My first batch

[wine_fan]

I just brewed a batch of wine using fresh pomegranates from a friends farm. Please critique my recipe and of course I do have some questions.

6 gallon batch

I used 3 gallons of fresh squeezed pomegranate juice
3 galllons of water
4 100% grape juice concentrate
Gravity of the pomegranates and juice concentrate was 1.072)
dded cane sugar to reach a SG of 1.100 (dissolved in the water after heating it)

I added 6 crushed campden tablets, acid blend, yeast nutrient and tannin and let rest for 24 hours prior to pitching yeast.

This was made 6 days ago and has been fermenting at 70 degrees (controlled) for 5 days now. The gravity is at 1.036 and still chugging along nicely using two packets of Lalvin EC1118.

Now for the questions.

How flawed is my recipe?

What can I expect for a final gravity?

Will this wine benefit from long term aging?

Most importantly what should I have done differently? I can get many more pomegranates for a second batch.

I'm thinking of racking it to my glass secondary this weekend for a few weeks than re-racking to a second glass carboy and letting it sit for a month before I bottle. Is a month sufficient?

Am I missing anything? All advice welcome! So far I have to say that the wine tastes like it will be pretty good so I'm really looking forward to drinking it in a few months or longer.

My apologies for the long post. I wish I joined sooner and look forward to learning as much as I can.

Thanks,

Greg

 

[wine_fan]

I was hoping to get some feedback. Comments on my recipe and process would be very helpful.

One other question. Other than calling this pomegranate wine, what style category do you think it would fall under?

Thanks,
Greg

 

[jpike01]

Hang in there, everything looks o.k. to me but I am almost as green as you are. I would let it ferment until your hydrometer reads 1.000 or less for a few days. Someone with more experience will be along soon I am sure. If it taste good now you most likely on the right track.

 

[Arne]

Your recipe looks ok. I am not familiar with pomengrate juice. Is it strong standing on its own or is it kind of like pear or apple? If it is weak like pear or apple, next time you mite want to use straight juice without water. If you are going to try for long term storage, your starting s.g. was a bit low. You should get it up around 1.085 or so to give you a bit more alcohol by volume. It should ferment down to below 1.000 s.g. and when it stays the same for a few days it is done. Folks on here say 3 days, I usually wait a week or more. Stick it in the secondary, wait for it to clear, then you can stabalize and sweeten if you like. Glad it tastes good, if it tastes good now, it should get really good when the yeast and stuff falls out and it clears. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[jamesngalveston]

I think your recipe is ok...i dont use campden in primary but a lot of people do....
I think I would let it go dry, (.990) and starting with a sg of 1.100
should have a pretty decent abv.
After its dry i would degass, and rack it, and let it clear.
Sorbate if you need.

backsweeten with simple syrup

catagory: home made fruit wine.

 

[wine_fan]

I think your recipe is ok...i dont use campden in primary but a lot of people do....
I think I would let it go dry, (.990) and starting with a sg of 1.100
should have a pretty decent abv.
After its dry i would degass, and rack it, and let it clear.
Sorbate if you need.

backsweeten with simple syrup

catagory: home made fruit wine.

Thanks for the tips. So when I backsweeten I was reading that getting the gravity back up to around 1.008 or so, but was planning on just doing a few points at a time until i get the sweetness to my liking.. My question is how much sorbate should I add and what is the procedure for adding the sorbate? Boil first? Should I add the sorbate then bottle right away after back sweetening?

Thanks again,

Greg

 

[Winenoob66]

Once you FG is down to 1.000 and stays at the same gravity reading for a few days then you can add sulphite and sorbate do this by just taking a cup of water and mixing them in according to label directions then rack on to them in a different carboy, Wait a few days then back sweeten by making a simple syrup, after backsweetening re attach airlock and give it a few more days to make sure you still have no airlock activity. then bottle

 

[cmason1957]

The package of sorbate gives you dosage instructions, generally it is 1/2 tsp / gallon. You add it after the wine is mostly clear. I mix it with some water and then stir it really well.

When you add sugar, stop before you think it is as sweet as you want and then try it again the next day. It has a habit of getting sweeter overnight.

