February Wine of the Month Club

[cintipam]

Rayway, I think you should ask Seth for some advice. I know the copper pipe thing helps with the rotten egg smell, but I think it needs to be done with a lot of caution. I recall Seth saying that overdoing the copper pipe thing releases unsafe chemicals into the must. If you left the pipe in there overnight I don't think it's safe to drink anymore. But please double check my memory by asking Seth. I don't want to be the cause of you dumping a batch that could have been saved.

Pam in cinti

 

[cintipam]

DJ, you've convinced me to try the apple Jalepeno thing. I have a 6 gallon batch of apple aging right now, think I'll rack down to a split batch and put some of our dehydrated Kung Pao's in the gallon batch to see how it turns out. Most of our friends enjoy things spicier than I do, and if I can add some sweetener to make it palatable to me then that will be a go. If I overdo it, sounds like a great marinade!

Pam in cinti

 

[sour_grapes]

I believe it is Turock who routinely cites the dangers of getting too large a dose of copper. I do not actually know how dangerous this is, but I would pay heed to this warning. Copper is not a problem for pH of about 7 (think plumbing!), but copper solubility increases greatly as pH is lowered.

 

[cintipam]

Paul, thanks for the correcting my feeble memory. It would be hard for Rayway to double check me when I have her looking for the wrong source. Seth is awesome on his advice on lots of scientific and often unrelated topics. I guess I figured it just had to be Seth. It's wonderful how much I learn on WMT, but I really should give credit where its due, so thanks Turock!

Pam in cinti

 

[wineforfun]

DJ, you've convinced me to try the apple Jalepeno thing. I have a 6 gallon batch of apple aging right now, think I'll rack down to a split batch and put some of our dehydrated Kung Pao's in the gallon batch to see how it turns out. Most of our friends enjoy things spicier than I do, and if I can add some sweetener to make it palatable to me then that will be a go. If I overdo it, sounds like a great marinade!

Pam in cinti

Let me know how it goes. I am pretty happy with it.

 

[the_rayway]

February wine is officially dumped. After asking for advice from the experts - Seth & Turock, I decided to call it quits and dump this batch. Will try again one day.

FYI, the final straw in dumping the wine was that the copper pipe managed to get rid of the smell for about a day. Then it CAME BACK.

My summary of this month's wine:
What I did well:
I had a great idea and really good smelling must
What I could have done better:
I should have been watching the temps in the library as it got way too hot at up and even over 28c. I'm always cold these days, so didn't really think it was TOO hot in there!
What I learned:
1) watch my temps better in the room and in the must.
2) Buy name brand nutrients for my musts. Generic stuff just isn't good enough.
3) Attempt to find redulees for just such situations, which I sincerely hope will not be repeated. Like, ever.
4) People on this forum rock. Turock and Seth were incredibly helpful and supportive when I PM'd them with my questions.

*sniff, sniff*

DJ - My November WOTM was Habanero. It's GOOOOOOOD!

 

[ckvchestnut]

Aw Rayway, sorry it didn't work out but thanks for posting your experience. Let me know if you find any redulees and I'll also keep my eye out for some if I run across it.

 

[Winenoob66]

This what you ladies after ?

http://morewinemaking.com/search?search=reduless

 

[the_rayway]

This what you ladies after ?

http://morewinemaking.com/search?search=reduless

That's the stuff! Any idea if you can get it in Canada?

 

[ckvchestnut]

I was just on the site and was looking for shipping info but got sidetracked

 

[ckvchestnut]

Oh yes they do! International shipping by usps or FedEx.

 

[the_rayway]

Watch the border charges - they can be up to 150% of the cost of the product.

 

[Jericurl]

Oh no Raelene!
That's terrible!

 

[cintipam]

Rayway, sorry you had to dump it, but I am so glad you didn't get sick. And at least it was just a gallon.

A bit bummed today as I have determined that I have a leak in my 6.9 gal fermenting bucket. The last couple batches I did I thought I had a wicking problem with the cover cloth when it dropped into the top of the wine. But the last batch I made totally sticky grossed out the fleece blanket I had over the heating pad. So now I"m trying to figure out if those wines are ok or not. They have been meta'd and racked a couple times now. They taste fine. Any opinions? It's just a dark mark crooked short line visible on the bottom of the bucket that has to be the culprit. I took a clean dry dishpan, put it in the sink, sat the bucket in it and filled bucket with water. Sure enough when I checked later there was water in the pan.

Pam in cinti

 

[ckvchestnut]

Ya... I avoid FedEx and UPS at all costs!

