January 2014 Wine of the Month Club

Hi Folks,
This is January's official thread.
Open to anyone who wants to join in!

Please post:
- Your recipe for a 1 gallon experimental batch
- Updates as you go along (with pictures please!)
- End of the month summary of a) what you could have done better b) what went well, and c) something you learned.
- At the one year mark (January 2015), we will taste and submit our thoughts, impressions, etc. of the 'finished product'. Hopefully everyone will post on tastings after the year mark as well.
- If the recipe is a keeper at the one year mark, please post it in the 'Recipes' section of the forum

The last two months have had 8 and 10 participants, respectively. Really fantastic conversations happening too! I think we are all learning and sharing a lot through this experience.

I will update this post closer to the end of the month with a list of who is participating, and what they are making.

Happy New Year!!!

As of 1.27.14 - 11 participants!

1) Blackberry Port - Kryptonitewine
2) Pumpkin Hazelnut Mead - Rayway
3) Dragon's Blood Twist Wine - Wineforfun
4) Onion Wine - Jericurl
5) Hibiscus Citrus Wine - Stressbaby
6) White Cranberry Limeade Wine - Cintipam
7) Cherry-Chocolate Port-Style Wine - Vernsgal
8) Orange Wine - Lonestarlori
9) Pie Cherry Wine - Mromilio
10) Chocolate Covered Cherry Wine - Buckhorn
11) Coffee Wine - Mangojack

January 2015 Raelene - Pumpkin Hazelnut Mead

Here is the plan for my January batch, I'll get on it likely next weekend.

I got the base recipe from a friend on another site who was gracious enough to share it. It's totally my bad if I completely screw it up by making my changes ::

Batch: final 1 Gal/5L; so start with 1.5 gal/7.5L

Primary
- Clover & Multifloral Honey to S.G. 1.085, 5Lbs
- Water to 1.5 Gallons (for a finished 1 gallon)
- 1.5 tsp Yeast Energizer, split 1-1/2
- 1.5 tsp Yeast Nutrient, split 1-1/2
- 4 grams Lalvin ICV D254 Yeast
- 1 whole allspice
- 1 medium cinnamon stick
- 1 medium vanilla bean
- 3 whole cloves

Secondary Additions
- 1 Small Pie Pumpkin- Baked
- 1 Large Sweet Potato- Baked
- 1/8 cup of home made vanilla extract (vanilla beans in vodka)

Tertiary Additions
- 15g Med toast french oak chips
- 1 Campden tab
- Sorbate
- Hazelnut Extract - I'm making this myself with toasted hazelnuts, sugar, and vodka. It's been sitting for about a month and a half now.

I'm going for something that is kind of like pumpkin pie with hazelnut whip cream. There should be spices, honey, caramel, hazelnut, vanilla, and of course - pumpkin. In my head this is an off-dry mead. No too sweet, but not completely dry.

Trying to ferment it on the cool side for this one. Shouldn't be hard at this time of year, really. Also, the yeast tends to be a 'hot' one when fermenting, so I don't want any off flavours because it was stressed out.

Lavin ICV D254 yeast "... In white wines, butterscotch, smoke, hazelnut, and almond characters are common " 53-82F fermenting temps, and an alcohol ceiling of 16%. This will be the second time using this particular yeast.

I plan to caramelize 1 Lb of the honey, and leave the rest raw for more complexity in the final product (like a half-bochet).

Pics and more details to come!
Raelene

Raelene, that sounds like a complex wine. Probably beyond my capabilities.

I have found a really easy and effective way of keeping my wine temps down during fermentation. I got these party buckets used for holding ice and drinks. They are probably 20-30 gallon size. The 7 gal primary bucket fits inside, and I have collected a couple of dozen ice packs which I keep in the freezer. I put 2-4 of the ice packs in between the party bucket and the primary with a small folded dish towel on the outside for a little insulation. I switch them out twice a day. I can drop a batch from 25C to 20C and hold it there pretty easily with this setup.

