Version 2, Pecan Wine Recipe
I'm holding you to it! We shall swap. I will let you know what I do end up blending mine with. Of course, I will keep some pure for experimental sake. I only made 1 gal., so it won't be much..sorry, love!
Hey non-Grapenut! I'm starting to save small screw top glass bottles (like soy sauce, salad dressing, etc), so we can swap "small" samples. They will be cheaper to ship, and we don't need an entire wine bottle! Just enough to sample, right? Looking forward to yours! Did I mention I LOVE Bourbon? Anyway, it will be fun to see what you blend with yours!
My Version 2 Pecan Wine Recipe is below. I thought the color would be lighter since I didn't use raisins, and used demerara sugar crystals which are much lighter than brown sugar, but I guess those toasted pecans add a lot of color to the batch. That champagne yeast is very active this morning! Here is the Recipe:
Speakeasy Cellars Pecan Wine from Concentrate
• 2 Cups Pecan Halves, Toasted 3 times per instructions
• 3 cans (11.5 oz) Welch's White Grape frozen concentrate
• 4-6 Cups raw Demerara sugar
• 1 Crushed Camden Tablet
• 2 tsp acid blend
• ¼ tsp. tannin
• 1 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• Water to make 1.5 gallon
• Champagne wine yeast slurry (see below)
1. Toast pecans at 300F for 10 minutes in a single layer, then pour into a paper bag to sit out till cool, getting some of the oils out of them. Roll and squish, or stomp on the paper bag, and you should see greasy spots on the bag.
2. Roast smashed Pecans about 12 minutes at 400F till slightly smoking. Pour into another paper bag, roll and squish and stomp some more, trying to get more oil out and let rest till cool.
3. Roast smashed Pecans at 350F for about 10 minutes, again, just until slightly smoking. Repeat the rolling and squishing and stomping in a new paper bag to get MORE oil out!
4. Add toasted pecans to a large pot and cover with water. Simmer for 1 hour, adding water periodically to prevent scorching.
5. Let hot mixture sit for a few minutes. Any oil should rise to the top. Try to skim off as much as you can with a tablespoon or a turkey baster.
6. Add sugar into hot liquid and stir till it melts. Reserve half the liquid in case you need to melt more sugar prior to adding to the primary.
7. Pour 3 Cans thawed Welch’s White Grape Concentrate into primary fermenter.
8. Strain pecans into a nylon straining bag weighted with a few marbles, and place into liquid in primary fermenter.
9. Add sugar water to make up to 1.5 gallons and add crushed Camden tablet, Yeast Nutrient, and Pectic Enzyme.
10. Start Yeast Slurry (recipe below)
11. Let sit overnight. Check specific gravity -- it should be between 1.090 and 1.100. If it’s higher than 1.100, add water. If it’s below 1.090, add sugar.
12. Add yeast slurry. Stir daily for five or six days, until frothing stops.
13. Remove nylon bag, and strain. Siphon into secondary fermentor and attach airlock.
14. Observe the liquid on the top of the secondary. If there is oil, try to siphon or skim most of it off, continuing this process throughout. At bottling time, there should be no oil floating on top.
For a dry wine, rack in three weeks, and every three months for one year. Bottle.
For a sweet wine, rack at three weeks. Add 1/2 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup wine. Stir gently, and place back into secondary fermentor. Repeat process every six weeks until fermentation does not restart with the addition of sugar. Rack every three months until one year old. Bottle.
YEAST SLURRY
• ½ C. baby bottle warm water
• 2 tsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Champagne Yeast (or other wine yeast)
Mix together in a coffee cup or bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let sit overnight. In the morning it should be nicely bubbling. Periodically throughout the day, add ¼ C of the fermenter liquid to the slurry so it gets used to it’s new host. At the end of the day, add the slurry to the fermenter.
So, I am tossing my cookies. This gives a whole new meaning to "tossing your cookies!"
