March 2015 Wine of the Month Club

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the_rayway

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Whaaaaa??? It's been 3 WHOLE DAYS and no one has started a WOTM thread for March?

:slp

Ah well, better late than never!

Please join us! This thread is for anyone, from newbie to experienced winemaker, who wants to document making a 1 gallon experimental recipe. We like the whole recipe posted (pretty please), pics of the process, notes, questions to others, comments, support, and updates.

After a year (March 2016), we invite you to pop back with some tasting notes as it ages. If the recipe is a keeper, put it in the recipes section! If it's a bust - no worries - one gallon isn't too much of an investment, and it's a great learning experience.

I will update this post at the end of the month with a list of everyone who is participating.

Soooooo???? Who's in?
:b

_________________________________________________________________
4.6.2015

Well, well! It looks like we had 8 participants this month - way to go everyone!
1) Wineforfun: Wild Berry Apple
2) BernardSmith: Elderflower Heather Mead
3) Jericurl: Grapefruit Juniper Mead
4) The_rayway: Blackberry Apricot Mead
5) Phildarby: Banana Wine
6) X_diver: Grapefruit-Blueberry-Banana Wine
7) Homesteader26: Apple Cyser
8) Fabrictodyefor: Cranberry Experiment

It looks like the primary fermentations were successful thus far, and we have some great looking experimental recipes! Please continue to update everyone as your recipes progress, and we will look forward to tasting notes as the batches age. Remember: if the recipe is a keeper, please post it in the Recipes Section of the Forum.

:b
 
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Atta girl. I knew you would remember.

I just started a Wild Berry Apple wine from the recipe section on WMT. Made some adjustments but here is the gist of it.

2 gal. batch
4-12oz. Old Orchard 100% Apple Juice concentrate
2-12oz. Old Orchard 100% Mixed Berry concentrate
6c sugar
220oz. water
1 1/2tsp nutrient (another 1 1/1tsp around 1.050-1.060)
1/2tsp tannin
3tsp acid blend
1 1/2tsp pectic
SG 1.092

Going to make this pretty sweet for my wife and her friends as they like the sweet wines. Not sure if I will make both gallons the same or if my A.D.D. will make me "play" with one of them. I am not really interested in this combo so may just make it all sweet and keep some and give away some.

On a side note, going to start a 2 gal. batch of blueberry (using 9lbs. of frozen blueberries from store) in the next week or two. This one I am going to try and experiment with ie: different oaks, tannins, etc.
 
Hey D.J.!
Sounds yummy!

I'm thinking it's time for me to get back on the fermenting 'horse' after a little bit of a break. I have two ideas I'm toying with:

1) Grapefruit Wine, 1 gallon (which I was thinking about last month and never got around to), or
2) Blackberry Apricot Mead. Thinking it would be a 3 gallon batch as I've got about 10Lbs of fruit: 5Lbs of each

I'm leaning to the #2 just because I have a decent amount of citrus made, plus a batch of SP on deck for this summer.
 
Hey D.J.!
Sounds yummy!

I'm thinking it's time for me to get back on the fermenting 'horse' after a little bit of a break. I have two ideas I'm toying with:

1) Grapefruit Wine, 1 gallon (which I was thinking about last month and never got around to), or
2) Blackberry Apricot Mead. Thinking it would be a 3 gallon batch as I've got about 10Lbs of fruit: 5Lbs of each

I'm leaning to the #2 just because I have a decent amount of citrus made, plus a batch of SP on deck for this summer.

I like the sound of #2 also. That is an interesting combo, curious to hear how it turns out if you go with it.
 
Just experimenting here with a mix of heather tips and elderflowers - 2 oz (dried) of each which may be overkill in one gallon. The sugar is coriander honey (2 lbs) and I may add another 4 oz of honey to up the ABV to about 12 percent. Pitched the yeast (71B) yesterday after boiling the heather and the elderflowers in spring water for about 60 minutes and allowing the water to cool down to room temperature. Removed the bag of flowers, and mixed the tea and the honey in a blender to aerate the must. Planning on making this a sparkling metheglin (I think that is what a mead with flowers might be called).

