started wild cherry wine

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poet

Junior
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okay, so i said on the intro thread we wanted to do cherry wine. We're using this recipe and also using bottled water instead of tap water. We started it off tonight.

Shall i let you know how we get on?

Cherry Wine Recipe

Ingredients:

6 lb cherries
Campden tablets
2 ½ lbs sugar
Wine yeast
Nutrient
Water
Method:

Remove the stalks from the cherries and rinse.
Put into a fermenting bin and crush..
Pour on 4 pints of boiling water. When cool, add 1 Campden tablet, crushed and dissolved in a little warm water.
Boil all of the sugar in 4 pints of water for 2 or 3 minutes and, when cool, mix into the pulp.
Add the yeast and nutrient and cover and allow to ferment for a week, stirring daily.
Strain and press and return to a clean fermenting bin.
Cover again and leave for 3 or 4 days.
Pour through a fine sieve carefully into a gallon jar, leaving as much deposit behind as possible.
Fill up the jar with cooled, boiled water to where the neck begins.
Fit a fementation lock and leave until fermentation has finished.
Rack, as necessary, adding a Campden tablet after the first racking.
Syphon into bottles.
Makes 1 gallon of wine.


This is a pic of my husband getting stuck in! :D

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6046898&l=541b94a655&id=568396756
 
okay, just been reading up about pectic enzyme in Mrs gennery taylor's wine book and we have now added some pectolase, thanks for the reminder. weird how the recipe didn't say anything about it!
 
Pectic enzyme will not work during an active ferment. It will work before and after, however. You will probably need to add more once it's done working. But no worries. It won't add an off taste or anything.
 
It will not necessarily clear your wine, it will clarify if you have a peptic haze and the other reason to add peptic enzyme is to break down the fruit, this is the reason why you would add it at the very beginning.
 
this isn't going to a major issue is it? Will the wine be okay?
 
this isn't going to a major issue is it? Will the wine be okay?

Your wine should be fine, with a couple of potential, minor things.

First, you probably didn't get as complete extraction as you would have with pectic enzyme.

Second, you might have a bit of trouble clearing if you end up with a pectic haze. As others have said, you can add pectic enzyme post-ferment to help deal with that.

Goog Luck!
 
I was taught to allow the Campden Tablets to sterlize the must for 24 hours before adding yeast. From what I read on your first post, it did not seem you had done that. I believe the campden tablets may kill your yeast if I read it right.
 
I found this...

Question:
What is the purpose of using Campden tablets?

Answer:
Initially, Campden tablets are used to kill off any potentially harmful bacteria that may may be present in the base ingredients used in winemaking, and to discourage any wild yeast from gaining a foothold. Campden will not kill yeast, but it creates an environment inhospitable to them. As sulfur dioxide (SO2) is released into the must and the atmosphere above the must dissipates, the environment inside the fermenter slowly changes and the yeast can grow, but by then our cultured wine yeasts, which are more tolerant of SO2, have gotten a good start and “crowd out” the wild yeasts

http://www.brew-winemaking.com/brewwine/shop/faq.aspx?id=1440

so our cultured yeast should be okay, right?
 
hubby says there's bubbles on the surface, does that mean it's fermenting? (sorry, I am a beginner! LOL)
 
CO2 bubbles - have you degassed?

Could have be a little fermentation going on. If the SG has remained the same for 3 plus days - fermentation is done - and it is probably CO2 gas escaping out.
 
again, i don't know what that means but we are stirring it every day. It was only started yesterday. We're not doing an SG reading as we just wanted a nice, relaxing hobby! ;) I guess we'll just have to wait and see.....
 
Well - if you are not doing an SG reading - i would just sit back and wait - fermenation should compete in about 7-10 days - that is just a guestimate - some yeasts work faster than others.

Degassing is basically removing all the CO2 in the wine produced by fermentation. CO2 in the wine will make it hard for wine to clear.

There are several ways - some use vacuum pumps, others use stirring methods, and others use shaking - and some use a combo - attach a vacuum pump and gently shake every so often.

And some don't - they let time take its course - if you are at a temp around 75 degree's it will degass itself over time.

I use a vacuum pump to do this - but those are expensive - you can get a medical aspirator on ebay around $150 - or you can get a stirring paddle that hooks to your drill.

http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=4666
http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=4667
 
CO2 bubbles - have you degassed?

Could have be a little fermentation going on. If the SG has remained the same for 3 plus days - fermentation is done - and it is probably CO2 gas escaping out.
It's to early for degassing since they just started yesterday. Do you have a hydrometer? If not get one that is a MUST.
Fermentation has started now you need to ck the gravity in a week.
 

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