LONG night of winemaking!

[MedPretzel]

Woohoo!


I'm currently waiting for my beet wine to be filtered, so I thought I'd get to the computer instead of waiting in front of it.

It was a long night of winemaking. Well, wine-racking and organizing. I racked peach, Cab Franc, pumpkin, marigold. Afterwards, I stirred the beegeesus out of the cab franc, pumpkin and apple. Before filtering the beet wine, I stirred and stirred and stirred. When all is said and done, I should be able to bottle (next week maybe, maybe the week after that) about 105 bottles!!!

I'll let you know if I'm still alive after that!

 

[Hippie]

Wow! You go girl! How is the peach?

 

[MedPretzel]

I hate it. But I still have hope. It's been in the carboy since about february, so I hope it starts looking clearer soon. I want to free up some carboys. The taste is very young, almost like green wood, if I had ever tasted it.(but I haven't) The peach smell is definitely there, but it's a lot fainter than I had originally had. That makes me sad. I had a handful of oak chippies in there for about a month, and I took them out yesterday.


All in all, I think this one shows promise. A lot better than the sauerkraut/cabbage wine I made 2 years ago (still ahven't opened that bottle!).

 

[MedPretzel]

I added sparkeloid to the peach yesterday. I hope that it will be clearing sooner than on its own.





If not, I still have that packet of SUPERKLEER waiting. I'm so impatient!

 

[MedPretzel]

Well, I've started 2 more 5 gallon batches today, and one 3 gallon batch. I need to get the freezer ready for the fall "harvest!"


I started my lilac wine - 5 gallons of it. Yay!


Hard Lemonade - we'll see how the fermentation kicks in.


And I started my "Everything in the freezer and basement must be made MUST" wine. It contains:
<UL>
<LI>Chrysanthemums (frozen)
<LI>Rose Hips (dried)
<LI>Hibiscus (dried)
<LI>Elderberries (dried)
<LI>Lavender (dried)</LI>[/list]


We will see how that one turns out. The smell is sure interesting, I have to say!!!! I just thought I'd throw everything together and see what happens. 12 pounds of sugar, 72B yeast for both batches. Both are 5 gallons.


Well, just thought I'd keep you all posted.


MartinaEdited by: MedPretzel

 

[Hippie]

The Chryroshibeldlav sounds the best!

 

[MedPretzel]

Hahahahahaha! Watch out, you might even get a bottle one day!

 

[Hippie]

Great! I will give them the same patience and TLC as the others.

 

[MedPretzel]

You are nicer to my wines than I am!!!

 

[MedPretzel]

Update:





I racked the peach, the marigold and pumpkin wines today. There was some sediment (but not much - the pictures fibbed a little) in all but the pumpkin. The marigold wine is clearing nicely, and the taste is still way hot. The pumpkin turned out to be an extremely sweet wine. The last 2 weeks, it has been shooting off little bubbles, but I think it is probably CO2.
<UL>
<LI>The peach? Well.... it's clearing a little, and there was some sediment, but very little. It really smelled peachy, and I think it has potential to become a good wine. We will see.</LI>
<LI>The tea wine is just going to have to sit there for a while. I added oak chippies into it last week, so 2 more months in the carboy, and then I don't care, I'm bottling it.

</LI>
<LI>The hard lemonade finally took off. I can't wait til it's finished! I will bottle them only in beer bottles this time. I have a bottle-deficiency again, but the beer ones are plenty. It is in a carboy now, but I left plenty of airspace for the time being. I've made a little more, so I have plenty to top off with when the initial fermentation has died down a little.</LI>
<LI>The Everything MUST is almost at SG 0.990 - not bad! But it's still bubbling away like mad. It's a beautiful dark pink color. I'm excited to see how that one turned out. I put it also into the secondary, and love watching the airlock go crazy!</LI>
<LI>The Lilac wine is just not looking good to me. I'm very disappointed in the color so far. The beautiful purple color of the petals turned a brown color that isn't appropriate to describe here. I just hope the taste is okay. I put it in the carboy today andtopped this one off with some left-over apple wine. (I assume it's going to be the same color or similar at least). </LI>
<LI>My blueberry wine is giving me problems. I used Lalvin 72B-1122 yeast, and it's not starting to ferment. I have checked the SG, which is good (1.100) and have stirred the must quite a bit to oxygenate it. I've currently started a yeast starter for this one, and will hope for the best. I've invested so much money in this one, that it BETTER get it's butt in gear and ferment.</LI>[/list]


Well, there's my update.

I will try to post pictures soon.


In the freezer, I've got day lily petals for 5 gallons, Peppermint for 5 gallons, and the chrysanthemums are starting to come into bloom here in Ohio. The rain we've been getting made them grow like the dickens!

Martina

 

[MedPretzel]

Udate again:
<UL>
<LI>Racked blueberry into secondary. Could wait no longer. SG: 1.040. End volume (so much for me being a scientist!): 7.25 gallons.

Hope it doesn't turn out too thin.</LI>
<LI>Pumpkin has died down from whatever ailment it had.</LI>
<LI>Peach is sitting there, just peachy as can be.</LI>
<LI>Chamomile, ditto.</LI>
<LI>Hard lemonade: topped off.</LI>
<LI>Everything MUST: topped off and the fermentation has slowed down tremendously.</LI>
<LI>Lilac: kinda doin' it's thing. Topped off with apple wine. Fermentation is slowing down.</LI>[/list]

 

[Hippie]

That's alot of blueberry wine! If it seems thin in the end, all you can do is sweeten it a little with some juice! Sounds yummy to me! If you sweeten it enough with juice, you could end up with 8 gallons!!! Yee-Haww!!!

 

[MedPretzel]

Update again:
<UL>
<LI>Racked blueberry.SG: 0.990. Tastes hot, but not bad.
<LI>Chamomile, still in carboy. I don't feel like touching it. It has no sediment. I didn't even smell it this time.
<LI>Everything MUSTacked.It tastes pretty good, cleared outvery well,but the smell isa little too much of lavender.

<LI>Lilac: kinda doin' it's thing. Clearing nicely. Racked today, and will see where it goes. It is quite sweet for my tastes, but not bad.</LI>
<LI>Mead Surprise: well, this one is the first mead I've ever made. I got the recipe from another forum, and it tastes a little too much like orange rind for my tastes. And it's still very sweet. I racked this one for the first time today (after about a month!).</LI>
<LI>Chardonnay Kit: racked. It can now bulk age until I'm good and ready (tomorrow?). It's very pretty yellow, and it smells pretty good.</LI>
<LI>Daylily: Just doin' it's thing. Nothing really to mention. Lots of action in the airlock.</LI>[/list]

 

[kaizen]

could you taste the honey through the suprise? on the raspberry I can't taste the honey yet. too harsh.

 

[MedPretzel]

all I taste is sweet.

 

[kaizen]

type of honey? how long has it been in the carboy? add sugar? what? how? when? why?

 

[kaizen]

sorry, I forgot:



where?????

 

[kaizen]

what the where is for i have no idea. it just sounded good.

 

[MedPretzel]

Well, considering this was my first try at a mead, I used the store-bought clover honey - 9 pounds for the 1 gallon batch. It has been in the carboy for about 6 weeks. No sugar was added. It is in the basement (to answer your where question!). Why? I have no idea. Just sounded good.





Orange rinds are in there, and some spices.

 

[masta]

9lbs for a gallon....no wonder it is sweet!

What was your starting specific gravity?