January 2014 Wine of the Month Club

[cintipam]

Too funny James. Well, they say a weed is just a plant growing where you don't want it to. Still I'd find it hard to ever call those lovely plumaria a weed. Wow!!

I'm so happy to read you all plant edibles also. My neighbor turns up his nose at my yard. While I do mix in some pretty with lots of functional, his is a mass of impatiens and cardinal climber type stuff. Mine is really pretty IMHO plus I get to experience all the wildlife coming around for snacks. I know, not high on most gardeners list but I live smack dab in the heart of cityville and it shocks folks to see our deer and groundhog, possums etc just strolling around. They mostly leave my good stuff alone as I plant stuff I know they prefer to draw them away from my trees.

Only thing I'd like to strangle is the doggone squirrels when they take one bite from a good piece of fruit, throw it down and go grab another piece, repeat ad naseum.

Pam in cinti

 

[vernsgal]

Only thing I'd like to strangle is the doggone squirrels when they take one bite from a good piece of fruit, throw it down and go grab another piece, repeat ad naseum.

Pam in cinti

Lol yup us too. We have an even bigger problem with the pesky deer eating everything! Flowers, fruit young plants.. They're real cute to look at but sometimes

 

[the_rayway]

Pretty! I do both myself actually love to have spring flowers in my trees, shrubs and in my perennial gardens... Lately been focusing on edible landscaping though it's never a bad thing to strive toward self sustainability!

Oops want sure I was going to post that pic as it's off topic but that was my latest addition to my cold hardy rose collection, a lovely red and yellow bi-coloured rose called Campfire its from the morden series and this rose was blooming well into October on its first season even as frost formed everywhere! I did nothing to encourage it in fact was hoping it would go dormant already lol! Ok ill stick to topic from now on - sorry everyone!

Ha! Great minds think alike! I also added the Campfire to the ring around my Bird Spa. Check out these pics:
1) 7:00 a.m.
2) 2:00 p.m. same day
3) 8:00 p.m. still the same day.

Poor thing can't seem to figure out what colour it wants to be. Should make a nice Rhodomel this coming summer though. I also have a Morden Sunrise, and a Strawberry Crush. They're just beautiful!

Stressbaby - love the pictures of your greenhouse BTW

 

[ckvchestnut]

That's awesome rayway!! Yes I tell everyone how my campfire rose changes colour daily! Amazing! I also have sunrise, Jacque Cartier and a few other large hardy ones! I need stuff to be able to compete with my weed grass and dandelions! I had some issues with those darned saw flies though they lay eggs in the stems by piercing them with their oviductor thingy! I think it's saw flies?? They love to do this right underneath a cluster of rosebuds!

 

[vernsgal]

okay thought I'd post what I've done do far before calling it a night!
Day1 (yesterday)
Made yeast starter. In primary placed bananas ,cherries, cocoa, grape concentrate, pectic enzme, nutrients and 1/3 tsp yeast energizer. SG was 1.036 so added 7 cups sugar for SG 1.102. Tested PH, it was very high at 4.4. added 2 ½ tsp acid blend PH 3.62
Day 2
1:00 PM Gently squeezed fruit, removed from pail. Stirred must rechecked PH 3.64. SG 1.102, S02 50 PPM Temp 70, so put on brew belt. Pitched yeast, stirred gently and added fruit back in.
10:20 PM Good cap formed on top. Punched down fruit and stirred gently.
And that's all folks! lol

 

[wineforfun]

Kim,
What are you using to check your PH and SO?

 

[vernsgal]

for now I'm using these.On wish list is a vinmetrica but I'm not in need of something that expensive right now lol
For PH and TA I use the Hanna tester
http://www.hannainst.com/usa/prods2.cfm?id=002003&ProdCode=HI 98103
and for s02 I use the Accuvin Free s02 test
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064OFW7W/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
These aren't the sites I purchased from, I just included them so you could see what they are

 

[LoneStarLori]

I need a proper acid test kit. I can't get the hang of the vintners chemical dropper method one.

