May 2014 Wine of the Month Club

[aryoung1980]

I hope no one minds that I'm jumping in on this thread. I made my first dandelion wine on May 11th. My recipe was as follows:

200g dandelion, petals only
20g clementine peel,
1 can OJ concentrate
1 can white grape concentrate
5.75lbs white sugar
2 lemons, juiced
1lb corn sugar
30g toasted oak powder
Super B yeast

This was for 4 gallons at 1.092. I started to ferment in the low-60s but raised the temp to 72F on day 7 and racked to secondary on day 11.

I forgot about the wine and on day 35 I was at 0.992. I racked into a 3 gallon carboy with k-meta. Now it sits until clear.


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[aryoung1980]

I'm still waiting on the dandelion to drop bright but it sure tastes great.


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[the_rayway]

I'm still waiting on the dandelion to drop bright but it sure tastes great.


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Excellent! I'm also surprised at how good my dandelion is tasting. Especially after all of the comments I've seen about dandelion tasting like nasty.

Keep us posted!

 

[aryoung1980]

The dandelion is nice and clear now. I moved the carboy to my bottling station. I'll let it settle there for a week and bottle. Looking forward to drinking a glass while starting another batch in May 2015.


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[winesleeper]

Welch's Green Chile Wine Update

Bottled my wine at the 6 month mark and ended up with (5) 750 ml bottles and a very small taste.
Starting SG 1.090
Finished SG .998
Back sweetened with simple syrup
Final SG 1.008 after back sweetening. But the SG was 1.014 at the time of bottling.
TA: .75%
PH: 3.6-3.8
ABV: 12%

Could not taste the roasted green chile flavor, but it had a little burn after you swallowed, which I liked. Next time I will use more green chile’s to get more flavor. Will try a bottle in a month and try to keep a bottle for the one year mark.

 

[aryoung1980]

Bottled my batch of dandelion. I netted 14.8 bottles. I'll probably drink the 0.8 of a bottle when my brother visits from Connecticut in a couple weeks.

 

[aryoung1980]

The dandelion wine was a hit over the holidays. I won't open another bottle until May; I think a bit more age will do wonders. This will definitely be something I make again.

 

[the_rayway]

Hey @aryoung1980 that's excellent. Can you please give a more detailed description of the taste? I'm very interested in what you're getting

 

[aryoung1980]

Hey @aryoung1980 that's excellent. Can you please give a more detailed description of the taste? I'm very interested in what you're getting

I honestly cannot. I'll ask my brother for a description...if he can remember.

All that comes to mind was that it didn't taste as dry as I anticipated with a 0.992 FG.

 

[Jericurl]

Three little ladies, all in a row.....

The gewurtztraminer was a bit ...meh...so I added zest from two grapefruits and 4 cut up nectarines to it.

The other two are good...still alcohol sharp but very floral.

 

[Medic8106]

I'm getting ready to backsweeten and bottle my dandelion wine soon. Anyone have any experience on how sweet this wine should be? I don't like a dry wine so I have to sweeten it, just don't know how if it's usually sweet or dry and how far to go.

 

[the_rayway]

Sounds like time for bench testing!

Measure out, say, 250mL of wine and split it 200ml & 50mL. Add measured doses of sugar or honey tp the 200mL until it's where it tastes good to you (use the other bit as a control). Measure the S.G. and add the required amount of sugar to the rest of the batch. I always shoot for a few points lower than my test as it tends to taste sweeter after it has aged a bit more.

'Sweet' is totally subjective, so it's always best to go with what tastes best to you.

 

[Medic8106]

Well I sweetened the dandelion today to 1.020 which was around 1 cup of sugar per gallon, I have two gallons total. I did try it dry and didn't care for it as I don't like dry wine. With the sugar, it brought out a different taste, almost like a honey taste to it. I really like it after sweetening. Few months in the bottle should help. Will bottle in a week or so and will open the first bottle in May. I wanted to get it done and bottled to determine if I'm going to spend some time picking more flowers this spring!

 

[the_rayway]

Well done Nathan! I really need to start moving my butt on mine

 

[Medic8106]

10 bottles of dandelion wine bottled! It looks and tastes wonderful. I think I will be doing this again in the spring!

 

[the_rayway]

Don't forget to post any good recipes to the recipe section of the forum! And it looks like this was a win!

 

[Medic8106]

My finished dandelion wine bottles with labels and shrink tops. I think it turned out well.

 

[Jericurl]

That looks awesome!

You guys are so inspiring.

This almost makes me want to make dandelion wine. Even though it looks like an insane amount of work.

 

[aryoung1980]

I can't believe May is almost over. I need to put a bottle of the dandelion in the fridge and report back with the results.

How did everyone else's wines turn out?

 

[Medic8106]

Just finished #2 bottle of dandelion wine last night. Still have 8 left in stock. I think mine turned out great. It has great body and taste. I haven't had anyone else try it though... Hey as long as I like it...