Mayhaw Wine

[T-Boy]

Not sure if many of you know what a mayhaw is: Louisiana Mayhaw Association I made a sparkling wine out of a gallon of the juice last year and it came out perfect, just a hint of sweetness and almost rose in color. I located someone locally who has a couple of trees and sells the frozen juice. Started a 2 gallon batch late Saturday generally following the recipe you can find on the linked site. Used EC 1118 last year and that was my intention again this year. Discovered when it was too late to back out of making wine that I had none and instead had to use Lalvin RC212 Wine yeast because that is the only wine yeast I had and because the only place where I can buy yeast locally had no yeast at all. Thus I was concerned my 2 gallons of wonderful smelling mayhaw juice was in jeopardy. Ultimately this yeast took off like a rocket ship in less than 24 hours and is going like gangbusters. I tried 2 new things when starting this wine which may account for this: 1. Used Go Ferm Protect Evolution following the instructions; and 2. Did not use an air lock and instead used more of an "open" fermentation. If you go to E C Kraus' site, this technique is promoted there. I used a 3 gallon BrewDemon fermenter. I plugged the place where the bung goes and covered the bigger opening with cheese cloth. The temperature where this is fermenting is around 72 degrees. One of the things I have struggled with brewing smaller batches of wine and beer is hitting the expected final gravity. Hopefully I am on to something!!!!!!

 

[T-Boy]

Not. Can't get it to budge past 1.020 Any suggestions? The OG was 1.090

 

[Rice_Guy]

* check the pH to see if it is below 3.0, yeast do not like low pH. You can raise the pH by about 0.2 units by pulling out CO2 with a vacuum. Unfortunately you are late in the process to start modifying the pH. ,,,,, do you know what the pH of your juice was? TA? and the TA of the must or how much water you put in, ,,,, unfortunately all I know about mayhaws is ex wife stories from EasTex. ,,, Would like to sample them now that I am doing wine.
* 1118 is a vigorous yeast and it is worth reinoculating with it (or Red Star Pasteur Champaign). The way to do this would be do a slurry starter so you build up your yeast population.
* if the acid is high it could be a well balanced wine right now at 1.020

 

[T-Boy]

Thanks. All I have to test with are the strips. Accurate? Thinking I will invest in a ph meter since I will likely be making more fruit wines. Curious as to how to make a slurry?

 

[mikewatkins727]

Thanks. All I have to test with are the strips. Accurate? Thinking I will invest in a ph meter since I will likely be making more fruit wines. Curious as to how to make a slurry?

Add yeast to warm water (95°-105°) and wait 4 hrs then add ¼ cup of water. Wait 4 more hrs then add ¼ cup of wine must, repeat again in 4 hrs. Next 4 hrs add ½ cup of wine must. By this time you should have a robust colony of yeast. Time to pitch it.

 

[Rice_Guy]

pH paper is OK with light color juice, after all the reference point is that we used to taste to say what the acidity is
fyi from another post, , if you have a pH meter and 0.2 normal sodium hydroxide, a few syringes you have a TA set up

Thanks. All I have to test with are the strips. Accurate? Thinking I will invest in a ph meter since I will likely be making more fruit wines. Curious as to how to make a slurry?