First wine: Habañero. Advice?

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sina94

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Last night I was reading about country wines, and the mention of Jalapeño wine piqued my interest. Got to talking to a friend, and we decided that we definitely wanted to make some... except, with habañeros.

Here are the basic guidelines we came up with:

1. End up with a sweet, dessert-esque wine
2. Not add any sulfites if at all possible

She has made beer and cider before, but this is the first time either of us has made a wine. I found a good base recipe, borrowed some ideas from a few others, and came up with this:

Per gallon:
-3 habañeros
-1 lb golden raisins
-2 lb sugar
-1.5 tsp. acid blend
-0.5 tsp. pectic enzyme
-water to one gallon
-1 tsp. yeast nutrient
-Vinter's Harvest AW4 Wine Yeast

(We had wanted to use WLP727 Steinberg-Geisenheim, but it wasn't available locally, and we decided that we didn't want to bother with having a yeast shipped. We were looking at yeasts used for Gewurztraminer, since we both really like those flavors—the AW4 was available locally, and will perform better in the temperatures we're working with than the other yeasts we looked at.)

The base recipe I'm working from calls for campden tablets, but another recipe doesn't, and instead has you bring the peppers to a boil and then simmer for 15-20 minutes. We decided to go this route, since we're trying to avoid added sulfites.

Here's my attempt to cobble together the directions for both recipes, for 5 gallons total:

1. Add habañeros and raisins to blender with water to cover
2. Blend on low to get a coarse chop and add to a large pot
3. Bring mixture to a boil in a large pot and simmer 15-20 minutes (outside, if you don't want to regret it)
4. Pour the mixture into a straining bag over the primary
5. Add sugar, acid blend, and yeast nutrient, stirring until sugar dissolves
6. Cover and set aside for 12-24 hours to cool
7. Add pectinase, cover, and set aside additional 12-24 hours
8. Add yeast, cover, and stir daily for 4-5 days
9. Wearing gloves, squeeze the liquid out of the straining bag
10. Rack into secondary with airlock
11. Ferment until dry and rack into secondary

The base recipe calls for racking two more times, 30 days apart, and then bottling. Thoughts on that? 4 rackings seems excessive in this case... I'm leaning towards 3.

We do want a sweet/desserty wine, but it's a little more complicated on account of her wanting to avoid added sulfites. Here are my ideas:

Adjust the sugar to get a starting SG of 1.114, which would be enough fermentable sugar for a potential ABV of ~15% (according to my hydrometer), which is 0.5% higher than the alcohol ceiling on the yeast, and would be sufficient to kill it (theoretically). Then add potassium sorbate to stabilize once it's done fermenting, and add sugar to taste before bottling.

Or, aim for 12-13% alcohol, chill to at least 50 degrees F (maybe cooler) to make sure the yeast is good and done, add the potassium sorbate to stabilize, and add sugar as above.

Include lots of praying that the potassium sorbate keeps everything in check.

Those are my basic ideas. Does anyone have any suggestions (especially for doing a sweet wine without added sulfites)? Do you see any glaring problems? Anything you would change?

And specifically:

D!stilled water? Tap? It will be sitting ~48 hours before the yeast goes in, which would be plenty of time for any chlorine to dissipate, but there may be other considerations.

Timing of the yeast nutrient? Perhaps wait until closer to adding the yeast to reduce any potential problems with wild yeast, sans sulfites?

Should we agitate the primary ferment without actually opening it up and stirring to avoid contact with the air?

Anything else you'd add?

Thanks!
 
Why do you not want to use sulfites? If you drink your tap water, use that.
 
I, personally, don't care. I suspect that either she, or someone she plans to share it with, has a mild reaction to sulfites. :?
 
Ferment it dry. Bottle it, but make sure is is done fermenting before you bottle. Add a little sugar to each glass when drinking. No worries about refermenting. Arne.
 

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