2013 Fermentations

[oldwhiskers]

I started an Ocean Spray Cranberry wine last Sunday and it was down to 1012 last night so I will rack into secondary tonight.

I stopped by my LHBS this week and picked up a second primary bucket. I will be starting a batch of blueberry pomegranate and a batch of dried elderberry this weekend. Most of my carboys are empty and I need to get caught up.

 

[Stressbaby]

I only ferment things I grow. That is my schtick. So far my only 2013 wine is a 1 gal batch of Banana Flower. But the lilacs are about to bloom so I'll be starting 1 gal batch of lilac wine. Also, I'm going to try a completely new one, Abelia wine (from A. mosanensis). Also gonna try lavender, blackberry, and lemongrass.

 

[damudman]

I have a batch of blue-pom I just racked off the lees. It is going to be very good.
I used frozen blueberry's and 1 gal of just pom juice.
Are you using the frozen concentrate?

 

[oldwhiskers]

I did the blueberry pomegranate from juice since I couldn't find the concentrate, it is my first go on it.

My cranberry really turned out to be a big hit last year so I will have to get another batch started next month. To keep it real here's a picture of the cranberry, OG 1100. I was going to rack to secondary tonight but I started the blueberry pomegranate instead, I will rack it in the morning.

 

[oldwhiskers]

Well a little behind on the cranberry, we had a death in the family and it kind of occupied the weekend. The cranberry has been slowly crawling down from 1010 to 1000, hopefully it finishes after I rack it into a carboy.

The blueberry pomegranate is steaming along at 1034. By the weekend I hope to have them racked to secondary so I can get the dried elderberry started and I guess another cranberry since last years went over so well. I still need to squeeze in a skeeter pee with half the lemon juice and half of something else, the normal recipe got me on the heartburn.

I only have six of the 6-gallon carboys to work with so I've been thinking of adding four more for aging/production flexibility. I'm really glad I added the second primary so that I can speed the process up some.

 

[bakervinyard]

I started an Ocean Spray Cranberry wine last Sunday and it was down to 1012 last night so I will rack into secondary tonight.

I stopped by my LHBS this week and picked up a second primary bucket. I will be starting a batch of blueberry pomegranate and a batch of dried elderberry this weekend. Most of my carboys are empty and I need to get caught up.

Oldwhiskers, How did you backsweeten your cranberry wine, and what were the quanities. I have a cranberry wine ready to back sweeten. Any help appreciated. Bakervinyard

 

[jensmith]

In case any ones answer will do...

I sweeten my cranberry wines with fruit juice concentrates. If still very tart I use welches 100% grape juice. It mellowes it just a tad. If not overly tart I like the welches 100% white grape and rasberry. Agave and honey work as well, a bit mellowing and added mouthfeel. I can't drink the simple syrup made with cane suger, so I can only guess on how that works. Probely a bit sharper/crisper on the cranberry flavor then the other sweetners.

 

[oldwhiskers]

Oldwhiskers, How did you backsweeten your cranberry wine, and what were the quanities. I have a cranberry wine ready to back sweeten. Any help appreciated. Bakervinyard

I only made two batches last year and I sweetened the first with cranberry concentrate to 1010 and the second with simple syrup to 1012. Overall I think I liked the one sweetened with simple syrup the best, I know they were a hit with everyone else.

At the point I sweetened them it was between two and three cans of concentrate for the first one and about 3-1/2 cups of sugar on the second one. These are approximations, the hydrometer is the ruler to follow.

When sweetening with simple syrup there is no clouding of a clear wine whereas some additional clearing may be required with the concentrate.

 

[oldwhiskers]

Well the blueberry pomegranate was down to 1012 so I put it under airlock until I can rack it to secondary this weekend.

Looks like I will need to pick up a stainless pot to use to start my elderberry, just cant bring myself to pour boiling water into primary since food grade plastic is not rated for those temps.

 

[bakervinyard]

Jensmith, your input is appreciated also. oldwhiskers, thanks. I back sweetened using 1 can of concentrate, 1 can of concentrate simmered down and 12 ozs. of simple syrup. I think it tasted good. How long did you age it before drinking it ? BTW as I was sampling the different combinations of back sweetening I got a good buzz. LOL. Bakervinyard

 

[oldwhiskers]

bakervinyard, it was about 5 months old when we started hitting it, very tasty.

I just racked my first batch this year into secondary, had to taste it and it has a good flavor so far. Now to get my elderberry started this weekend now that I have a primary open.

 

[oldwhiskers]

Well, it's been busy today. I got my blueberry pomegranate racked into secondary and the clean up afterwards. Took a small sample and first impression is that I will have to backsweeten with some concentrate, so now I will have to chase down a Whole Foods and see if they have it since no one else did.

Then i went to wally world and got a nice 22-quart stainless steel stock pot (and expensive to) to use with fruits in my winemaking and got started on my dried elderberry wine. Everything is cooling down now and then I can add the k-meta later on. I know people have been talking about adding marbles and such for weights, and I had been trying to decide what to use to weigh down the straining bag to keep it off the surface and it hit me, just use a quart mason jar in the straining bag. It doesn't displace much and seemed heavy enough, so far it's holding the straining bag under the must. I got a taste of just the elderberry juice and it tasted pretty good. It smells a little tannic now, this will be a dried elderberry and red grape wine. I'll get the k-meta in tonight, the pectic enzyme in early in the morning and pitch the yeast tomorrow night. I may just make an elderberry only wine, berry flavors are my favorites.

I am contemplating pulling the straining bag out after 3-days of fermentation and starting an elderberry and white grape rosé with it.

 

[oldwhiskers]

Well I did a yeast starter for my elderberry wine and the yeast loved the must when I added some to the starter and really started foaming up. I decided to let the elderberries stay in and ferment down 1010 and then pull them and dispose of them. I really have my hopes up on this one from the early taste test on the must.

 

[oldwhiskers]

The elderberry is steaming along well even with the cool must temps, but wish the foam was a little less. I'm learning a few things since this is my first batch with any kind of fruit in the primary, at least it is a little easier since the amount of fruit is relatively small.

 

[oldwhiskers]

Well I flip-flopped, I went ahead and pulled the elderberries out of the primary after fermenting on them for three days and used them to start an elderberry rose. I will pitch the yeast on this tonight on this.

 

[oldwhiskers]

The elderberry rose (phone won't let me spell it correctly) got started good and the original dried elderberry should be ready to rack to secondary this weekdnd.

 

[oldwhiskers]

Racked the dried elderberry to secondary Sunday SG 1012, the yeast is still working steady. I have not been fermenting in the winter but the small amount left after racking I filled a quart jar with and capped it. With the jar in the bottom of the fridge for three days, it is still fermenting. This was a suprise to me at the low temps, but you can see the bubbles rising and it's pressurizing the jar.

 

[oldwhiskers]

Well yesterday was a wine workday for sure. I racked and degassed two batches of wine and removed the elderberries from another batch. Then it was cleanup time, I cleaned the racking equipment and carboys and then cleaned and delabeled a tree full of bottles that were delivered to me recently. A very busy day for sure and I was definitely glad when I got to the end of the bottles.

 

[oldwhiskers]

Thought I would give the Super-Kleer a shot in my batch of cranberry so I treated it last night and this morning it is definitely clear and I can see completely through the carboy. I'm impressed, it passes the flashlight test too.

I think my next batches will be a repeat of the cranberry, dried elderberry, elderberry rosé. I will also start an apple which I have been making a lot of before but have not started any yet this year. I am also looking at doing a smaller batch of mead and two batches of the Dragon's Blood.