Chokecherry wine recipes

[catnip]

Hello,

I am looking at making come chokecherry wine. I have never made wine before so I have lots of reading and research ahead of me. That being said I wanted to know if I can juice my chokecherries and have the fruit juice ready for when I am ready to make the wine. The berries are ready now and need to be picked before the birds get them all.

Can I juice the berries and hot water bath the jucie to a safe level for storing, or freeze the juice, or am I best just freezing the berries whole and juicing them when I do make the wine.

Thanks for your help, having a hard time finding out an answer to this.

Tanya

 

[Midwest Vintner]

I best just freezing the berries whole and juicing them when I do make the wine.

this way is probably best.

 

[donnaclif]

here si the recipe:

3 lb choke cherries
10 oz (300 ml) red grape concentrate
1 gal (4.54 l) water
2.5 lb (1.1 kg) corn sugar OR 2.25 lb (1.0 kg) white sugar
0.5 tsp campden tablets (a pinch of sodium metabisulphite)
0.5 tsp pectinase
yeast pack for red wine

starting SG 1.090 - 1.095
starting acid 4.5 g/liter

Process:

Remove stems and leaves. Crush berries and add sugar, and metabisulphite.
Add 0.5 gal. boiling water and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add 0.5 gal cold water.
Add pectinase and yeast.
Adjust acid (Use an acid kit and a packaged acid mixture)
Ferment for 3 days MAX.
The Specific Gravity should be down to 1.030.
Remove pulp and squeeze out juice.
Add grape concentrate.
Ferment several more days.
Rack to secondary and finish fermentation (SG=1.000)
Rack again and age without oxygen contact.
Rack before bottling or filter.

 

[St Allie]

If you have the freezer space Tanya.. store them there.

I usually waterbath my juices when I have run out of space in the freezer, it's mainly a storage issue for me.

Allie

 

[catnip]

Thanks for the replies. I have the berries all frozen up and debating about picking more. I only have a few days to decide... before the birds get there. I have approx 25lbs of chock cherries in the freezer. Along with some sand cherries and juneberries.