Quick Pom -egranate wine

[BernardSmith]

Have been interested in Mary Izett's lovely book Speed Brewing and her discussion of what is known as a short mead (low alcohol honey wine) that Izett suggests can be made from start to finish in two weeks and enjoyed immediately. The fact is that while this does not necessarily make for a prize winning mead the results can be quite delightful - and given that we are talking about low alcohol wines (less than 6% ABV you can drink this as if it were a hard cider or beer rather than as if the drink is a wine). So, for example, a few weeks ago I made a wild blueberry mead using blueberry honey and wild blueberries and this is a great thirst quencher after working in the yard for a few hours trimming hedges and mowing grass. OK
So this morning I thought I might try a variation on this theme by fermenting a 48 oz bottle (This is an experiment so I am not even making a gallon of this) of POM using US SO5 yeast. Izett suggests that ale yeasts tend to finish the fermentation cleaner.

The SG of the POM was 1.066 and my goal is to catch the fermentation when it hits around 1.026 or about about 5.25% AB. This won't finish bright or clear but it should finish sweet and sparkling, the idea being that you cold crash the (in this case) wine to inhibit fermentation, bottle in either beer or sparkling wine bottles and then allow to carbonate for a few days and then drink. If anyone is interested I will report on my results.

 

[Scooter68]

Let us know how that turns out.

 

[BernardSmith]

Happy to - I just hope that it turns out as well as the blueberry mead I made. The upside is that the wine is made very quickly, the downside is that it is not fine art, if you know what I mean. But I think for novice wine makers (Izett, again, refers to meads and what I would think of as "wines" she refers to as "fermented sodas") being able to make and drink a wine in two to three weeks rather than 6 months to a year or more might be something that would encourage more people to dip their toes into wine making.

 

[hounddawg]

i'd like to know, i've experimented from day one, you will never know unless willing o think outside the box,
Dawg

 

[BernardSmith]

The Pom was bubbling away very vigorously less than 8 hours after I pitched the yeast (simply spread the yeast atop the must without rehydrating or creating a starter but before I pitched the yeast I agitated the juice to aerate it.

 

[BernardSmith]

Measured the gravity a few moments ago (I am working from home because of Covid 19) and was surprised to see that the gravity had dropped to 1.020. So since Monday (6/15) the gravity has dropped 46 points and so this drink is at a little over 6% ABV. (is it a wine?)

At 1.020 it is not very sweet because of the acidity from the pomegranate juice and the CO2. But I added k-meta and k-sorbate and some bentonite and capped it and placed it in my fridge.
My hope is that over the next two or three days the wine will clear a little (My plan is to drink this sparkling rather than still, so the CO2 will inhibit clarity... but we will see), and perhaps crack the wine open by next weekend.

 

[winemanden]

Wild Wines & Meads by Pattie Vargas & Rich Gulling
Small Mead This variety is for the impatient. It contains less honey and ferments more quickly than other meads. A small mead contains 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of honey per gallon (3.8 Ltr) of mead. Ale yeast usually starts the fermentation which is generally completed in a week. Small meads are more like ale than like wine.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

Have been interested in Mary Izett's lovely book Speed Brewing and her discussion of what is known as a short mead (low alcohol honey wine) that Izett suggests can be made from start to finish in two weeks and enjoyed immediately. The fact is that while this does not necessarily make for a prize winning mead the results can be quite delightful - and given that we are talking about low alcohol wines (less than 6% ABV you can drink this as if it were a hard cider or beer rather than as if the drink is a wine). So, for example, a few weeks ago I made a wild blueberry mead using blueberry honey and wild blueberries and this is a great thirst quencher after working in the yard for a few hours trimming hedges and mowing grass. OK
So this morning I thought I might try a variation on this theme by fermenting a 48 oz bottle (This is an experiment so I am not even making a gallon of this) of POM using US SO5 yeast. Izett suggests that ale yeasts tend to finish the fermentation cleaner.

The SG of the POM was 1.066 and my goal is to catch the fermentation when it hits around 1.026 or about about 5.25% AB. This won't finish bright or clear but it should finish sweet and sparkling, the idea being that you cold crash the (in this case) wine to inhibit fermentation, bottle in either beer or sparkling wine bottles and then allow to carbonate for a few days and then drink. If anyone is interested I will report on my results.

I am definitely interested: would love to hear of your results...............................Dizzy

 

[DizzyIzzy]

Have been interested in Mary Izett's lovely book Speed Brewing and her discussion of what is known as a short mead (low alcohol honey wine) that Izett suggests can be made from start to finish in two weeks and enjoyed immediately. The fact is that while this does not necessarily make for a prize winning mead the results can be quite delightful - and given that we are talking about low alcohol wines (less than 6% ABV you can drink this as if it were a hard cider or beer rather than as if the drink is a wine). So, for example, a few weeks ago I made a wild blueberry mead using blueberry honey and wild blueberries and this is a great thirst quencher after working in the yard for a few hours trimming hedges and mowing grass. OK
So this morning I thought I might try a variation on this theme by fermenting a 48 oz bottle (This is an experiment so I am not even making a gallon of this) of POM using US SO5 yeast. Izett suggests that ale yeasts tend to finish the fermentation cleaner.

The SG of the POM was 1.066 and my goal is to catch the fermentation when it hits around 1.026 or about about 5.25% AB. This won't finish bright or clear but it should finish sweet and sparkling, the idea being that you cold crash the (in this case) wine to inhibit fermentation, bottle in either beer or sparkling wine bottles and then allow to carbonate for a few days and then drink. If anyone is interested I will report on my results.