For January I'm going for "Hibiscitrus" - hiscus/citrus wine.
I have a bunch of kumquats getting ripe. I'm going to treat them like I did my earlier calamondin wine, ultra-thinly sliced and unbagged in the primary. I'm a little concerned I won't have enough as my tree is quite small yet, but I have several nice looking satsumas ripe as well, so I may add the juice and/or rind of the satsumas in the secondary. Full recipe to follow...

wow Raelene sound good. I was just talking to hubby about what I should do for Jan.Will post when "we" decide.

Hey guys,

My January wine is a Pie Cherry Wine. I'll be starting it later today.

2 15 oz cans Oregon Tart Cherries in water
2 15 oz cans of Oregon Sweet Cherries in syrup
8 oz RealLemon Lemon Juice
3 to 4 cups sugar dissolved in boiling water expected to be used to bring starting SG to 1.085-1.090
1/8 tsp tannin
3/4 tsp yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp energizer
3/4 tsp Pectic Enzyme
Water to 1 gallon
1 packet Lalvin EC-1118 yeast

Will drain the syrup/juice from the cherries, keep it aside and put the cherries in a muslin sack, will add the saved liquid at the same time as the dissolved sugar syrup. Will also pour the hot syrup onto the fruit bag at the bottom of the primary to see if this will enhance the deep color of the cherries as I've read in other recipes. Will cool the must with cool spring water to bring the must up to a gallon and 1/2 for a finished yield of 1 gallon.

Will do the standard procedure of adding the pectic enzyme and pitching the yeast 12-24 hrs later.

Let's see how this goes. I plan to let this one sit for the long haul, will try not to use Sparkolloid or degas this wine under regular methods. I want this one to clear and degas naturally on it's own.

Cheers and Happy New Year to all!

Mario

Ok, got it started today! I was feeling energetic

I edited the recipe above to include the things I ended up changing:
a) Added spices that I steeped in the hot honey/water mixture,
b) Upped the amount of nutrient and energizer to reflect the 1.5 gallon total
c) Final amount of honey added

Notes:
1) At 10 min, the honey tasted AWESOME. Seriously consider doing a light bochet one day. Very floral and sweet. 15 minutes was better, but in a different way.
2) If 3 Lbs per gallon is estimated by US gallon; using 3 Lbs per gallon and a half Imperial will not do the trick. 5 lbs does. Remember that Raelene. Plan your supplies.
3) Don't lick the burning honey.
4) Burning honey spits, even if you're pouring in boiling water.
5) I like spices, it's a pumpkin hazelnut mead, so it seemed like a good idea at the time. We'll see what happens with my reckless additions

Pictures are:
1) Original honey before caramelizing
2) At then end of caramelizing (18 min)
3) Light to dark: 10 min, 15 min, 18 min
4) Yeast starter, hydrometer reading, hazelnut extract
5) Frozen, baked pumpkin & sweet potato
6) Must before pitching yeast

That looks amazingly delicious, Raelene.

So you are using 5 lbs of honey to one gallon of water. I need to make note of this.
I know you have made a lot of mead over the last year. Tastewise, can you describe the difference that 3 lbs vs 5 lbs gives? And the difference between the cooked honey at addition vs 10 minutes vs the "light bochet"?

I was going to do an onion cooking wine this month but I'm seriously considering mead. Heck, I may actually do both.

Mwahahaha! Join the mazers!! Do both, obviously

Well, hmm. The difference is in the SG: 3Lbs only brought me to 1.055ish at almost a gallon and a half (Imperial gallon, not US gallon!). Needed the last two Lbs to get it up to 1.085. I didn't want a cooler-type wine at 6-8%; I wanted a decent 10-12% mead that I can age.