For Homesteader26, a mead is basically, honey, water and yeast. One pound of honey in a gallon carboy will raise the gravity of the water by about 40 points (1.040).

Honey (correction) is deficient in nutrients so you need to add some and you want to use a gentle yeast (IMO) rather than a champagne yeast. I like 71B but others I think prefer D47. Low temperature fermentation beats high and aromatic and flavor rich varietal honeys are better than blends. Some people like buckwheat honey meads but I don't - Orange blossom, Tupelo, acacia, wild flower all make good meads. Heather honey , if you can find it. You use apple juice in place of water and you have a cyser. You use grape juice in place of the water and you have a pyment. You use fruit juices or fruit and you have a melomel. You add spices and you have a metheglin.
 
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For Homesteader26, a mead is basically, honey, water and yeast. One pound of honey in a gallon carboy will raise the gravity of the water by about 40 points (1.040).

Bernard,
I could be mistaken, but I think homesteader may be asking for rayway's mead recipe.
 
You use apple juice in place of water and you have a cyser. You use grape juice in place of the water and you have a pyment. You use fruit juices or fruit and you have a melomel. You add spices and you have a metheglin.

Good stuff, I didn't realize the juice base was what drove those names.
 
I was just coming here to start a thread! Thanks Rayway!

February completely got away from me but I'll be starting grapefruit/juniper berry mead in a couple of hours.

I'm on the mead forum on Reddit and a couple of people there are using raisins for yeast nutrient instead of the Ferm K, etc. Any thoughts on this before I commit to one or the other?
 
Thank you for the info Bernardsmith - I appreciate the info. I was originally asking for Rayways recipe. The info was interesting though the different names other than melomel I didn't know. Very new to this wine/mead making with probably only 10-15 batches under my belt.
 
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I am sure homesteader was asking for the rayway's recipe.:hug I never offered a "recipe" . Don't use them. A recipe is just "paint by numbers" . A recipe without any understanding the underlying principles means that you have a wonderful tool box but you may not know when or how to use what tool.
 
Lol! Great start to March :)

Here's the proposed "recipe" (i.e. starting point, totally subject to change)

Primary Fermentation
- Canola Honey to S.G. 1.095
- Water to 3 gallons
- FermK split in 2 additions (1/3 & 2/3 sugar breaks)
- D47 (or BA11) yeast
- Go-Ferm added for yeast re-hydration
- 1/4tsp Tannins

Secondary
Complete fermentation and add KMeta. Wait a few months.

Tertiary
- 5 Lbs Apricots (thawed with pectic enzyme)
- 5 Lbs Blackberries (thawed with pectic enzyme), strain through a sieve to remove the seeds
- Funnel the fruit - it will be puree by then - into a 5 gallon carboy, and rack the wine on top. Leave it on the fruit for a couple of months.

We'll see how it goes :)
 
I started an experimental wine, on 24/2/15, based around bananas, the recipie is below and is for 10 litres (2 gallons)

1 litre apple concentrate.
1/2 litre welchs red grape.
1 lb of frozen squeezed, fresh white grape.

unpeeled bananas.

3 sliced and 1 mashed.

bananas with peel on.

1 sliced.

375 grams (1 1/2 packets) of dried sweet bananas.

200 mls of tropical fruit juice.

100 mls oaked water.

2 1/2 kg sugar.

1 campden tablet.

2 teaspoons yeast nutrient.

1/4 teaspoon of citric acid and 1/4 teaspoon of wine tannin.

2 teaspoons of pectolase.

The grapes where mashed by hand using a potato masher and a container (once defrosted) to keep the resultant juices and skins, the banana was prepared, as above.

The raw ingredients where placed in a 5 gallon fermenter, loose (ie) not in muslem bag cloths.

1 teaspoon wine yeast post 24 hours, from the campden tablet.

day 4 one half teaspoon of bentonite.

day 7 removed the bulk of the fruit using a cullender then a sieve, into a fresh fermenting vessel.

also, on day 7, added, a further, 50 mls of oaked water and the other half a packet of sweet dried bananas 125 grams.

