks up to three months or a year and then bottle. On the other hand if you are looking for a sweet wine you will want to rack at three weeks and add ½ cup corn syrup dissolved into 1 cup of wine

You didn't say at what point you add the yeast. Also, unless you add a stabiliser, you can have a re-ferment in the bottle, and with that much added sugar, the bottles will probably explode. If it doesn't cause injury, it will certainly cause a huge mess of wine and broken glass.

 

[Kassaundra]

You didn't say at what point you add the yeast. Also, unless you add a stabiliser, you can have a re-ferment in the bottle, and with that much added sugar, the bottles will probably explode. If it doesn't cause injury, it will certainly cause a huge mess of wine and broken glass.

Stabilizer???

This isn't my recipe it is one that I thought looked intriguing and I copied and pasted here.

It was my understanding if it wasn't bottled until after fermenting stopped it wouldn't explode, is that wrong?

 

[Totalcolour]

Quote:
Totally wrong! If it stops fermenting, and you then add sugar, it can start again! We have an expensive filter that can do "STERILE" filtration, but even then, there are a few yeast cells left; it's not 100% certain. So, if you don't filter or add stabiliser, you are asking for trouble, unless you drink it right away, before it has a chance to start again. The problem is, you don't know how much yeast is left, and how soon it could start.

The other alternative, if you have the room (we have a spare fridge in the garage) is to store it in the fridge to prevent further fermentation, or at least slow it down a great deal. I just would hate someone to think they could just add sugar and everything would be okay. Much of the time it would beok, but I don't think it's worth taking the risk. A final alternative, is to add a sweetener like Splenda, that is non-fermentable. OR, add sweetener when you open the bottle so there is no chance of accidents.

Good luck, and play it safe

 

[DavidH]

I love making wine! My sweet tea wine is AWESOME, if I should say so myself.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I love making wine! My sweet tea wine is AWESOME, if I should say so myself.

I want to try the tea wine but it looks like it takes A LONG TIME for it to ferment. Is that true?

 

[Totalcolour]

Quote: One of the reasons you may experience a slow fermentation, is a low nutrient level in the must. The yeast cells have to fight for the little "food" they get, and competition is fierce, resulting in a slow fermentation. Also, some strains of yeast require higher nutrient levels that others.

So, if you want to try a tea wine (or other slow fermenter) you can add nutrient to speed it up, OR use a strain of yeast that needs LESS nutrient for a good fermentation!

I like to ferment anything that's fermentable

 

[DavidH]

Sweet Tea Wine does require nutrient. I add one tablespoon of nutrient per gallon and it takes two weeks to ferment. I set it up to run 11 to 12% which gives you a little warmth without the burn.

 

[Kassaundra]

Well I got my stuff ordered (campden, nutrient, enzyme, yeast, and airlocks) found a very affordable place online. I just google searched for wine suppliers and started calling a few and these people were sooooo friendly on the phone, had everything I needed and were literally half the price of everyone else I called.

I should get my stuff by mid to late week (this one coming) and am ready to start my cucumber wine. I am going w/ the general recipe I posted for the actual ingredients but for the steps I'll defer to the normal steps if I add more sugar I'll give it time to re-ferment before bottling it.

Just imagine all those gardeners w/ all those extra cucumbers they can't even give away, what if they knew they could make wine out of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Well I got my stuff ordered (campden, nutrient, enzyme, yeast, and airlocks) found a very affordable place online. I just google searched for wine suppliers and started calling a few and these people were sooooo friendly on the phone, had everything I needed and were literally half the price of everyone else I called. I should get my stuff by mid to late week (this one coming) and am ready to start my cucumber wine. I am going w/ the general recipe I posted for the actual ingredients but for the steps I'll defer to the normal steps if I add more sugar I'll give it time to re-ferment before bottling it. Just imagine all those gardeners w/ all those extra cucumbers they can't even give away, what if they knew they could make wine out of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats!!!!!!!! I'm so happy for you. I know that you are excited to get started!!! e I can't wait to hear how your wine comes out. Keep us posted as often as you can and post pics when the final product is done.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I think I will try the tea wine this weekend. You all have convinced me.