I started my Blood Orange wine this weekend using Jack Keller's Orange wine 2 as a base. I'm not gonna lie, it is not impressing me at all yet. The first thing I noticed is the blood oranges have much less juice. I used 50% more than the recipe called for and still can't really taste or smell the orange. I'm hoping the alcohol brings out some semblance of orange.

Recipe:

Orange Wine (2)

8 medium-sized oranges
1 lb chopped or minced golden raisins or sultanas
1 lb 7 oz ripe bananas
3 lbs finely granulated sugar
water to make up one gallon
1/4 tsp grape tannin
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
wine yeast
Put two quarts of water on to boil. Meanwhile, peel the oranges and remove all the white pith (it is bitter and will ruin the wine). Break the oranges into sections and remove all seeds. Drop them in a juicer or a blender and liquefy (you may have to add a cup of water to the blender). Peel and slice bananas and simmer in one pint of water for 20 minutes. In a primary, add chopped or minced raisins (or sultanas), 2-1/2 lbs of the sugar, the orange juice or liquefied orange pulp, and two quarts of boiling water. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Over primary, pour simmering banana slices into nylon straining bag and allow to drip until cool enough to squeeze. Squeeze lightly and then discard banana flesh. Stir in tannin and yeast nutrient and enough water to make up one gallon total. Cover with cloth and set aside to cool. When cooled to room temperature, add pectic enzyme, recover and wait 12 hours. Add wine yeast. Ferment 7 days, add remaining sugar, stir to dissolve, and ferment another 3 days. Rack off sediments into secondary and fit airlock. Rack every 30 days for 3 months. Stabilize and sweeten to taste. After additional 10 days, rack into bottles and set aside one year to age. [Adapted from Brian Leverett's "Winemaking Month by Month"]

Changes I made were; used 12 blood oranges and 2 Texas Navel oranges. I used Red Star Cote Du blancs. I didn't test the SG before adding his recommended sugar and ended up with 1.12. This may end being orange flavored Everclear.

 

[vernsgal]

I need a proper acid test kit. I can't get the hang of the vintners chemical dropper method one.

I started my Blood Orange wine this weekend using Jack Keller's Orange wine 2 as a base. I'm not gonna lie, it is not impressing me at all yet. The first thing I noticed is the blood oranges have much less juice. I used 50% more than the recipe called for and still can't really taste or smell the orange. I'm hoping the alcohol brings out some semblance of orange.

Recipe:

Orange Wine (2)

8 medium-sized oranges
1 lb chopped or minced golden raisins or sultanas
1 lb 7 oz ripe bananas
3 lbs finely granulated sugar
water to make up one gallon
1/4 tsp grape tannin
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
wine yeast
Put two quarts of water on to boil. Meanwhile, peel the oranges and remove all the white pith (it is bitter and will ruin the wine). Break the oranges into sections and remove all seeds. Drop them in a juicer or a blender and liquefy (you may have to add a cup of water to the blender). Peel and slice bananas and simmer in one pint of water for 20 minutes. In a primary, add chopped or minced raisins (or sultanas), 2-1/2 lbs of the sugar, the orange juice or liquefied orange pulp, and two quarts of boiling water. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Over primary, pour simmering banana slices into nylon straining bag and allow to drip until cool enough to squeeze. Squeeze lightly and then discard banana flesh. Stir in tannin and yeast nutrient and enough water to make up one gallon total. Cover with cloth and set aside to cool. When cooled to room temperature, add pectic enzyme, recover and wait 12 hours. Add wine yeast. Ferment 7 days, add remaining sugar, stir to dissolve, and ferment another 3 days. Rack off sediments into secondary and fit airlock. Rack every 30 days for 3 months. Stabilize and sweeten to taste. After additional 10 days, rack into bottles and set aside one year to age. [Adapted from Brian Leverett's "Winemaking Month by Month"]

Changes I made were; used 12 blood oranges and 2 Texas Navel oranges. I used Red Star Cote Du blancs. I didn't test the SG before adding his recommended sugar and ended up with 1.12. This may end being orange flavored Everclear.

