New to Wine Making - Problems with Fruit Wines

[sconnie]

I'm new to wine making and this is my first post! I have made several batches in the past couple of years; I have had great luck with two of the 6 gal kit wine batches I have made with delicious results!

However, I have tried my luck with batches from scratch using local fruits (strawberry, concord grape, cranberry, and) and the results are less than stellar (ie. revolting!). From what I can tell from other posts, I am coming up with somewhere between a rubbery & nail polish (ethyl acetate) smell with a terrible tasting end result. I have taken great care to follow successful recipes and follow sanitation procedures with great care. I am using 3-piece airlocks and always keeping the carboys topped up. I am not sure where I am going wrong and I am starting to get discouraged with the fruit wines.

Possible areas where I think I might be going wrong are:
-Using city water
-Varying temps in wine room (50's in winter, 80's+ in summer)
-Every batch ferments to very dry (.990)
-Using sanitizing solution in airlock (not vodka or other OH)

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Julie]

Hi sconnie, welcome to winemaking talk. can you post up your recipe and your procedures? This will help us in helping you on figuring what went wrong with your wines.

 

[sconnie]

I have been using recipe's from the "Winemaker's Recipe Handbook" booklet. Here is the strawberry for example:

6 gallon batch
-21# fruit
-42 pints H20
-12# sugar
-6t acid blend
-1.5t tannin
-3t enzyme
-6t nutrient
-6 campden, crushed
-1 packet Cuvee yeast

SG at pitch - 1.090
1 month later at rack #2 - SG - 0.990

I always start by mixing up a batch of One Step solution and then thoroughly sanitize all equipment that will be used (generally soak, fully submerged in solution 30 sec-1 min). Mix all ingredients, wait 24 hrs, pitch yeast. I keep primary covered with airlock until SG is under 1.030, (usually closer to 1.000), and then rack off sediment to glass secondary and top up (if necessary) and airlock it. I often rack again 4-6 weeks after that to reduce sediment and then additionally as necessary to clear. Most are ending up with the rancid smell/taste 6-12 months after the first rack into the glass secondary.

Thanks!

 

[peaches9324]

I have been using recipe's from the "Winemaker's Recipe Handbook" booklet. Here is the strawberry for example:

6 gallon batch
-21# fruit
-42 pints H20
-12# sugar
-6t acid blend
-1.5t tannin
-3t enzyme
-6t nutrient
-6 campden, crushed
-1 packet Cuvee yeast

SG at pitch - 1.090
1 month later at rack #2 - SG - 0.990

I always start by mixing up a batch of One Step solution and then thoroughly sanitize all equipment that will be used (generally soak, fully submerged in solution 30 sec-1 min). Mix all ingredients, wait 24 hrs, pitch yeast. I keep primary covered with airlock until SG is under 1.030, (usually closer to 1.000), and then rack off sediment to glass secondary and top up (if necessary) and airlock it. I often rack again 4-6 weeks after that to reduce sediment and then additionally as necessary to clear. Most are ending up with the rancid smell/taste 6-12 months after the first rack into the glass secondary.

Thanks!

are you adding a dose of kmeta - potassium metabisulfite ? You need to add a dose of kmeta to preserve it before ageing. A 1/4 tsp every 3 months or so. And I wouldn't use so much water in the recipe a fruit wine is light enough as it is. And you don't need that much nutrient up front hope this helps with your next batch

 

[bkisel]

Welcome to the forum!

I've only made a few batches of fruit wines, I mostly do kits, and all have been from the Dragon Blood recipe found on this forum. All the berry variations turned out great and the one peach was okay but nothing to write home about.

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi Sconnie. My one cent is that you may be experiencing several different problems

One problem may be the water... I don't necessarily mean that the water may contain such chemicals as chlorine... I mean that you may be diluting all the flavor from your fruit. Take the recipe you provided for strawberry wine. Strawberries themselves have very subtle taste. Your recipe calls for about 3.5 lbs in a gallon of water. Try an experiment and take 7 ounces of strawberries and blend them in a pint of water (I think that is the same as 3.5 lbs in 1 gallon). Taste the liquid. My guess is that it will taste so bland that you would choose not to drink it. So why would a wine made with the same amount of flavor taste better? In my opinion, the only wines that you need to add water are wines made from flowers (elderflower, hibiscus) or nuts (coffee or chocolate) or fruit like bananas. Soft fruit or tropical fruit or fruit like apples and pears - I think - should be used for the juice that they contain. And that might mean using closer to 10 lbs of strawberries with no addition of water.

This doesn't speak to any rancid smell or taste.. which could be the result of stressed yeast. Yeast under stress can produce smells like burnt matches or rotten eggs, but rancid smells I associate with decomposing fats and protein, not fruit...

 

[wineforfun]

Have you backsweetened any of these? If not, doing so will help the taste tremendously. Running those fruits dry will leave a very "blah" taste.

Can't help you with the smell more than what has already been written.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Nail polish smell is contamination from aerobic yeasts, your camden may be old, I suggest you buy some fresh potassium metabisulfite powder and use it instead, much easier to dissolve. You may also be allowing to much headspace, make sure to top up to keep air away from the wine. WVMJ

 

[salcoco]

I would visit http://morewinemaking.com/content/winemanuals and download the red wine guide for wine making. visit the pages associated with feeding your yeast. It will suggest hydrolyzing the yeast with Go-Germ and then adding Fermaid-K during the fermentation . this will provide the adequate amount of nutrient to the yeast. Also if you water is safe to dring without any odors it is fine for wine making.
I would also suggest purchasing an ph meter and acid testing kit to measure your required acid addition instead of just adding amounts from a recipe.

 

[mhopkins]

Welcome to the forum!
I've only made a few batches of fruit wines, I mostly do kits, and all have been from the Dragon Blood recipe found on this forum. All the berry variations turned out great and the one peach was okay but nothing to write home about.

@bkisel Did you use lemon juice in your peach recipe? Willing to share your recipe? Thanks, Mark

 

[tradowsk]

Are you using a plastic fermenter at some point? If so, check for scratches. Sometimes when plastic buckets or carboys get scratched, it provides a protective place for bacteria to hide. Even if you soak them in sanitizer, it may not get all of them. I would check all your equipment to male sure everything looks okay.

 

[Ignoble Grape]

Concur with the adding additional camden tablets throughout the secondary ferment. I re-dose every 3 months and re-rack when I do. I also boil my city water before adding it to my fruit batches.