 

[ckvchestnut]

Just a quick update on my blueberry peach port style batch that I'm doing: The batch has just been racked off gross lees a few days ago and it's in the clearing stage. I drew off an actual small glass to get a handle on the taste and to decide what it needs. The nose on it is a bright fresh, distinctive blueberry aroma. Other than being a bit hot, the flavour is like pure blueberry (blueberry extreme), medium bodied and has the faintest hint of peach in the finish. Even though it is close to or at 20% abv, this is fruity and smooth.

My aim was for a medium-heavy body with a dark fruit flavour (mainly blueberry) but with a hint of peach to add a juicy feel to it and ever so slight tartness on the finish. I have two bottles of Top Shelf peach essence flavouring (supposed to be used to fllavour grain alcohol or vodka to make peach schnaps) with no sweetener in it laying around to give me that peach accent I'm looking for. I love fresh peaches but personally have never been a peach schnaps fan, the taste was sickening to me too sweet. So I really do just want this as an accent.

From my tasting tonight, the things I want to accomplish is to layer it with other flavours by oaking and to give it slightly more body. As well as to add that peach accent. I have heavy toast hungarian oak cubes (which I added recently to my chocolate orange port batch and LOVE it). It gives off a slightly smoky, dark layered feel and taste that is almost caramel(ish) and vanilla. I'm leaning to that, or my other option is french medium toast oak cubes. I am toying with the addition of vanilla bean or just leaving it on the oak as is... any feedback guys and gals?? I have not backsweetened it yet, it's currently sitting at 1.000 but it died out at one. It's easy to drink at the moment.

What I'm thinking in my novice head, is that this is too light bodied to be taken as a port but the strength is right on... if I can add more depth to it, I will be happy. Can tannin be added at this point or would it not be needed with the addition of the oak?

Thanks

 

[Jericurl]

I racked my Berry BOMM mead today and started my other February wine.

As February is the month of lovers (and my birthday), I decided to highlight flavors associated with love, springtime, etc.
I nixed the name of Kama Sutra, as the ingredients I'm using don't quite seem exotic enough. I'm going with Ars Amatoria. I've very loosely modeled the recipe after Dragon's Blood.


Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love)

2 tsp. tannin
2 tsp. yeast nutrient
1 tsp. yeast energizer
2 tsp powdered French Oak
2 tsp rosewater
3 tsp pectic enzyme

3 cans white grape juice concentrate
6 lbs frozen dark sweet cherries
water to 3 gallons
12 cups sugar (or sugar for SG of 1.09)
2 c lemon juice

I'll pitch the yeast in the morning. I'll be using D47 (Thanks Pam!!!!)

eta: I plan on lightly oaking this wine, backsweetening with honey, and probably adding a bit more rosewater in secondary.
I expect it will take the full year to settle out into something, but I've high hopes for this one.

eta2: I've added 1 ceylon cinnamon stick to this (about 5 inches long) and a 1/2 vanilla bean, as well as another 1/2 tsp of rosewater.

 

[ckvchestnut]

That sounds good!! If it turns out nice for you, I'd like to try it or try a take on it. i don't know why but I'm picturing something that tastes like an exotic cinnamon heart... this is my absolute favorite valentines treat. I could imagine that recipe with the cinnamon undertone... to give it some heat along with ripe juicy cherry flavour!

 

[Jericurl]

Carolyn, I think the oak is going to pair very nicely with the blueberry/peach. How long are you going to wait before you add the peach flavoring?
It sounds absolutely gorgeous so far.
I think I would hold off on the vanilla. If you like what you are working with, I think the oak will add additional layers and some subtle tones to it. I don't think vanilla would be a bad addition per se, but it would completely change the overall feel of it.

As far as the Valentines wine, I have vanilla bean and ceylon cinnamon that I am considering adding in secondary...in very small amounts.
I want it to be a sweet wine, with no strong flavor dominating (which is why I only used 6 lbs of cherries).

 

[ckvchestnut]

Thanks Jeri, I feel the exact same way as you do on tweaks needed. I'm not in a rush for the peach nor the vanilla. I think my best plan is to add the heavy oak after next racking, it's clearing rapidly even without sparkolloid right now. Just not sure how much I'll use. The typical amount would be about 21 cubes for the 3 gals, I might start out with half and see where that takes me. Maybe that will bring out some additional stuff and the peach might come forward after time. My intent is to just have that peach accent and not "muddle" the blueberry flavour. It's easily possible that if I used the peach almost at the same strength as the blueberry is already occurring, I could "confuse" it lol Then I'd have to call it Confuzion!

Your tweaks to your wine sound wonderful. Can't wait to hear how it goes.