Sweet potato wine

[e-wine]

I racked the wine at the first of the year and it is still fermenting. The total acid was within range and the s.g. was 1.040.

We tried a bottle of the fig wine on New Year's Eve and I don't know how to describe it. I made it sweet and those that like sweet wines, liked it. Has anybody else tried fig wine and does anyone make it commercially?

We just got back from a trip to the Texas wine country around San Marcos. We had a lot of fun, tested a lot of wine and bought a lot as well. We visited 16 wineries and enjoyed them all.

Take care and stay warm.

e-wine

 

[e-wine]

I racked the sweet potato wine for a third time and it is clearing up nicely. I plan to let it bulk age for at least three more months but all the fermentation has stopped. We watched it continue to ferment through the end of January yet the s.g. was still at 1.040. I did try a bit and it was actually pretty good. I'll let my wife try some tonight and let you know her opinion.

e-wine

 

[summersolstice]

I just saw this thread. I made some sweet potato mead a couple of years ago that I thought turned out great! In fact, we served it for Christmas dinner this year.

 

[e-wine]

summersolstice,

The wine looks great and about the same color as mine. And it sounds quite intriguing. Do you care to share the recipe? Thank you.

e-wine

 

[NSwiner]

So what does it taste like ???? I'm so curious about this one .

 

[e-wine]

NSwiner,

To me, it taste like a muscadine wine but I'm not sure which one. The recipe does have raisins in it and I do taste them. I'll relay my wife's assessment after it's delivered since she is the "sweet" one. I'm the "old" and "dry" one. My in-laws enjoyed the fig wine and I am certain they will enjoy this one. And I'm certain they will request an additional batches so I will replay the spw in the future. I am curious about the taste difference between this one and the sweet potato mend so I do plan to throw that into the mix. Take care.

e-wine

 

[e-wine]

Okay, my wife's assessment on the sweet potato wine . . . it's hers and she wants to help me make more. She compared it very favorable to one of her favorite wines which is a white mascadine wine made by one of the Country wineries north of here. I kinda felt that would be the verdict.

e-wine

 

[summersolstice]

I posted this recipe in the mead section at homebrewtalk last year.

Sweet Potato Pie Mead

In March 2008 I decided I wanted something for the holidays and pumpkins just aren't available that time of year. Even finding canned pumpkins in March is difficult. Having been raised in the south I knew how similar sweet potato and pumpkin pies taste.

Since I mentioned this mead in another thread I've had a couple of requests for the recipe. It's kinda complicated but, at almost 5 months old, it's pretty good. I only made two gallons since it was the first time making it. In fact, I've never even heard of anyone making it before.

The total liquid volume in the original was about 2 gallons. There's a huge amount of sediment so I ended up with a gallon and a half to bulk age.

5 lbs fresh sweet potatoes
4-4.5 lbs alfalfa honey
1.5 cups dark brown sugar
10 oz raisins
1.5 cinnamon sticks
1T blade style mace
5 green cardamom beans
6 cloves
1T fresh grated ginger
71B1122 yeast

OG 1.071 before adding sweet potatoes

Steam sweet potatoes and mash. Place in straining bag along with the spices and the raisins. Pitch yeast. There'll be many suspended solids, even with the straining bag.

rack in 3 weeks and top with dark rum (no more than a pint for this amount). The mead will ferment to dryness at this point.

After another month rack onto 8 oz alfalfa honey and 4 oz apple juice concentrate. Add two campden tablets or 1/8 t (teaspoon) k-meta and 1/2 t of potassium sorbate.

Wait another couple of weeks and bottle when clear. It provided me with 5 750ml and 3 375ml bottles.

This is a medium sweet mead that tastes just like sweet potato/pumpkin pie and should accompany a holiday dinner very nicely.

 

[Michelles_Bells]

Made it!

Hi! My parents and I made a batch of sweet potato wine that uses oranges and raisins in September. We've racked and added sugar ever since. It's almost stopped working, but the recipe said to let mature until 1 year from the date you set it. Of course we've tasted it already. lol It tastes similar to raisin jack wine but the sweet potato flavor comes through. It's perfectly clear with a gorgeous golden color- can't wait til this fall to see how the flavor develops!

We did do 2 batches, one with added sugar, one without. The one without is oh so dry! I will say that you get a more pronounced orange flavor if you squeeze the oranges after the initial fermentation.

 

[e-wine]

Michelles_Bells,

I am surprise your batch is still fermenting after five months. Mine stopped before two and my wife is ready to start drinking it now although, she will have to wait.