 

[wine_fan]

Your recipe looks ok. I am not familiar with pomengrate juice. Is it strong standing on its own or is it kind of like pear or apple? If it is weak like pear or apple, next time you mite want to use straight juice without water. If you are going to try for long term storage, your starting s.g. was a bit low. You should get it up around 1.085 or so to give you a bit more alcohol by volume. It should ferment down to below 1.000 s.g. and when it stays the same for a few days it is done. Folks on here say 3 days, I usually wait a week or more. Stick it in the secondary, wait for it to clear, then you can stabalize and sweeten if you like. Glad it tastes good, if it tastes good now, it should get really good when the yeast and stuff falls out and it clears. Good luck with it, Arne.

My OG was 1.100 so the water was added to reach 6 gallons and too dissolve the sugar prior to adding it to the primary. Pomegranate juice to me tastes like very sweet cranberry juice mixed with strawberry juice. It's actually very good which is why I thought it would make a very tasty wine.

Thanks for the info ont he secondary. I was going to just rack it this weekend regardless of what the gravity is and let it finish in the secondary with an airlock,

 

[wine_fan]

You guys are awesome. I appreciate all the input.

 

[Arne]

Thanks for the info ont he secondary. I was going to just rack it this weekend regardless of what the gravity is and let it finish in the secondary with an airlock,[/QUOTE]

That will work, but I would check the gravity and have it down to 1.010 or so before I racked it into my secondary. If the gravity is higher and you rack it into a carboy of some kind, you stand a chance of finding out what a wine volcano is. What happens is you put it into a basicly enclosed container, mix some oxygen in when racking and it goes into a violent ferment. Next thing you get to clean up a wine mess. Doesn't happen every time, but a lot of us have seen it and it isn't too much fun to take care of afterwards. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[Rodnboro]

With a starting S.G. of 1.100 and if it finishes around .995, you will have between 13% and 14% ABV. This will probably need to be aged for a while. Try another batch starting your S.G. at 1.090 and see which you like the best. This site is great for advice. Good luck and enjoy.

 

[wine_fan]

That will work, but I would check the gravity and have it down to 1.010 or so before I racked it into my secondary. If the gravity is higher and you rack it into a carboy of some kind, you stand a chance of finding out what a wine volcano is. What happens is you put it into a basicly enclosed container, mix some oxygen in when racking and it goes into a violent ferment. Next thing you get to clean up a wine mess. Doesn't happen every time, but a lot of us have seen it and it isn't too much fun to take care of afterwards. Good luck with it, Arne.

Good points. I know with my beer I always wait until I'm done fermentiong to transfer to a keg or secondary to avoid the "volcano". I'll do the same thing here, especially since I want zero airspace in my 5 gallon glass carboy while things settle out. I'm going to transfer to a second glass carboy and add my sorbate and backsweeten after it clears up. I think I need to add campden tablets again as well when i do the sorbate and back sweeten.

Originaly Posted by Rodnboro
With a starting S.G. of 1.100 and if it finishes around .995, you will have between 13% and 14% ABV. This will probably need to be aged for a while. Try another batch starting your S.G. at 1.090 and see which you like the best. This site is great for advice. Good luck and enjoy.

I agree. I think I went way too high on my OG. I was even thinking that starting as low as 1.085 on the next batch (if I do this one again). I may dillute with some water to get the ABV down to 12% after I back sweeten and before I bottle.

 

[Rodnboro]

If you have more pomegranate juice, mix your sugar with it to back sweeten. This will dilute your abv and sweeten without hurting the flavor. The only problem is judging the amount. You might like the higher abv, but I've found fruit wines to be better around 10%. Straight pomegranate sounds good. Good luck.

 

[wine_fan]

If you have more pomegranate juice, mix your sugar with it to back sweeten. This will dilute your abv and sweeten without hurting the flavor. The only problem is judging the amount. You might like the higher abv, but I've found fruit wines to be better around 10%. Straight pomegranate sounds good. Good luck.

I'm down to 1.002 right now. I did some playing around with a hydro sample and back sweetened to 1.010 and it tasted delicious. This wine is obviously very young but it tastes surprisingly good and I think once the flavors meld together more and the alcohol flavor mellows over time I'll have a very nice enjoyable fruit wine to drink. I still have about 50 pounds of pomegranates left and can get as many more as I want so I'll take your advice and back sweeten with some pomegranate juice vice cane sugar. I use Promash for beer brewing and have found the calculators very helpful with figuring out gravity adjustments. I may rack to my glass carboy today.