Have been interested in Mary Izett's lovely book Speed Brewing and her discussion of what is known as a short mead (low alcohol honey wine) that Izett suggests can be made from start to finish in two weeks and enjoyed immediately. The fact is that while this does not necessarily make for a prize winning mead the results can be quite delightful - and given that we are talking about low alcohol wines (less than 6% ABV you can drink this as if it were a hard cider or beer rather than as if the drink is a wine). So, for example, a few weeks ago I made a wild blueberry mead using blueberry honey and wild blueberries and this is a great thirst quencher after working in the yard for a few hours trimming hedges and mowing grass. OK
So this morning I thought I might try a variation on this theme by fermenting a 48 oz bottle (This is an experiment so I am not even making a gallon of this) of POM using US SO5 yeast. Izett suggests that ale yeasts tend to finish the fermentation cleaner.

The SG of the POM was 1.066 and my goal is to catch the fermentation when it hits around 1.026 or about about 5.25% AB. This won't finish bright or clear but it should finish sweet and sparkling, the idea being that you cold crash the (in this case) wine to inhibit fermentation, bottle in either beer or sparkling wine bottles and then allow to carbonate for a few days and then drink. If anyone is interested I will report on my results.

Hi Bernard, I have fermenting a bottled Pomegrante/Plum (Aldi's, don't know if you have them in Florida?). It is still fermenting, but I tasted it and the flavor is divine!! So much so that I purchased five more 64oz. bottles to make even more. Since you like Pom, you might also like this......just a thought..........Dizzy

 

[BernardSmith]

Not in Florida. I am in Upstate NY. SaraSOTA is FL, SaraTOGA is NY. Often confuses people... We do have Aldi's but it's about 20 minute drive from here in another town and the Aldi's store is small. Been in it once.

Update on the Pom quick wine. Bottled 6/18 at 1.020 and had added K-M and K-S but the wine in the fridge continued to ferment, albeit very slowly (it is at 1.012 today... and I have been "burbing" the bottle in the fridge: I poured it back into the Pm bottle as it was a) plastic and so was less likely to explode and b) has a screw on cap which makes burping the bottle a great deal easier) and today, for example, 14 days after stabilizing, the wine is very sparkling and still semi-sweet given the acidity of the fruit. The wine is not clear - perhaps because of the yeast and there is sediment in the bottom of my glass. Not a problem - I was not looking for a prize winner but a wine to enjoy after yard work and the like. Mouthfeel is really good, very viscous.

As I say, this is not so much a drink in the genre of a wine but a drink that is more like an ale or scrumpy (a cider made with indigenous yeast) - It's a drink wearing suspenders and rolled up trouser legs with a handkerchief knotted as a hat around its head as it paddles its feet in the ocean. Would I make this Pom again? Certainly. Would I make similar wines again? Very certainly. It's a fun drink and a great introduction for anyone who has never made a wine before. Would I give this wine away to friends as a gift? I don't think so. It is really more of a novelty than a wine to write home about, if you know what I mean.

 

[hounddawg]

Not in Florida. I am in Upstate NY. SaraSOTA is FL, SaraTOGA is NY. Often confuses people... We do have Aldi's but it's about 20 minute drive from here in another town and the Aldi's store is small. Been in it once.

Update on the Pom quick wine. Bottled 6/18 at 1.020 and had added K-M and K-S but the wine in the fridge continued to ferment, albeit very slowly (it is at 1.012 today... and I have been "burbing" the bottle in the fridge: I poured it back into the Pm bottle as it was a) plastic and so was less likely to explode and b) has a screw on cap which makes burping the bottle a great deal easier) and today, for example, 14 days after stabilizing, the wine is very sparkling and still semi-sweet given the acidity of the fruit. The wine is not clear - perhaps because of the yeast and there is sediment in the bottom of my glass. Not a problem - I was not looking for a prize winner but a wine to enjoy after yard work and the like. Mouthfeel is really good, very viscous.

As I say, this is not so much a drink in the genre of a wine but a drink that is more like an ale or scrumpy (a cider made with indigenous yeast) - It's a drink wearing suspenders and rolled up trouser legs with a handkerchief knotted as a hat around its head as it paddles its feet in the ocean. Would I make this Pom again? Certainly. Would I make similar wines again? Very certainly. It's a fun drink and a great introduction for anyone who has never made a wine before. Would I give this wine away to friends as a gift? I don't think so. It is really more of a novelty than a wine to write home about, if you know what I mean.

scrumpy, does that go well with spotted dick, ( pun intended ) OMG proper english is to cool. just pulling your chain a might,,, lol
Dawg

 

[BernardSmith]

No chain to pull. I was born and educated in the UK, have lived in the USA for about half my life but chose to become a citizen about 8 years ago and I still speak and write the Queen's English. And scrumpy was precisely the word I meant to use.

 

[hounddawg]

oh i figured that, but it has been so many years since i heard that word, and yes proper english is the queen's english, on dad's side grandma was irish, grandpa was 1/2 british and half comanche, sooooo you see my confusion,, lol
Dawg

 

[BernardSmith]

I completely understand. Americans use the same alphabet but the language is often very different. When I stepped off the plane after arriving in the USA the very first words I heard were when I passed by someone walking in the opposite direction who stopped and said "Man , that button gave me a buzz". The woman I was with explained that I was wearing a badge that had a hologram image and that the movement of the image surprised the fellow and made him a little confused. Buttons were the roundels we fastened coats: my coat was fastened with a zip and a buzz was something that a buzzer produced and I most definitely did not have anything with me that was buzzing.