Day 11, there was a bit of an ominous odour of rotting fruit, starting to develop, so it was put through a cullender then a sieve and then through a 5 micron filter, in an attempt to remove as much fruit as possible, also, added 2 campden tablets and 1/4 level teaspoon of potassium sorbate, to permit back sweetening. (photo 1)

day 11 the sg is 0.992 @ 21 c so its pretty much fermented.

until i took an sg reading I hadn't realised it was fermented so completely, anyway I had a sample in a shot glass, out of curiosity, its quite thick and heavy with some banana hints but, nothing spectacular, in fact its rather bland, although there seems to be plenty of alcohol in there, im going to let it sit for a while until the mud has cleared then, rack and re taste, before proper storage.

day 12 decided to source some form of banana flavour, after, reading the label on a commercial banana ale, so in experimental fashion ended up adding 2 mls per gallon, it takes a few days to steep properly even after stirring.

day 16 it was tasting quite nicely of banana, added 85 grams of sugar per gallon to back sweeten and bring out the fruit flavour a bit, plus, a further 35 mls per gallon of oaked water.

day 21 its mostly cleared up with a very slight cloudiness after the 2nd proper racking, it seems to have been dropping very fine powder, which im guessing was banana pulp.

day 21 pictures below although im sorry they aren't very good pictures.

day 21 ive decided to let this age a bit more and see what happens, but, as it stands its quite drinkable, so the small amount extra, in the 2 litre jug, wont be there very long ;-) same goes for the bit in the glasses too ;-) chin chin (in the pictures photo 2 and 3)

sampling :-

At this moment in time I consider this done, apart from aging, it smells of bananas, tastes like bananas, and has definite woody oak undertones, the sweetness for me is about right too, it has an sg of 1.006 which makes it a medium dry I guess, but, with enough sweetness to bring out some fruit flavours and the other ingredients added in small doses, rear their head occasionally for added interest.

Ive decided to call this `bangin banana` after the flavouring I used ;-)

Comments :-

The fresh white grape I used, was because locally I cant get welchs white grape.

This was a bit sluggish starting, but, after 3 days, it finally got under way.

I stirred it daily for the first 5 days.

up until the point where I removed the fresh bananas, on day 7, the top of the fermenting vessel was covered in a sticky gooey and slimey, mess of banana, which has now gone.

at the moment it looks like a mud coloured mess, which, ive read is normal for banana wine.

ok I had a sly sip, wen I was taking the bulk fruit out, the banana flavour isn't overly noticeable, hence I added the other half packet of sweet dried bananas.

Also, while removing the bulk fruit I noticed I actually have around 12 litres not the 10 intended, so ive added 250 grams of sugar, which wasn't intended originally.

Notes :-

Ive never fermented banana before, during reading up, I found evidence that banana skin contains amylase, which is an enzyme for breaking down starchs, hence, I left the skin on one of the bananas, because bananas have a lot of starch in them, the dried bananas I found very cheap locally, which was my original inspiration for making this wine. The fresh bananas were an addition to hopefully add a bit of fresh banana flavour.

1/4 teaspoon of citric acid = 1/2 teaspoon of tartaric acid (ie) 2:1

Im going to let this complete its ferment as it is and see what transpires when its completed.

The oaked water is from some Mexican oak barrels I have, that still have some woody taste in them.

Im expecting around 18 to 20 % abv and will back sweeten if required after having a bit of a sampler, when finished, before aging.

Yeast notes your yeast must be capable of 18 % abv or more, if not then reduce the sugar content to whatever your yeast can achieve, before alterations.

The 5 litre containers with blue lids on are experimental, temporary storage containers, easily cleaned and clear so I can see whats going on inside, they are stackable and if filled almost to the top I expect should be capable of temporary storage in the bottom of my wardrobe, where its dark and with an ambient temperature of around 20 to 22 degrees c this time of year, at one pound a shot they are my new temporary storage medium before bottling. With an expected potential of up to 3 month maximum before moving them on to the next stage, of bottling, im stuck for space and they seem ideal for my purposes.

Filtering notes :-

Apart from the 5 micron filtering mentioned above, all racking was done using am 8mm bore syphon tube, leaving the sediment behind.