The honey raw: light, very sweet, with a slight caramel flavour
The honey at 10 min: slap-you-in-the-face with floral flavour, + tiny hint of light caramel
The honey at 15 min: caramel and light toffee
The honey at 18 min: chocolate and coffee, with dark toffee

I cooked the 1 Lb of honey first (to the 18 min. mark), added water to cool it down.
Then I stirred in the raw honey to dissolve, and added more water. Then a bit more raw honey to get the SG I wanted.

Does that kind of make sense? Or am I totally rambling?

sounds amazing Raelene!

I'm never going to have an empty 1gal again am I lol

vernsgal said:

sounds amazing Raelene!

I'm never going to have an empty 1gal again am I lol

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I'm stuck this month. I have 4 - 1 gallon carboys and they are all full.

What to do? I really want to try a port but alas will need to wait.

I found this recipe on Keller's website that I think I'm going to try once I get an empty.

Blackberry Port Wine


•8 lb. ripe blackberries (I have a bunch on blackberries and blueberries from the summer frozen)
•1/2 pt. red grape concentrate
•1/2 c. light dry malt
•1-3/4 lb. granulated sugar
•1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme
•1-1/2 tsp. acid blend
•5 to 5-1/2 pt. water (depends of size of berries)
•1 crushed Campden tablet
•1/2 tsp. yeast energizer
•1 tsp. yeast nutrient
•1 pkt. Lalvin K1-V1116 (Montpellier) or a port wine yeast


Wash and crush blackberries in nylon straining bag and strain juice into primary fermentation vessel. Tie top of nylon bag and place in primary. Stir in all other ingredients except pectic enzyme, yeast and red grape concentrate. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover well, and set aside for 8-12 hours. Add pectic enzyme, recover, and set aside additional 8-12 hours. Add yeast, cover, stir ingredients daily, and press pulp in nylon bag to extract flavor. When specific gravity is 1.030 (about 5 days), strain juice from bag and siphon liquor off sediments into secondary fermentation vessel. Fit airlock and set aside. Rack in three weeks and again in two months. When wine is clear and well past last evidence of fermentation, stabilize, add red grape concentrate, and set aside for 3 weeks. If no evidence of refermentation, rack again and bottle. Allow at least a year to mature, but will improve for several years.

Ray that looks delicious! I have never even tasted a mead, much less make one. Doing the math and cost of honey for the volume, it must be pretty darn expensive to make.

I think I am going to do a blood orange wine this month. Mostly because I want to see what color it comes out to be.
I can't find a recipe, but Jack Kellers orange should be a good base.

kryptonitewine said:

I'm stuck this month. I have 4 - 1 gallon carboys and they are all full.

What to do?

Click to expand...

That's easy- go buy 2 more 1 gal.
And that recipe sounds great. I'm trying a mini port this month as well. Just getting my "recipe" together

Lori have you tasted your onion wine yet? So curious lol

Oooh. Kryptonite, that sounds super yummy! Different process than I used last month. I would be very interested to see how that comes out! Let us know when you buy your two new jugs ::

Lori: the honey was $2.5/lb, so that comes to $12.5. Pumpkin and sweet potato cost me nothing. So it would work out to less than $3.00 per bottle with all the additives. That's not too shabby! I know the cost will increase quite a bit when I start getting into honeys that are exotic to Manitoba though. Dreaming about Orange Blossom and Tupelo...

Raelene,

That write up on the honey is fantastic and exactly what I was looking for. I cannot wait to get started on mead.

I think I'm going to go to Sam's Club sometime this weekend and grab some honey. I'll start a one gallon batch of regular show mead for my January WOTMC.

I also bought a few pounds of sweet onions, so I'm probably going to give Lori's wine a whirl as well.

Ok so after much planning and "stupid math" on this one, Here is my January recipe. Hopefully Sat. will start, if not Sunday

Choco-cherry Banana Port Style Wine 1 ½ Gal.

