Notes on my wine/mead making (newbie)

[the_rayway]

Finally got some pictures of goings on!

Got my Concord grape racked over, it's coming really clear, and it's almost the same identical hot red that the blueberry is

The one gallon jug and shots of berries in the buckets are for my Raspberry & Blackberry melomels - thanks to everyone for commenting on my other thread and helping! The one gal is for top up, and they will both be 3 gal batches. I got really lucky on Kijiji and found three more 3 gal carboys for cheap! Woot!

The Riesling is coming along, but is very dry. What are people suggesting for back sweetening on a Riesling? Was thinking to do some bench tests using white sugar, honey, and maybe a generic grape concentrate?

Got the Orange Chocolate Port started too. I should be able to get the Chaptalization started soon.

Looks like our blueberry is going to need help (dend78, I spoke too soon!!), so I'm going to do a trial with my homemade blueberry syrup to see if this will help with the flavour. Right now it's totally yuck.

Wee Man is 5 months old today, and getting baptized on Sunday. Looking forward to serving some of the finished wine to the friends and family!

 

[the_rayway]

I've finally had a chance to get a bit done with the 'help' of the rest of the family. I filtered the concord, blueberry, Riesling, and the Rhubarb Mead.

Back-sweetening has taken an interesting turn...I thought the blueberry would be best as a dry red wine, but is so yummy a bit sweetened. Then the Rhubarb I thought would be nice at a much sweeter finish, but we seem to prefer it nearly dry. Finally, the riesling ended up being sweetened with honey, which is AMAZING. However, it has also resulted in a haze I'm having trouble getting rid of. Two part fining has not worked, so I'm going to try bentonite next.

The Raspberry Mead is dry but WHAT a raspberry nose and flavour! It's like drinking fresh raspberry juice - exactly what I was going for.

Blackberry Mead currently tastes like nothing. I'm not discouraged though, because the Rhubarb went from tasting like rubber to a wonderful subtle mead within a couple of months. So I'm going to wait it out and see what happens, but I wonder why there is such a difference between this and the raspberry?

My various apple wines are having a definite haze problem. I've added extra pectin, and shaken them, but it persists. It's starting to tick me off just a little bit.

The Orange Chocolate Port is ready to bottle and I'm super excited about it! Funny though, there is nearly a full bottle's worth left after topping up and the f-pac. Oh well, more for me!

Today I also started my Orange creamsicle Mead. FINALLY! Woot! I've been looking forward to this for quite a long time. Here's what's gone in so for:

Hoping to finish with 3 Gallons
12 Lbs honey, a mix of sunflower and multi-floral
Water
6 split and scraped Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla beans
1 Tsp Natural Orange oil (the kind used to cooking and baking, super concentrated)
Energizer and Nutrient
Bentonite
D47
O.G. 1.110, which is a bit high, but I'm hoping to finish a bit sweet too

If this works, and tastes like I think it will, we are talking a smash hit!
Oh I love this hobby! (obsession)

 

[the_rayway]

I realize that I just posted last night, but something has come up...

I went to check on the creamsicle mead this afternoon and there is no activity that I can see. I stirred it really well and added a bit of heat to the room. But then I checked the S.G. it is now at 1.120! I guess we didn't stir the honey in well enough?!? If this went dry, which I don't think it will, it would be around 16%. Yikes. But the bigger worry for me right now is that it WON'T ferment at all because my little yeasties are in shock!

Does anyone know if this is going to be a problem? Should I pitch in a EC-1118? Or just add water until it gets down to a reasonable SG? Ahhhhh!

Also, Crackedcork mentioned that I should put down the recipe for the Blackberry mead:
Started with a plain mead (3ish gals)
8Lbs multi floral honey
water to 3 gal point
energizer, nutrient and D47
O.G. 1.089

Then, at S.G. 1.020
5 Lbs berries (had been frozen and thawed)
3/4 t pectic enzyme
1 vanilla bean

S.G. .996 Racked to carboy
3/4 t pectic enzyme & 3/4 t bentonite
S.G. .994 racked again.

Thanks, Ray

 

[the_rayway]

Here are the Riesling and Rhubarb Mead - all bottled and labeled!

I'm very happy with both of them. The Rhubarb currently has hints of rhubarb and berry, with quite a lot of vanilla - but BIG body at nearly 14%, it'll be just a bit dangerous in a couple of years The Riesling also has great body from sweetening with the honey, and great fruity tastes too! It's at 12%, so a bit higher than some others, but yummy!

Happy New Year to everyone on WMT!
Ray

 

[Loner]

Very nice !

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

What is your next mead going to be? WVMJ

 

[DirtyDawg10]

They look great!

 

[the_rayway]

Thanks all

I've got a Raspberry Mel, a Blackberry Mel, and an Orange vanilla Mel/Meth on the go - currently they all taste like yick, but such is the process!

 

[the_rayway]

What is your next mead going to be? WVMJ

Hey WVMJ!
Sorry, I thought you asked what I had on the go (mommy brain strikes again!)

I'm thinking I would like to do a peach melomel and maybe a pear too. It's all just so yummy!

 

[the_rayway]

So, since the winter is feeling awfully long and I received my T&T catalog, I'm starting to think about/plan the plantings I want to get going this spring.

Our yard is only 75'x150'ish, but I'm thinking that I could fit a pair of Manchurian apricots, some high bush blueberries, a haskap or two, some of the new 'sweet' cherries available to us Northerners, a few raspberries, hops, elderberries (thanks WVMJ!), and one each of a red and white grape to grow over the trellis I hope to build. Apparently there are actual red wine and white wine varieties that we can grow up here now!

This is, of course, in addition to my man-eating rhubarb plant. That thing is nuts.