As can be seen from the photographs, the first photograph was taken on day 11 with just banana added, after just removing the bulk fruit, at this stage it looks a horrible muddy mess, on day 16 I racked using a syphon tube of 8mm bore, by day 21 wen I racked again the colour difference is quite pronounced.

The 5 micron filter I used was none other than, some hypo allergenic pillow case covering and a funnel (the kind of covering asthmatics use, im asthmatic) ive been using the same piece washed and rinsed and occasionally washed in my washing machine (allowing to dry in between) for a few years now with good effect. So it is very re usable and very effective, as long as you keep it clean, I tend to use mine then add sodium metabsulphate afterwards to be sure of sterility, it dries very fast and doesn't really retain stains, as such ive found it very effective for small batches, of up to 5 gallons (which is the most I make at any one time) (see photo 4, taken filtering some strawberry wine) the strawberry wine is now a few months old and mostly been drunk because it was very nice ;-) this was its final racking, before bottling, well for what I had left anyways.

@rayway there was no mention of oil in the dried banana ingredients on the label, but, as you mention it there does seem to be a thin film on the top, its still muddy but, im guessing I can eliminate the film by syphoning and throwing the film away, when I rack it next.

@cintipam and Bernardsmith the bananas I used where yellow ones just before turning brown (ie) the kind of ripeness u would eat them, im kind of guessing, but, I expect, most of the starch was probably already sugar, Bernard you may well be right, it would be interesting to add some green banana peel to a high starch ferment such as potato or something and see if it reduces hazes.

Feedback (long term) :- post one month, this has mellowed somewhat, initially it had some excess acid and the banana was somewhat indistinct, at the moment it has settled down a little, the acid has reduced a little and the banana flavour is begining to hold its own, not just the overall banana flavour, there is a distinct taste of ripe banana (ie) the flavour you get from bananas eaten at the right time, this wasn't apparent at the time of fermentation or subsequently for several weeks, but, has recently reared its head in the flavour. It is still dropping fine banana particles, in the next week or so I intend to rack again, but, at this moment in time im beginning to suspect the particles dropping are adding flavour, in which case I must say I agree with the notion of mashed banana, which was mentioned in some recipies I read prior to making this, although at this moment in time im a little unsure, personally I suspect this is the case. With hindsight im glad I chose to add bananas of mixed preparation types, its my opinion that the banana with peel on helped to clarify in the early stages and I subsequently believe that mashed banana helps add a proper banana flavouring, although they tend to drop fine sediment over a long period of time, the sediment I suspect adding to the overall flavouring, the current taste is rather like a banana brandy kind of flavour very strongly alcohol tasting, but, with definite banana notes and a hint of brandy kind of undertones and some hints of oak behind the other 2 flavours.

For a wine that only started its life 5 weeks ago, its coming along quite nicely ;-)

Tonight ive made a sample blend of one litre of this, by adding 40mg of white sugar, 20mg of golden granulated brown plus 7.5 mls of glycerine (for smoothness) that's what im supping tonight 10/5/15. Its also very nice and very liquour like.

I`ve actually tried to answer any questions directly on the original post, but, ive learned this about bananas ;-

1). best used, when they are ripe (ie) ready for eating, which maximises sugar content. By this I mean, at the state of maturity you would have eaten them at, ie mostly yellow with not much brown and no green, colour in the skin.

2). the enzyme the skin contains is called amylase.

3). they drop lots of particles in suspension for a few months, producing a slightly brown ish sediment, which drops for along time, ie months.

4). contain approx. 40 % sugar by volume when ripe.

5). produce a quite vigorous ferment.

6). produce a fairly thick consistency drink.

7). the drink it produces is relatively bland.

8). as commercial brewers here in the uk have figured, its best supplimented with a banana flavoured additive, of approx. 2 mls per gallon, then permited to steep. (ie) banana food flavouring, containing no oil, the ones with a propylene glycol base is ideal.
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I love reading the recipes people use as it gives me ideas for flavor profiles I may not have considered. Rayways idea intrigued me because I've never had an apricot (you read that right, don't know what they taste like) so would never think to use or know what to add with it. I have yet to follow one recipe but usually take ideas from one and combine with another. Love the creative and science side to this hobby! Learning so much from the great posters here!

