June 2014 Wine of the Month Club

[Jericurl]

I can't believe it's already June!

If this is your first time seeing one of these threads, feel free to jump in and join us!

This is open for anyone to join at any time in June by making a 1 gallon experimental batch.

Post your recipe and step by step instructions. We love pictures, so any you take will be greatly appreciated.

We hope that at the end of the month you will give us a breakdown on what you learned, what you could have done better, and what went well.

I will post a summary of who participated and wine type in the beginning post.
Then we move on to the next month's club.

In June 2015, we take our June 2014 bottles out for a taste test and post our final impressions in this thread. Of course, you don't have to wait until June of next year, but it's a good idea to give all of these wines a chance to mature. If yours turns out great, post it in the recipes section.

If not, feel free to open it up for discussion with the group so we can hopefully figure out what happened.

Remember, we are all learning and this is just one way to do it and have a little fun at the same time. Why just one gallon? Because it's an experiment! It may turn out wretched! And pouring one gallon down the sink hurts a lot less than 6 gallons.

1. The Rayway.....Dandelion Mead

2. Vernsgal.....BlueRooiBoos Wine

3. BRGriffith....Black Cherry/Blueberry

4. Winesleeper.....Strawberry Wine

5. ksvet06.....Mulberry Wine

6. Jericurl.....Cactus Flower Wine

7. Stressbaby.....Elderflower Wine

8. Jericurl..... Skyrim themed Wine (Elderberries and Dragon's Blood)

Buffalo Frenchy, I'm not sure if you did the maple wine or not. If you did, let me know and I will add it to the summary.

 

[sour_grapes]

I can't believe it's already June!

There is a good reason for your incredulity! June is almost a week away!

 

[Jericurl]

Yes, yes, I should have put an "almost" in there.

I'm already gearing up for my June wine so I decided to go ahead and start the thread.
I had to jump on this one right now. The window is very small and I'm between west Texas rainstorms, so the timing was perfect. We'll just let this be a placeholder til next Sunday, lol.

 

[the_rayway]

Way to go Jeri! If I could remember where I put my brain (or my winemaking gear) I would be sooo happy.

School makes you stupid.

On the up side, I'm attempting to collect some flowers for another spring flower wine. If I get enough, and have a few minutes to toss everything together - I might actually be able to participate this month!

 

[Jericurl]

Ingredients are currently hanging out in the freezer.

June Wine will be Cactus blossom. I'll be following Keller's recipe, I just hope I have two quarts of petals once I'm done cutting, etc.

 

[the_rayway]

Wait. You have enough cactuses to do this? You have cactuses?!? (Cacti?) Wow.

I've currently got 1 litre of dandelions in the freezer from the last couple of days, I'm hoping to get another half to full litre to get going.

 

[Jericurl]

Oh heavens no!

In my family, if you find cactus growing on your land, you kill it with extreme prejudice.

Around here though, I can just pick any country road, drive for 15 minutes and have all the cactus I want.
We had a storm rolling in, so I didn't have much time to gather before we had to head home.

I also didn't bring a knife that was sharp enough to just cut the petals off the cactus pads, so I had to use tongs and twist off the entire blossom and pod base. They smell lovely. And they are full of bugs to prove it. FULL. I'm going to do what I can to shake off as many bugs as possible, but I'm wondering if I should use boiling water and campden as well on the petals.

 

[the_rayway]

Wow, I've only ever seen cactus growing in tiny pots at my parent's house. And they did not flower.

Give 'em a good shake, leave the bucket outside so some can escape, and think of the rest as 'seasoning'

 

[Xandra]

While I won't be able to participate in June's Wine of the Month, perhaps another time I'll be able to, but I've got a question... In a month's time, what would one actually be able to share, since the wine would still be sitting in secondary probably awaiting its first racking? 4 weeks after starting it, I can't imagine I'd even have done its first racking...? Please help me understand what kinds of things one would share as results or insights after 4 weeks? As I said... I'm super confused. Ummm, and embarrassed for having to ask, as well. :/

 

[Stressbaby]

Xandra,
Good point, I agree, I don't have much at all to say after just one month. That is why the updates are important. Some of us try to go back to the older threads and update them with the status of the wine.

 

[the_rayway]

Hey Xandra,
It's more that we start it that month, for the one year mark of tasting; and primary fermentation should be finished by then. There is a lot to be learned just by that (yikes, check out my fails in previous months), but Stressbaby is correct, we like to go back and include important updates as they happen.

Please do join us! It`s a lot of fun, and quite educational.

 

[the_rayway]

Score! Score! Score!

I've got nearly 2 L of dandelion heads in the freezer, ready to go when I have the time...but then! Today I was at a farmer's market during lunch and right there in front of me is a guy selling dandelion honey. DANDELION HONEY!!!!

Dandelions + Dandelion Honey = Awesome.
(Can I get extra points for this? Lol.)