I'm hoping that we will be able to find the right piece of property to pick up so I can really start experimenting with different things. I just wish we were in a more temperate zone for growing fruit! Oh I wish I lived in Kelowna, BC like some of my relatives. I would love to be able to grow peaches - I remember as a kid just walking outside at Aunty Elsie's and picking a peach right off the tree just to bite into. Juice running down my chin and all. Mmmmm sun-warmed peaches.

*sigh* Oh well, maybe when I retire In the mean time, daydreaming about digging in the dirt!

I've also started a 'Wine Co-op' with a few of my girlfriends. We're making 1-2 kits of the Island Mist style wines each month and splitting them between us. It gives us a chance to get together and play with booze, plus try a bunch of different flavours and see what we like! Oh, also picked up a bottle of RealLemon to try a one gallon batch of Skeeter Pee! I'm super pumped

Ray

 

[btom2004]

Wow you are amazing. Great activity I wish I had your energy. Hey I was looking for a 1 gal recipe for Seekter pee. If you have one please post here. Thanks.

 

[novalou]

Wow you are amazing. Great activity I wish I had your energy. Hey I was looking for a 1 gal recipe for Seekter pee. If you have one please post here. Thanks.

It is posted here on this forum, check under wine recipes, specialty wine.

 

[btom2004]

It is posted here on this forum, check under wine recipes, specialty wine.

I've been looking for a few hours. I just couldn't find a link for a 1 gal recipe so I gave up. I have one bottle of Lemon juice and want to make it using my melomel must.

 

[novalou]

I've been looking for a few hours. I just couldn't find a link for a 1 gal recipe so I gave up. I have one bottle of Lemon juice and want to make it using my melomel must.

http://skeeterpee.com/?page_id=17

You can scale this down to 1 gallon.

 

[the_rayway]

I've got the 1 Gallon conversion here:
For a 1 gallon batch
378 mL+189 mL - 100% lemon juice (e.g ReaLemon in the green plastic bottles or equivalent)
1.4 Lbs sugar to ferment
.15 tsp (.9 mL) tannin
1.2 tsp (7.1 mL). yeast nutrient (1/2 now, 1/2 later)
.4 tsp (2.4 mL). yeast energizer (1 now, 1 later)
Water to 1+gal
Yeast Slurry
Potassium metabisulfite (Kmeta)
Potassium sorbate (sorbate)
Sparkolloid
1.2 cups sugar to sweeten finished Skeeter Pee. Use more or less for your tastes.

However, I will be the first to admit - math is definitely not my strong point...It looks like making a 2 gallon batch works out better in terms of more 'whole' numbers.

 

[jdmyers]

My thoughts skip the math and make a 5 gallon batch of pee you will thank yourself later

 

[the_rayway]

You do have a point. I'm looking at the math and going: huh, let's do it the easy way.

 

[btom2004]

Thanks for the recipe. I went ahead and came up with my own before your post. I wanted to use the slurry while it was fresh. Yeah mine came close to 2 gals so it should be fine. If not I'll try this the next time.

 

[the_rayway]

Let me know how it turns out btom2004! I'm going to see if I can get another bottle or two for a bigger batch. I'm just so all over the place right now - I'm finding it very hard to focus on one thing.

I just started what I'm hoping will be a Peach Ginger 'Champagne'. It'll be my first go at carbonating something. I tossed in several frozen peach concentrates, fresh ginger, leftover frozen peaches from the summer, and about a pound of dates to hopefully help with mouth feel.

I also scored 24Litres of pure apple juice from a store that is closing down. I got it cheaper than buying it in concentrate! Oh, now what to do to it!?!

I'm thinking of changing the name of my 'winery' to Order & Chaos instead of the Ray Way. It seems to fit somehow (with our life!).

 

[the_rayway]

Well, despite the little hiatus from the forum, I have been busy!

I got a call from the guy at our Convention Centre saying he had 200 bottles for me. So off I go to collect them with Wee Man. Two trips later with our 1/2 ton and I'm thinking "this HAS to be more than 200!" Sure enough, as I rinsed them out I counted. 100, 200, 300, 400? 500! 530 bottles the guy gave me. Holy punch! And they all match white and red. I don't think I will ever need another wine bottle

I also just bottled two of my country wines: Bryan's Wild Blueberry, and Uncharted Seas Blueberry Lanbrusca. I'm very pleased with both of them! The blend is tart with a hint of sweetness, concord at the beginning with some earthy blueberry in the finish. The Wild Blueberry is...perfect. Doesn't taste like blueberry pie, but more like blueberry wow. A little bit tart, a nice smooth sweetness, and a lot of blueberry flavour.

Also, my little wine co-op is chugging along! We've so far done the Green Apple Riesling, Cranberry Malbec, Blackberry Cabernet, and Strawberry White Merlot. In the primary is a Blood Orange and an Apple Pomegranate, we're hoping that we can get those last two bottled before I go back to work in May. The Green Apple, and Strawberry are my favourites out of the four so far.

I also started my Blackberry Port, which I'm very excited about! Lots of oak was included, and it's fermenting like crazy! It went from 1.124 down to 1.010 in 3 days, and then I added the chapatalisation pack. Wow. I may not need to fortify this baby!

We've got my husband's 30th birthday this Saturday, so our friends and family will be on hand to taste a wide variety of our wines. My husband's non-wine-drinking family are already addicts; and my sister is part of the co-op. I just need to find a red that knocks my Dad's socks off...I'm thinking that my Amarone will be the one after another year or two. He's already given my CC Cabernet a thumbs up, which is a huge coup for me!

So...my 'wine locker' is currently full. Time to start emptying it out!
Ray