Are you going to use some of the zest from those peels?

 

[LoneStarLori]

yes, I am going to use zest for sure. I put some from one of these in, but I am going to use some from the Texas oranges also. They are much more aromatic and juicy. These just really don't have flavor.

At what point do you think I should add them? About 1.02?

 

[vernsgal]

I've put my zest in the secondary but honestly I don't know because its still a baby. I would PM Joe on that one. He's big on zesting! lol

 

[LoneStarLori]

Ah yes. Joe will know. As a matter of fact, he has a revived post going on now in almond wine. He's such a great mentor for me. I've learned a lot from his tweaks.
Here is the zesting and extract lesson: Zesting and extracts

 

[Stressbaby]

I've used zest in primary and zest after 4 months in the secondary. You can do whatever you want.
My January wine is hibiscus-citrus and I've got zest in the primary. I'll add more in secondary if it needs a boost.

 

[cintipam]

OK guys, I started my attempt at low PH margarita wine, and in the spirit of this being a safe place for us beginners to learn I will share my results. First, somehow someway the PH on this batch is approx the same as the end point of the last finished batch. So no way to make a low PH batch. I honestly believe I did add the acid blend as written in the first recipe into that 1st batch, if so then we should see some of the acid fallout over time. Secondly, I really messed up how much sugar to add to make 1.090. I have been spot on on my calcs for the last 5 or 6 batches, so I trusted myself. Now I have sg of 1.125. Luckily I have Lalvin QA23 yeast and it not only is fine for up to 16% alc, it ferms better at lower temps. It says it excels at white wines, so I'll use it instead of D47. I will pay attention to end PH and possible flavor loss that has often been reported at wines of higher alc %. Since the first batch is still disappearing at a steady rate, I don't think I'll bother blending, just saving a sample to compare to batch 2 for the flavor loss test. This has been my recipe so far:

1/8 9 ½ gal Ocean Spray white cranberry 9 limeade concentrates PH was 2.64 prior to sugar addition
2 tbl pectin 1 tbl energizer 21 c sugar 1/4 meta warm bucket
(inverted sugar 2/3 c water w 3 c sugar x7) sg final is 1.125, PH now 2.67
must use Lalvin QA 23 bec alc to 16%, low temp ok . Will do starter 1/9.

Only basic change I did was increasing pectin as I added some extra last time to promote clearing. It worked well. With all the added sugar (and water used to invert it) I have a good 6 plus gallons must.

So I've already learned some stuff. I'm not sure what happened with the sugar, as I used the same formula I'd been using from Mary's recipe. Each 1/2c sugar will raise sg by .10 per gallon. So since my starting sg was 1.020 I needed to raise .70, or 3 1/2 cups per gallon. 3 1/2 c x6 is 21 cups. My only guess is that I read the hydrometer incorrectly. But I'm glad I had the QA23. Higher alc should be fine unless it strips flavor.

Pam in cinti

 

[cintipam]

Wow wow wow on the roses. Very cool that they change colors. Have you guys tried using the hips in anyway?

Do these roses have a strong fragrance? I love the looks, and covet nice rose hips, but I'm probably one of the few humans who dislikes rose aroma.

Pam in cinti

 

[ckvchestnut]

Wow wow wow on the roses. Very cool that they change colors. Have you guys tried using the hips in anyway?

Do these roses have a strong fragrance? I love the looks, and covet nice rose hips, but I'm probably one of the few humans who dislikes rose aroma.