 

[the_rayway]

Got it started while making supper today, here is the proposed recipe:

Dandelion Mead
- 1.5 litres dandelion flowers, with a bit of green, but no stems - steeped in boiling water with .5Lbs Golden raisins, washed and chopped.
- 1 banana, simmered with water and one Christmas spice tea bag.
- Dandelion honey to 1.095
- Water to just over 1 gallon
- Juice from 2 lemons
- 1 Campden Tablet
- Yeast nutrient & energizer
- Yeast TBD, thinking ICV-D254 (butterscotch, cream, smoke, hazelnut)
- American oak cubes (just a few) in secondary

So far I did the flowers & raisins steeped, bananas and tea simmered (trying to use the tea for tannins), honey added, and tossed into the bucket to cool. Campden will be added tonight, and hopefully the yeast tomorrow.

I plan to pull out the dandelions out on Saturday at the latest. I've heard that more than 3 days in the must and they start to get funky. Raisins and banana for body.

I should have just barely enough honey to backsweeten a touch if needed at the end.

The dandelion honey is dark gold, with a tea-type flavour. It's not terribly sweet tasting, and slightly nutty. Totally different than I had imagined in my head. But it definitely smells like dandelions

There are no pictures as my phone was stolen a few weeks ago - and it was my only working camera. I'll see if hubby will allow me to use his for a few shots as I go along.

 

[vernsgal]

Hi guys I've missed a few but hopefully with the move done I can stay on track with my wines.I'm hoping to do up my wine for this month next week but here is the planned recipe ( I had to empty my freezers for move so no frozen fruit on hand)
BlueRooiBoos 2 Gal. (I'm making 2 gal. so I have for top ups)
-2 bottles blueberry concentrate
-1 bottle grape concentrate
-2 tsp acid blend
-2 tsp bentonite
-50 grams rooiboos tea
-2 grams fermk
-sugar
-blueberry fpak
-water
-yeast Lalvin 71B
I may add some oakmor in primary and/or raisons. I'll post pics when I make it up I'm excited to get back at it! lol

 

[the_rayway]

Woot! Welcome back Kim!!

My dandelion is nearly finished with primary and smells like :< Pretty much in that sequence. Kind of like my lilac did last year...

 

[vernsgal]

Lol. I had the same with my beet!

 

[buffalofrenchy]

I was going to skip this month and wait till next month to make Lavender Mead as my parents are coming from France to visit next month and will bring Lavender Honey. However as I was looking for Mead recipe I saw a Maple Mead recipe which seems easy enough so that could be my June wine instead of skipping.

1.5 Qt of Maple syrup
1 tsp of yeast nutrient
Champagne yeast

 

[BRGriffith]

I'm in!

Here's the recipe I'll be trying:

-1 Gallon Black Cherry Concord Juice
-1 Quart Just Blueberry Juice
-3 Cups Sugar
-1 Cup American Oak (Toasted @ 425F Till Desired Level)
-1 Teaspoon Black Peppercorns (Maybe A Little Less)
-25 Raisins
-1 Pack Pasteur Red Yeast
-SG : 1.105
-ABV : 13.7%

The first attachment is all my ingredients. I put the oak in my oven and toasted it up very nice (sorry I don't have a picture of that) and then put all my ingredients into my custom made 2 Gal primary. Stirred everything vigorously and checked the hydrometer reading. It was right where I wanted it, so I gave it a taste. You can't quite taste as much of the blueberry as I planned, but we'll see how it is after the ferment is over.

Checked in on it this morning while stirring again. Everything looks great and the fermentation kicked off with no problems!

Thanks for reading!

 

[winesleeper]

Strawberry Wine

I started my June wine the first week of June. But just now getting the time to post what I have started. I laugh when I read the first post every month about making an experimental batch of wine. I have been on this forum for just over a year and every batch of wine that I have made has been an experimental batch of wine for me. I’m starting to get a collection of gallon bottles with airlocks in my basement closet. My wife just looks at me and asks if I’m having fun yet. She loves strawberries so this month’s wine is going to be strawberries. No, not cactus blossoms wine, which I don’t think there is a cactus farm here in Kansas. No, not dandelion wine, which we spray a try to kill every dandelion in Kansas. Just plain old simple strawberry wine.
Here is my plan for one gallon:

4 lbs fresh cut, cleaned then frozen strawberries
1 lb ripe bananas
2 lbs white sugar (Adjust for starting SG of 1.090)
1/16 tsp potassium metabisulphate
1/8 tsp liquid pectic enzyme
1/4 tsp tannin
1 tsp acid blend
1 tsp yeast nutrient
½ tsp yeast energizer
Spring water to 1 1/4 gallons
1 packet EC1118 yeast
½ tsp potassium sorbate (Stabilizing)
1/16 tsp potassium metabisulphate (Stabilizing)
1 tsp sparkolloid (Clarifier)

 

[the_rayway]

I started my June wine the first week of June. But just now getting the time to post what I have started. I laugh when I read the first post every month about making an experimental batch of wine. I have been on this forum for just over a year and every batch of wine that I have made has been an experimental batch of wine for me. I’m starting to get a collection of gallon bottles with airlocks in my basement closet. My wife just looks at me and asks if I’m having fun yet. She loves strawberries so this month’s wine is going to be strawberries. No, not cactus blossoms wine, which I don’t think there is a cactus farm here in Kansas. No, not dandelion wine, which we spray a try to kill every dandelion in Kansas. Just plain old simple strawberry wine.

Do I hear a hint of sarcasm here? Lol!
I am also hoping to do a strawberry this year, all-juice from field-picked ones. Looking forward to hearing how this comes along!