New Wine Maker in Western PA

[rhythmsteve]

Hello everyone I am a new maker from Western Pennsylvania and I would just like to introduce myself to the community, currently these are the wines I have going right now.....

Its dandelion season here and thought I would do some of that since they are plentiful in my area....

Batch 1- In secondary stage

2 gallon water
2 cups fresh clementine orange juice
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
* added grated rind to mix as well
1 cup dried dates (heard this will add body)
1/2 cup honey
12 cups dandelion petals
2 TBS ground clove
1 TBS ground ginger
3 Lbs sugar
1 packet fruit wine yeast

Brix @ secondary= 20
Alc %= 10.5%
TW= 1.080

* this batch has been in my secondary fermenter sonce 5/2/11 and seems to be slowing down now, will wait another week and re-test and rack into other container

Batch 2 - In Secondary stage

1 1/2 gallon water
1/2 gallon white grape juice concentrate
3 Lbs sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 cups dried white raisin, sweet cherry, and cranberry
10 cups dandelion petals
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 TBS ground clove
1 TBS ground ginger
1 packet wine yeast

Brix= 19.2
Alc %= 12.1 %
TW= 1.090

after a few days in the secondary with the air lock fermentation seems to have sped up a lot, and has been steady since 5/5/11, will wait 2 more weeks to rack into seperate container

* any thoughts, questions, or advise please feel free to let me know

I have 2 bartlett pear trees on my property and was looking to make a couple batches of wine with that this year, anybody with any recipes or advise on how to do so would be greatly appreciated

 

[winemaker_3352]

Welcome aboard!!!

 

[Flem]

Welcome to the forum rhythmsteve. It's good to have another Western PA'er on the forum. Lot's of good information here.

 

[Runningwolf]

rhythmsteve welcome to the forum. We have a few other members in your area. You picked a tough wine with lots of controversy for a first wine. Let it age. If you have a wine supply store near buy you may want to consider getting a Island Mist or Orchard Breezin kit. You can start them now and be drinking them in 6 weeks. They make real good summer wines and can be tweaked a bit to up the abv. If you want to start a fast drinker from scratch you could also make a skeeter pee. Good Luck and ask questions.

 

[rhythmsteve]

I bought 2 wine kits (my local shop doesn't do a lot of business so I got 2 kits for $99.00), hydrometers, 2 carboys, 2 primarys, airlocks, syphon tube, and all the fixins, so now I guess its just time to get the actual chemistry of the operation down

 

[Julie]

Hi rhythmsteve

Welcome to winemakingtalk. I was down your way on Saturday. Like Dan said the dandelion wine might be a tough one and like Dan said leave it age, I'm thinking at least 2 years.

Get the kits started and look for elderberries, they are all over your area. Look in our recipe section of pear wine, the best advice I can give you on that is do not add any water, use all pears and it will be a light wine.

Again, welcome to winemakingtalk.

 

[Runningwolf]

I bought 2 wine kits (my local shop doesn't do a lot of business so I got 2 kits for $99.00), hydrometers, 2 carboys, 2 primarys, airlocks, syphon tube, and all the fixins, so now I guess its just time to get the actual chemistry of the operation down

Thats awesome. What did you get? The kits are simple if you follow the instructions. Go buy you sg. readings first and not the days when determing to go to the next step.

 

[rhythmsteve]

2 vintners best equip kit

6 gal better bottle carboy
7.9 gal primary
carboy bung
airlock
auto siphon
tubing
bottle filler
3x scale hydrometer
no rinse cleaner
30 corks
cheese cloth for straining
and 6 packets of yeast
and i bought 30 tasting corks as well

 

[rhythmsteve]

I also spoke with local farmers market to work out a deal for almost "too ripe" fruit that i can purchase, and have a hookup for empty bottles from a food/bev guy at out local country club...so I just need to get going I guess

 

[Julie]

I also spoke with local farmers market to work out a deal for almost "too ripe" fruit that i can purchase, and have a hookup for empty bottles from a food/bev guy at out local country club...so I just need to get going I guess

holy crap you are so set. make sure you don't get screw top bottles, they are not a safe bottle to use. putting a cork in them and crack the bottle either putting it in or taking it out, bad enough that you can have wine all over the place of someone can get hurt.

 

[rhythmsteve]

i had a q about the screw top bottles....could I uses screw top bottles with the actual screw tops, and then dip the tops in wax (like maker's mark does with their bourbon) to seal?

 

[Runningwolf]

Presque Isle Wine Cellars sells screw caps you could use for short term storage. It is always best for most wines to get bottles made for corks and cork them.

Screw Cap Polyseal 28mm
Price per Unit (piece): $0.57


Ask a question about this product

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Screw Cap Polyvinyl liner, flexible enough to withstand repeated usage 28mm. Screw caps are not usually considered to be as good as regular corks for long term storage, but are generally satisfactory for short-term storage of about a year. They offer the advantages of ease of use and lower price. The argument against greater use on wine bottles rests more on tradition and aesthetics than safety. Reusing ordinary screw caps raises some risks. So these caps have a polyvinyl liner felexible enough to withstand repeated usage.

 

[SarahRides]

Hats off to those who make dandelion wine! I don't think I would every have the patience to pull off all of those petals. I've never actually tasted it before either, There is a local winery that makes it, but I haven't been brave enough to try it yet. -)

 

[Runningwolf]

Sarah i agree with you. I prefer to spray herbicide over plucking all of the petals.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Sarah I was all gung ho into making a dandelion wine this season until I picked a few and looked them over......ahhhhhh never mind.

Too many others to make that I would enjoy more than dandelion wine.

Hey Steve welcome to the forum. We PA'ers gotta keep our numbers up.

 

[SarahRides]

I did the same thing, I picked all of the dandelions in my yard, sat down at the kitchen table and got through about 3 of the flowers, and decided "Nevermind!"

 

[djrockinsteve]

I had friends offer to pick and save. No Thanks!

 

[rhythmsteve]

Here's the 2 batches of Dandelion I got going in my secondaries....

 

[rhythmsteve]

I know I might get flack for the balloon on the one, but I assure you all there are 2 layers of airlock and then the balloon over those, no leaking