Pam in cinti

Pam... surprisingly no these roses do not have a strong aroma, you'd have to bend down to a bloom and sniff and still very faint... I think most of these hardy types have less fragrance than the prized hybrid teas etc. I planted mine partly for rosehips as well, I have a few climbers and large bush types as well as those hardy hedge ones that look like wild roses... the hips can be used for many things, tea for one but also other medicinal and food purposes, there is a lot of info on the usage of rosehips online I'll be people have used them in wine! I wish I could remember the name of another red morden one I bought last spring... the buds are a true red, the kind you'd picture getting on valentine's day, but after the buds open, the blooms are a marvelous fuschia colour just beautiful!

 

[wineforfun]

I need a proper acid test kit. I can't get the hang of the vintners chemical dropper method one.

I started my Blood Orange wine this weekend using Jack Keller's Orange wine 2 as a base. I'm not gonna lie, it is not impressing me at all yet. The first thing I noticed is the blood oranges have much less juice. I used 50% more than the recipe called for and still can't really taste or smell the orange. I'm hoping the alcohol brings out some semblance of orange.

Recipe:

Orange Wine (2)

8 medium-sized oranges
1 lb chopped or minced golden raisins or sultanas
1 lb 7 oz ripe bananas
3 lbs finely granulated sugar
water to make up one gallon
1/4 tsp grape tannin
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
wine yeast
Put two quarts of water on to boil. Meanwhile, peel the oranges and remove all the white pith (it is bitter and will ruin the wine). Break the oranges into sections and remove all seeds. Drop them in a juicer or a blender and liquefy (you may have to add a cup of water to the blender). Peel and slice bananas and simmer in one pint of water for 20 minutes. In a primary, add chopped or minced raisins (or sultanas), 2-1/2 lbs of the sugar, the orange juice or liquefied orange pulp, and two quarts of boiling water. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Over primary, pour simmering banana slices into nylon straining bag and allow to drip until cool enough to squeeze. Squeeze lightly and then discard banana flesh. Stir in tannin and yeast nutrient and enough water to make up one gallon total. Cover with cloth and set aside to cool. When cooled to room temperature, add pectic enzyme, recover and wait 12 hours. Add wine yeast. Ferment 7 days, add remaining sugar, stir to dissolve, and ferment another 3 days. Rack off sediments into secondary and fit airlock. Rack every 30 days for 3 months. Stabilize and sweeten to taste. After additional 10 days, rack into bottles and set aside one year to age. [Adapted from Brian Leverett's "Winemaking Month by Month"]

Changes I made were; used 12 blood oranges and 2 Texas Navel oranges. I used Red Star Cote Du blancs. I didn't test the SG before adding his recommended sugar and ended up with 1.12. This may end being orange flavored Everclear.

Curious to see how this turns out. I would guess it is going to be light on the flavor. Sure looks good though.
I made an orange juice wine(used premade 100% orange juice from store). I was surprised that it actually cleared. I ran short on topping up on the final racking so I added 5oz. vodka. I also let it sit on dark chocolate for a month and added a little orange extract to it.
Been bottled for a month and haven't tried it yet.

 

[vernsgal]

Each 1/2c sugar will raise sg by .10 per gallon.

Pam in cinti

Looks good Pam.
I think you meant .010? I usually estimate 1 cup= .018 gal but I go to the cup before the number I want, then take a reading . I've been caught too by just going by the numbers.
It might finish a little sweet .But I think it'll still be tastey!

 

[cintipam]

Thanks for the info ckvchestnut. If you think of the name of that fuschia one pls post it. That's a fave color of mine.

Kim, sadly I meant the 1.125. It's just at the bottom of the desert wine range. But since I backsweetened batch one quite a bit, finishing with some sugar would not be a bad thing. Altho with the yeast I chose it could conceivably make it to dry. I will let you all know since the whole point here is to help each other learn.

BTW Kim I like your sugar calc numbers better than the one I had been using. I'm still confused by how I got 21 cups tho. I MUST have read it wrong. (Don't miss my sad attempt at wine puns here.)

Pam in cinti

 

[jamesngalveston]

lori make sure you watch that ferment, with the acid and the low tolerance for stress with the Cote Du blancs u dont want anything to go wrong....
Its not a real strong yeast.