Recent content by gordini

Freezing the rhubarb first is another tactic. I once visited a rhubarb winery in the Vosges area of France.... here's the link http://www.nomacorc.com/blog/2016/06/rhubarb-wine-a-tradition-reborn-in-the-vosges-region-of-france/

I've made strawberry wine commercially for a few years. I've used only commercially available strawberries and in batches from 500 to 5,000 litres. I've tried many ways to maintain colour but have come to the conclusion that: strawberry anthocyanins are very weak and are easily affected by free...

I have tried: gelatine and silica bentonite blend of bentonite, pvpp and isinglass tannin added to a gelatine and silica solution. None achieved better than just settling.

Yes, 500 ppm is a tad overdone. I go for 70 normally. Here is an excerpt from http://www.brsquared.org/wine/Articles/SO2/SO2.htm Free SO2 can be removed by adding hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to wine. The use of H2O2 is considered too severe by many. Nevertheless, it remains one of the...

Yes. Next time we do it, I'll certainly heat it. Wont boil it however because that could drive off too much of the aromatics. I'll heat the juice to 40 deg C and then add the pectinase. I have a work around at the moment, but I am not getting the recovery volume I would like. Thanks

I have a considerable amount of Guava wine that is not clearing. We received the Guava frozen. We defrosted the guava, blended it with an equal amount of apple juice, added sugar to 18 brix added nutrient and enzyme and fermented with a neutral yeast. Ferment has stopped. I have racked it and...

Great news. Make sure you keep the free sulphur up to it or it will oxidize very quickly. I've got strawberry "port" in barrel over 10 years old. Still sells.

Tingo... The term "Wild Yeast" is applied to all yeast naturally floating around your shed/home/winery, on the fruit, on the utensils and containers, anything that comes in contact with the wine making process. At 70ppm, I have been assured that the more sulphur resistant strains are able to...

I use wild yeasts often, as well as commercial yeast. You do have to be very careful. Watch your ferment temperature, and make sure that you use at least 70ppm free sulphur in the must to kill the nasty yeasts. Sorry, if you can't measure free S02, you'll have to do the conversion from camden...

Strawberry is a problematic fruit to make wine from. Citric acid dominates, colour retention is dreadful and you have to make a sweeter style to make the wine approachable. It eats free sulphur dioxide. Having said that, it does make a good blending fruit wine. Briefly, here is how I do it. Buy...

If you add banana, it'll taste like bananas. Commercial boys use polysaccharides. http://www.aromadictionary.com/articles/texture_article.html

I agree about the anti-bacterial effect of a low pH, however, I still add about 30ppm SO2. I like to store my wines with some confidence. However strawberry is problematic as the antho cyanins are very weak and bind up free S02, so I have to add more progressively through finishing. I make a...

I agree, keeping the phenolics out of the ferment is the way to go. The pH is always low, around 3.1, but I'm not sure of the total acidity.

I once tasted a superb sparkling kiwi. Lightly flavoured and a gorgeious light green colour. I have never been able to reproduce it, with my wines always slightly bitter an a dull green/brown -definitely not oxidized.

I'd love to have your recipe for strawberry chocolate port.