I have never made or drank a cyser so that is what I will make. I need to gather the ingredients this weekend but will post progress when I do.
 
I have four single gallon batches of cyser quietly aging - all made with the same source of pressed apples (a local farm that makes apple juice for cider makers - so a low pH and plenty of sugar and a good blend of tart, tannic and sweet apples) but with orange blossom , autumn wild flower, acacia , and sourwood honey. Hoping to have these ready to drink in the early fall.
If you do make a cyser, there is no need (quite the opposite) to heat the apple juice - that will only help it gel (like jam), and there is never any need to boil the honey. To help make the honey more viscous and so flow more easily all you need to do is warm a pot with some water and allow the jar of honey (unopened) to sit in the warm water for a few minutes. Raising the temperature a few degrees helps the honey become more viscous. What I do is take a few cups of the apple juice (or whatever liquid I am using) and add that to a blender that I have sanitized and then pour in a cup of the honey and blend them together. This has two benefits - 1) it ensures that the honey is evenly distributed in the fermenter and I don't need to spend any time stirring the must, and 2) it incorporates lots of air into the must. The yeast need oxygen to reproduce and repair their cell walls. If you are adding any fruit you might want to add pectic enzyme to help break down pectins and you may want to add K-meta (24 hours before you pitch the yeast) to inhibit the growth of any spores or yeasts or bacteria that may be on or in the fruit. After 24 hours the sulfur dioxide produced by the K-meta will have evaporated off enough to allow your yeast to rehydrate and reconstitute themselves and begin their work.
 
@PhilDarby Did your dried bananas have oil added? If yes, it may create an oil slick on top of your wine which will need to be dealt with so it doesn't go rancid.

@homesteader26 WHAAAATTTT???? Never tasted an Apricot?? Lol, I totally get it. There are different fruits available depending on where you're located. Just imagine a peach crossed with an orange and that gets you the idea.

So glad to see new folks joining up this month! I agree that it's a really great way to feel out new taste profiles and ideas you may not come up with on your own. Some people (like @jericurl) have this incredible ability to mix flavours in a completely different way than the rest of us. It constantly amazes me.

My fruit is currently at my parent's place (b/c of lack of freezer space at home), so they will be bringing it by on the weekend. My concern is that Mom will thaw it for me and I'll have to add it earlier. Either way! It will be mead!
 
Lots of good info already this month. Great breakdown on the variations and names that goes with them. And Phil, I really appreciate your sharing that the banana skin helps break down the starch. I had started adding a couple bananas to each wine about a year ago and I am having the problem of a slight haze that nothing is cutting thru. I bet if I add a skin each time in the beginning it should prevent that problem on future batches. I had read recipes that included the skins and just couldn't figure out why anyone would do that on purpose.

Gearing up for spring Chilean juice here, so all my projects will be fairly experimental anyway. Will do Reisling with frozen Old Orchard apple juice, plus lots of rhubarb and red currants. My Gewurztraminer will have frozen passion fruit and a ton of processed gooseberries from last season. Considering doing a Zinfandel to use up my frozen pie cherries. Also, every batch included raisins of the correct color plus and couple bananas (and one skin) for extra body.

I've been reading how hard rhubarb is to clear, but I think I need the flavor to influence the frozen apple juice to taste more like a tart granny smith would taste.

Love reading all your projects guys.

Pam in cinti
 
If there are any botanists or organic chemists on board they may be able to answer my question about banana peel. Does the peel contain the active enzymes no matter how green or yellow the banana is or is the enzyme only active and activated when the banana is beyond fully ripe and the skin is black? I suspect - but I am not certain - that the increasing sweetness a banana appears to have is due to the breakdown of the starches by the enzymes in the skin because an unripe banana tastes quite bitter and not very sweet at all. So I wonder if there are chemicals in the fruit that leach into the peels that activate the enzymes which then provide the sugars that the seeds need to feed on if they are to sprout...and it is at that sweet spot where really good banana wine seems to occur..
 
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