December 2014 Wine of the Month Club

[Julie]

It is fermenting and it may take a couple of days to get into a real fast ferment. If you don't see much by Monday, I would go ahead and add the yeast starter.

 

[Jericurl]

Thanks for checking back, Julie.

That is what I will do.

So far it tastes and smells wonderful.

I haven't actually added the rosemary in yet. I wanted to add it during the last 3 or 4 days of ferment.
I don't want an overwhelming rosemary taste, just something to add a bit of a faint top note overall.
I have really high hopes for this one and I hope it turns out well.
I think 2015 is going to be "THE YEAR OF THE MEADS" for me.

 

[the_rayway]

Hey Jeri,
Hopefully it will take off for you soon, keeping it warm and whipping the snot out of it. I'm very interested to see how the rosemary comes through.

My pear is clearing really fast now that I've racked it, settling right out.

 

[Jericurl]

The must is staying between 64 and 68 degrees according to the little strip thermometer I've attached to the side of the the primary.
I stirred it with the drill today and there were a lot of foamy bubbles.

This thing has a huge cap. All of the cranberry bits are floating and sort of turning into a thick cap of bits and cranberry schmear. Stirring it by hand actually takes some effort to incorporate it back down into the liquid. It is literally a good 8 inch slab of cranberry stuff and appears to mostly float on top of the liquid. Good thing I'm stirring it twice a day. I may start doing it 3 or 4 times a day. Next time I'm definitely going to use a bag with some weights in it.

I will check the SG on it tonight and see where we are at.

 

[aryoung1980]

I'm just barely making it on time for the December club.

This past summer while visiting my wine making grandmother, I photographed her old recipe book:


I was trying to decide what to make that could use up my measly 1.5 lb of rhubarb when I recalled the "Sneaky Pete Wine" from the Herter book. He proclaims it as "one of the best wines ever made". How could I pass up a wine with that kind of reputation?! I made a few minor tweaks to the recipe. I increased the rhubarb from 1 to 1.5 pounds, decreased the sugar from 4 to 3 pounds, replaced the bread yeast with EC-1118, and tossed in 1.5 oz of dried Montmorency cherries from the tree in my yard. Without further ado, I give you Sneaky Pete:

2 lb Russet potatoes, grated
1.5 lb rhubarb, chopped
3 lb white sugar
1.5 oz dried Montmorency cherries
0.5 tsp yeast nutrient
EC-1118 yeast

I scrubbed the potatoes but did not peel them. I grated them with my food processor. I added the grated potatoes to 2 qts water, heated to a boil over medium heat, and boiled for one minute before straining. Strained potato water was added to the carboy with the cherries and rhubarb. The rhubarb was still frozen until the water was added. I mixed the sugar with 2 qts of water and added that to the carboy. Added nutrient. Shook and swirled for a bit. Added rehydrated yeast.

 

[Julie]

Since you used potato water you may end up with a starch haze, make sure you have amylase on hand.

 

[aryoung1980]

Since you used potato water you may end up with a starch haze, make sure you have amylase on hand.

I think the boiling for a minute was, in theory, supposed to take care of the starch problem. If not, when would I add the amylase? I've never used it before.

 

[Julie]

I won't worry about it at the moment, if it is not clear in six months you can do a test, 5 drops of iodine in8 oz of wine, if it turns indigo blue, you have a starch haze.

Did you add the potatoes or the potato water? I would think the starch would have been boiled out of the potatoes and in the water.

 

[Jericurl]

The Sneaky Pete!

I love it!

 

[the_rayway]

Awesome! I also just got a few pics of my Grandmother's recipe book with Dandelion and Rhubarb wine recipes.

Some of those recipes are wild! Looking forward to your results

 

[Jericurl]

Calvin,

How is the peppermint wine coming along?
Are the mints at your Sonic that solid hard ones or those ones that are similar to some kind of dried foam?

 

[Jericurl]

I took these crappy cell pictures last night.

My SG was just above 1.06 so I went ahead and added DAP and Ferm K.

I got up this morning and knocked that cap back down, stirred the smack out of it with my drill. Looks like I can save all the yeast I'm getting in today for another batch, it's definitely not needed.

