blending question.

ok I got 40 gal pear / apple blend, nothing over 3 to 4 weeks old down to 2 weeks old, would I be alright to break out my big ferment barrel out, run all forty gallon into my big barrel, mix real good once then vacuum right back into my carboys, in an attempt to mellow out 1 ten gal batch, each batch was fermented in a 14 gal food grade barrel I do 10 gal leaving plenty of room to drill mix daily, this is all from hand picked fruit except for the ten gallon apple that was way to hot, I found enough pear to do ten gallon so making my apple and that pear a fifty, fifty mix like my others batches will all match, but with that said I wish to make all my pear / apple to be the same, and since I an my brothers love the apple pear blend ,,, and that will leave me 11 gallon cherry mead, 6 gallon elderberry wine, and 6 gallon blackberry,,,,
thank you for any information, and help with my learning, I do not take offence when yall speak I listen an do my best to do as that which gets suggest to me,,,
dawg::

I've only done straight cider so my thoughts come from blending grape wine. Do you like all the batches? Rule 1 is don't put bad wine in good, as much as it hurts, toss it or drink in in the dark by yourself Other than that, you are going to blend all the flavors, sugar, acidity etc. if that is what you want, go for it. If you want them the same that is it. If you want to have different types, leave them separate.

I don't know what you mean by "way too hot". If you mean alcohol, blending is the best way to tame it. If it is acid, blending is a good way to soften, but there are others.

Best way is to set up a blending trial. I pour a glass of 100% of each and 10% steps of blends for two wines - math becomes a bit more complex with more wines to blend. The point is to be able to know what brings you to your favorite. It is also a great way to spend time with a sweetie or friends!

I really enjoy varietal wines, but the more I learn, the more I appreciate the art of blending. Have fun!

Rich, Like Johny says, do a bench test with them. Wait til they are completely done fermenting and let them age for a while so they won't be changing much after they are blended. Then try small batches (think glass size) and mix them til you like the blend. You will probably have some left that won't fit with the blend, but not too hard to get rid of. Now if you want to get fancy, get your brother over there to help with the tasting of the blends. Keep everybody happy that way and he can think that he is helping with the winemaking process. Arne.

Hey Hounddawg, sounds like you are really doing well. I make a lot of fruit wine and at first I tried to blend down the wines that seemed "strong". Not really a too much alcohol thing, but a really sharp taste that was not pleasant. When I had enough wine to let stuff age like everybody said I discovered that the apple wines really mellowed out at the one year point. I'm thinking that any fruit with a lot of malic acid will have this "bite" until the malic mellows down. Just like grape wine, which also has a lot of malic.

One thing you could also try is using Lalvin 71B yeast which really reduces malic acid and makes fruit wines with malic acid drinkable sooner. Or just wait a year if that can work for you. At the rate you seem to making wine, it probably won't be long before you can hand out what seems ready to drink and let the other stuff age and improve all by itself. Makes a much better wine aging too.

Pam in cinti

all batches taste fair to good fair being to strong, my thoughts was so every bottle taste the same, none are bad an I figure alcohol levels will level out in the long run
but I'm aiming at consistencies,,, since this is in the end going else where so I figure they wont let it age properly , the wines I put up are done in bottling terms 5 to 7 cases then put up each batch has different labels, , these are to be labeled the same, the only 2 batches that was hot then hotter was 2 batches of store bought apple with honey powder in it. as for them I decide they will go out of the way, I figure to pull air locks put in hoses into a big bucket of water so I can take a year or so to leave, put lid on bucket with predrilled holes in lid to run hoses to the bottom of bucket,, shoot I don't know decisions,, decisions,,,
note to self, back up rob closet and forget the world exists..
um forget the closet thingy, I done told both my brother and my nephew that don't exist,, whew bout blowed that one out of the water what is it ya'll more knowledgeable call that,,,, oh yeah PRIVATE STOCK,,
world dose not exist yup i'll do that for sure,,, doors now locked,,, lol
dawg
Richard,,,

hi
yes I'm doing great thank you so much for noticing,, , this is my longest stretch ICU free,, knock on wood,, as for my apple pear blends I start with equal amounts of fresh fruit from the freezer, I got electronic scales up to 50 lbs. for my fruit, j put them together from the start,,, if I make apple then I use apple, same with pear, any blending I do is started in the fermenter already blended,, but this or these are going to my brothers platoon, they were in the very first wave into Baghdad , all came home alive all but 2 got chemical exposure including my brother, VA once a month iminium of the 2 that didn't 1 fell into a sewer system so all but 1 got 100% disabled in combat zone,, an drowned, was revived and lost 1 lung, but hatch still a nut, known him an a couple more for better then 30 years, none of em are the same in their mind including my little brother,, but here while back a few got together at my brothers, I broke out my custom built stick smoker from when I traveled,,, a bunch of farm raised pork ribs an a few cases of wine so all these are the same tasting, you can bet 1 off bottle I'll hear about it, well I have robbed the closet,, shhh,, was getting care free and remembered I had not thanked you for noticing my much improved health,,, , so that's where I ended up wanting to blend these apple/pear wines at first I was going to add the apple as well then decided to corner that for long term aging with honey added to, as you can tell I done forgetting the worl,,,,,d ,, thanks
richard

cintipam said:

Hey Hounddawg, sounds like you are really doing well. I make a lot of fruit wine and at first I tried to blend down the wines that seemed "strong". Not really a too much alcohol thing, but a really sharp taste that was not pleasant. When I had enough wine to let stuff age like everybody said I discovered that the apple wines really mellowed out at the one year point. I'm thinking that any fruit with a lot of malic acid will have this "bite" until the malic mellows down. Just like grape wine, which also has a lot of malic.

One thing you could also try is using Lalvin 71B yeast which really reduces malic acid and makes fruit wines with malic acid drinkable sooner. Or just wait a year if that can work for you. At the rate you seem to making wine, it probably won't be long before you can hand out what seems ready to drink and let the other stuff age and improve all by itself. Makes a much better wine aging too.

Pam in cinti

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the world would be a much better place with more nutts like you,,,
richard

Arne said:

Rich, Like Johny says, do a bench test with them. Wait til they are completely done fermenting and let them age for a while so they won't be changing much after they are blended. Then try small batches (think glass size) and mix them til you like the blend. You will probably have some left that won't fit with the blend, but not too hard to get rid of. Now if you want to get fancy, get your brother over there to help with the tasting of the blends. Keep everybody happy that way and he can think that he is helping with the winemaking process. Arne.

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