Cherry Wine Recipe?

[I_Drank_It]

I want to make a cherry wine...my first. I have the Jack Keller recipes for cherry wine. I will probably make the Recipe #1 which is a "dry" recipe. Would you recommend a different recipe?

Regarding the Keller "Cherry Wine [dry] (1)" recipe, what does "...without breaking the stones..." mean?

Also, I've read that Lalvin 1118 is the best yeast to use for fruit wines, yet this recipe calls for Montrachet. Any thoughts on this? Thanks.

 

[deboard]

Lalvin 1118 is a good choice since it will ferment just about anything. I used lalvin 71B-1122 for it's malic acid reduction property. Cherries are high in malic acid. There are other brands with similar yeasts as well.

Stones = cherry pits. It is saying to press the cherries to get the juice out, but not so hard as to break any of the pits. One good thing about frozen cherries is they are usually pre-pitted.

 

[JasonH]

I have made the same recipe with a few modifications and it is excellent. I use atleast 5lbs/gallon of tart cherries (not dark, can't remember the name). Montrachet has a bad rep. and for good reason, but it is my favorite yeast to use for cherry wine. I do not use that yeast for anything but cherry. In my opinion, it helps bring out a good flavor with a floral bouquet. If I didn't have montrachet or wanted to use another kind, I would use cotes des blanc.

 

[I_Drank_It]

Thanks. I have Montrachet. I'm glad to hear it will work. Maybe I should make a batch with Montrachet and another batch with Lalvin to compare.

 

[wvbrewer]

The Lalvin 1118 will ferment your wine to very dry. I bet there will be a big difference in the finnished products. It will be a cool experiment.

 

[mmadmikes1]

Make sure you have good temps, and good O2 in primary. Dont want any foul tastes or smells

 

[I_Drank_It]

Process has begun

I now have the cherry must in the primary. I decided to switch to Keller's "Cherry Wine [Sweet] (2)" recipe after talking it over with my better half. I had to use the dark Chilean cherries from Sam's...dang they're expensive @ 3$/lb. Hope that'll work. It certainly made a dark juice. Nice aroma too.

Regarding the primary, I am following the recipe which says to pour the boiling water over the must, cover the primary, and let sit for 48 hours. Should I go ahead and put an airlock on the primary or leave it open to outside air for this period?

 

[I_Drank_It]

Dry or Sweet?

OK, the pendulum is swinging back the other way. We couldn't help it. We had to sample the muscadine wine which I just bottled. It was put into the secondary mid-Sep 2010, so the wine is no more than four months old...yes yes I know, this is way too young to drink. Have you seen my user name? I used Montrachet yeast so needless to say the wine is quite dry...the way we like it. Well the way we thought we liked it. I had a partial bottle left so I decided to experiment with back sweetening. My first attempt was to add 1/4 tsp sugar to 1/4 cup wine. My wife first tried the dry and then the sweetened wine. She said the sweetened was perfect.

So here is my current reasoning: why make a sweet recipe? Why not make a dry wine, bottle it, and then simply backsweeten when you get ready to serve it?

In my opinion, wine backsweetened 1 tsp sugar per 8 oz. wine is really not that sweet (at least not as sweet as I've had from other wine makers). I suppose I would call it semi-dry or semi-sweet. I am considering going back to the dry recipe for the cherry wine. I am so afraid of oversweetening.

 

[I_Drank_It]

No Campden?

I just noticed that none of the Keller Cherry wine recipes call for Campden. Should I add the Campden?

 

[Julie]

OK, the pendulum is swinging back the other way. We couldn't help it. We had to sample the muscadine wine which I just bottled. It was put into the secondary mid-Sep 2010, so the wine is no more than four months old...yes yes I know, this is way too young to drink. Have you seen my user name? I used Montrachet yeast so needless to say the wine is quite dry...the way we like it. Well the way we thought we liked it. I had a partial bottle left so I decided to experiment with back sweetening. My first attempt was to add 1/4 tsp sugar to 1/4 cup wine. My wife first tried the dry and then the sweetened wine. She said the sweetened was perfect.

So here is my current reasoning: why make a sweet recipe? Why not make a dry wine, bottle it, and then simply backsweeten when you get ready to serve it?

In my opinion, wine backsweetened 1 tsp sugar per 8 oz. wine is really not that sweet (at least not as sweet as I've had from other wine makers). I suppose I would call it semi-dry or semi-sweet. I am considering going back to the dry recipe for the cherry wine. I am so afraid of oversweetening.

muscadine is better slightly sweeten but you are better off doing that before you bottle, when you backsweeten do not sweeten to your liking, stop short of what you would like, the wine will sweeten up slightly more. And always take a reading. Since you bottled then sweeten, take a reading to where you liked it. Say it was at 1.010, so when you backsweeten stop at 1.008 and then when you bottle, check it in a couple of months and see what the sg is and if it is to your liking. The way to do this is by always logging everything.

 

[I_Drank_It]

Julie,

Thanks for reminding me about this.

I am a beginner for sure. I decided to go conservative and wound up adding only 6 and 3/4 tsp sugar per gallon. The wine is still quite dry. In fact the SG is still less than 1.000. I'll let it sit a couple of weeks then taste again and measure SG to make sure before I bottle.

Your advice has helped me.

 

[I_Drank_It]

Back on Thread Subject

I thought I'd post the difference in the Cherry w/Lalvin versus Cherry w/Montrachet so far after only four days.

 

[wvbrewer]

Wow, What a difference in color. It will interesting to taste the difference as well.

 

[JasonH]

I bet the montrachet is the bottom photo. Please keep us updated on the results. I love cherry wine and may try something similar this year.

 

[I_Drank_It]

I bet the montrachet is the bottom photo.

You are correct. The top photo (Lalvin) has not changed from the original color of the must juice.

 

[trueax1]

recapie

i like sweet cherry wine would like a good recapie for it

 

[I_Drank_It]

Update

Lalvin_Cherry_Initial_SG = 1.084
Mont_Cherry_Initial_SG = 1.090

The fermentation was done after about 10 days in both. I transferred to secondaries and tested SG as follows:

Lalvin_Cherry_SG_Secondary = 0.992
Mont_Cherry_SG_Secondary = 0.991

Post fermentation acidity:

Lalvin = 0.50 % tart
Mont = 0.625 % tart

After ~1 week in secondary my assesment is:

Lalvin: slight sweet aroma, good taste, not bitter
Mont: somewhat harsh/bitter aroma, bitter taste but drinkable

Both wines are the same color (nice color in the glass).