 

[calvin]

Calvin,



How is the peppermint wine coming along?

Are the mints at your Sonic that solid hard ones or those ones that are similar to some kind of dried foam?

The wine is coming along nicely. If I can find the time tonight I am going to rack and stabilize it.

The mints are the soft ones that dissolve in your mouth.

The girls that work at sonic found out I am making wine with the mints. Now every time I go through the drive through for breakfast I get about a pound of mints. I hope it turns out good because I will have enough stockpiled for a 6 gallon batch

 

[the_rayway]

Wow Jeri, that's a heck of a krausen on there! Looks like 1/3 of the volume.

Mine is still sitting about and bring lazy. I'm hoping to check the S.G. this week and give it another rack/sulfite it.

 

[calvin]

Superkleer is amazing stuff

Racked, stabilized. And added superkleer last night. It's looking good

 

[Julie]

Calvin, it is looking good. Nice color, did you taste it?

 

[calvin]

I did take a small taste. Not sure what I think about it. I plan on back sweetening with more mints. I'm sure that will make it taste better.

 

[Jericurl]

SG is at 1.015 so I strained my batch into secondary. I have about 4 gallons and I expect to lose a lot once everything settles out. I was planning a 3 gallon batch so I'm still good so far.

I did make an f-pac with another 12 oz package of thawed cranberries, zest from one orange, 1 tsp of garam masala, and about a 1/2 cup of last years Strawberry/cranberry Dragon's Blood. Cooked that until the cranberries popped then let it cool down.

I just hope my ferment finishes. Looking at my carboy, I'm not seeing any airlock action. It's been cooler than normal the last few days here, we are seeing temperatures in the 20s and not getting above freezing, but the house stays 62 to 70, depending on time of day and whether I'm cooking or not.
I really don't want to have to deal with a stuck fermentation.

 

[aryoung1980]

I racked the Sneaky Pete on day 7. I had to top it off with 4.75 cups of filtered water. I had A LOT of lees; a good 1.5 inches. I'm wondering if maybe there were some starches that precipitated out...if that's possible.

At first I was hesitant to use that much water for topping off; it's over 25% of my total volume. I thought about using a pear-grape fruit juice, Apple juice, or an open bottle of a young Riesling. I never took a SG but I know it's high because the 3 pounds of sugar alone would put me at 1.138. The potatoes could have given me another 35 points per gallon (1.138 + 0.070 = 1.208). Then I had the rhubarb and dried cherries.

My grandmother said she made it once and gave it away because it was so boozy.

With all that said, it smells promising.

 

[fabrictodyefor]

SG is at 1.015 so I strained my batch into secondary. I have about 4 gallons and I expect to lose a lot once everything settles out. I was planning a 3 gallon batch so I'm still good so far.

I did make an f-pac with another 12 oz package of thawed cranberries, zest from one orange, 1 tsp of garam masala, and about a 1/2 cup of last years Strawberry/cranberry Dragon's Blood. Cooked that until the cranberries popped then let it cool down.

I just hope my ferment finishes. Looking at my carboy, I'm not seeing any airlock action. It's been cooler than normal the last few days here, we are seeing temperatures in the 20s and not getting above freezing, but the house stays 62 to 70, depending on time of day and whether I'm cooking or not.
I really don't want to have to deal with a stuck fermentation.

I've spent quite a bit of time this afternoon reading about cranberry wine. Several old posts said that cranberry can be very slow and can take up to a month! I have about 40 lbs of cranberries and have been trying to figure out just how I want to make this! Last year I made a cranberry/apple and in my ignorance or luck, I mixed the ground apples and cranberries together and the wine came out great. I also just barely covered my cranberries in apple juice and simmered to burst the skins. I didn't have trouble clearing and was planning on using the cooking bursting method again as my food processor would take forever to process that many cranberries. I like all your additions and may try some of them myself. Or with a batch this big (luckily I have a 20 gal Brute) I may try and add other ingredients to smaller batches after initial fermentation. I was also looking over old posts to figure out which yeast to buy, I like the idea of RC212 and will probably go with that. Thanks for all your posts, I read through all the Wine of the Month Club posts and am amazed at the combinations you and others come up with!