5 ½ lbs Maraschino Cherries
5 lbs Bananas (1/2 with peels)
1/3 c Cocoa
1 ½ c Red Grape Concentrate
1 ½ tsp Pectic enzyme
1 ½ tsp Bentonite ( made into slurry)
1 tsp Yeast Energizer ( step fed at 2 & 3 sugar feedings)
Acid Blend (if needed)
1 ½ tsp Yeast Nutrient (step fed)*
Berry Sugar
Water
750 ml Cherry Brandy
Vintner’s Harvest SN9 Yeast
• will step feed the 1st tsp as per usual. The other ½ will feed ¼ tsp per sugar addition

Day 1 make yeast starter – In primary, place fruit in straining bag, mix cocoa with ½ cup water in magic bullet, add water,grape concentrate, pectic enzyme and nutrient and sugar (to SG 1.100)

Day 2 pitch yeast

When SG reaches 1.035 draw off must to make simple syrup add to must to SG 1.055
When SG reaches 1.020 remove fruit ,make simple syrup add to must to SG 1.030
Hopefully goes dry at 1.008 = 18% alc. Approx..
Rack
Add Brandy = 20 % alc Sweetness should end between 1.025- 1.030
Bulk Age

Jericurl said:

Raelene,

That write up on the honey is fantastic and exactly what I was looking for. I cannot wait to get started on mead.

I think I'm going to go to Sam's Club sometime this weekend and grab some honey. I'll start a one gallon batch of regular show mead for my January WOTMC.

I also bought a few pounds of sweet onions, so I'm probably going to give Lori's wine a whirl as well.

Click to expand...

Hey Jeri - good! I can't wait to see how you like it

Kim - there is so much happening in that port, I can barely process it! All my brain tells me is 'OMG nom nom nom'. Ahem. GREAT idea!

vernsgal said:

Ok so after much planning and "stupid math" on this one, Here is my January recipe. Hopefully Sat. will start, if not Sunday

Choco-cherry Banana Port Style Wine 1 ½ Gal.

5 ½ lbs Maraschino Cherries

Click to expand...

Kim, are these the kind in syrup? I made some chocolate covered cherries this Thanksgiving and they were $4 for a little 8 oz jar. I almost choked.

Went this afternoon and bought my carboys. I got "the look" when I came home from SWMBO.

kryptonitewine said:

Went this afternoon and bought my carboys. I got "the look" when I came home from SWMBO.

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"SWMBO" haha, had to look that one up.
I bought a 3 gal one today only to get home to find I had one in the closet I forgot I bought last month. Oh well, more wine projects.

kryptonitewine said:

Went this afternoon and bought my carboys. I got "the look" when I came home from SWMBO.

Click to expand...

hahaha! so you owe her! But now you can make your January wine!

LoneStarLori said:

I bought a 3 gal one today only to get home to find I had one in the closet I forgot I bought last month. Oh well, more wine projects.

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Lol,you buy your carboys, "hide" them til needed, then forget they're there

LoneStarLori said:

Kim, are these the kind in syrup? I made some chocolate covered cherries this Thanksgiving and they were $4 for a little 8 oz jar. I almost choked.

Click to expand...

I didn't pay that much. I got the 1 jar 375ml for $3 then the other 5 lbs I found in bulk containers on sale for $14 total.So $17 for all and then $20 for the brandy which adds up to the most I've spent on a 1gal.tester lol Good thing I'm not real big on ports

the_rayway said:

Kim - there is so much happening in that port, I can barely process it! All my brain tells me is 'OMG nom nom nom'. Ahem. GREAT idea!

Click to expand...

Raelene-I did a mead in December with the chocolate covered cherries from the Jack Keller site. tastes ok so far but looks like . I've seen some members adding food color or kool aid for color to this but figured I'd use the grape concentrate instead.The steps are also courtesy of Jack Keller and the bananas, well they just kinda make it like a sundae without the ice cream