I agree with the raisin taste and I plan to compare the final result with some raisin wine we bought on our last wine trips. I am courious how the wine would taste without the raisins (or with less). Maybe we will include that in the next production round. I'm looking for anyone's input here. Thank you.

e-wine

 

[Michelles_Bells]

Hi David,
Did you add oranges to yours? Also, did you add sugar each time you racked? When I initially went looking for a sweet potato wine recipe online I didn't see Keller's, but I really only found one- all seemed to come from one origin as they were all the same. Oh- also I used regular raisins but the recipe called for golden raisins. I'm sure that contributes to our color, but I wonder if the acidity or sugar in golden raisins is different than that of regular dark raisins? Anyone? Bueller?

 

[e-wine]

Michelle_Belles,

I have not added sugar each time and, since the s.g. is at 1.040, there is plenty of sugar available. What was the s.g. when you started the batch? Thank you.

e-wine

 

[Michelles_Bells]

Hmmmm- that's a good question! I haven't checked the s.g. We've been making wine for years but don't own a hydrometer. yikes, I know. Our recipes have been passed down by a few generations so knowing the s.g. is totally foreign to me. Which is what has brought me to this lovely site- as I explained to a friend that I want to know more about the chemistry and actual wine workings, she recommended this site to me. So here I am! I guess step one is buy a hydrometer....

 

[e-wine]

Knowing the specific gravity will take some of the guessing out of the process. I'm still learning about that myself. Unfortunately for the winemaker, not all fruit starts out with uniform properties. Grapes and fruit are more or less sweet from year to year and from week to week. The acid content also changes even during the process. If you started out with a low suger level and added sugar during each rack, you would know about where you were when fermentation stopped, near 1.000. It would interest me to see where the s.g. falls during each stage of your process. The development of your method and recipe sounds like one established to eliminate testing. I'm sure the country winemaker of old didn't own a hydrometer and didn't sweet to a certain s.g.. I would like to see a copy of the recipe and method. If you don't want to post it, just let me know. Thank you.

e-wine

 

[e-wine]

I racked the wine yesterday and added 1/2 campden tablet per gallon. I'll bottle in 10 days. The wine is very clear. I took some pictures and will post them soon. Also, I did start a second batch today using the same recipe.

e-wine

 

[e-wine]

I started my third batch of sweet potato wine on the 26th and I'm waiting for April 4th to bottle the first batch. I did change some things on the second and third batches, more out of necessity than anything else. My wife and I were going to try an experiment on the 2nd and 3rd batches as a side by side comparison but the potatoes were starting to get some spots so those plans will have to wait. I did pick up another experiment and wanted to pass it by the group before I proceed. I pick up four 29 ounce cans of cut yams. They list the ingredients as sweet potatoes, water, corn syrup, and sugar. Has anyone made sweet potato wine with canned yams and how did you do it? For the recipe I used, you diced and boiled the potatoes and poured off the juice. I'm thinking I still need to boil it but I think I'll need to incorporate some of the potatoes in the must. Thank you.

e-wine

 

[e-wine]

We bottled the first batch of sweet potato wine yesterday. There are two batches of s.p. in one gallon secondaries. Additionally, I have about 6 gallons of s.p. in a primary. It was not too much fun peeling and cutting up the sweet potatoes but drinking the partial after the bottling indicated the efforts are worth it.

e-wine

 

[e-wine]

I racked the 6 gallons carboy of sweet potato wine into a five gallon carboy and had a little left over. I had anticipated the leftover and had a couple of 750 ml bottle on standby. It completely filled one bottle and partially filled the next. Since I had not seen any active fermentation in the batch, I had planned to put a vacuum stopper on the top of the bottles and place them in the refrigerator to clear (they were from the bottom of the carboy and had picked up some sediment.) When I tried to pull a vacuum on the bottles, they bubbled like crazy. I fully understood why it did this but it was so weird to observe it happening. It did make me wonder if pulling a vacuum would help to clear wine.

e-wine

 

[e-wine]

After considering the dynamics, pulling a vacuum should help it clear by remove the microscopic CO2 bubbles that would help suspend the particulates. If anyone knows this as a fact please let me know otherwise, it's time for another experiment!

e-wine

 

[gird123]

e-wine.

I have about 10# of sweet potato. It sounds like you are an expert on sweet potato wine. Would you please post your favorite recipe to date?

Thank you,

Nate