Tomato wine - my fastest ferment so far

[BigDaveK]

No question, my fastest ferment.
Just racked. Took about 40 hours to go from 1.09 to .991 and it's still going. This baby hit 93 F.
I used a mesh bag and 18lbs of tomatoes and was a little surprised that they almost completely disintegrated. I got a 3 gallon carboy and 1 gallon for topping up later.
Tastes ok so far. Didn't really detect tomato flavor.
The tomatoes were mostly Hungarian Heart (big, beefy, great for sauce) and a few pounds of others.
What a great hobby!

 

[VinesnBines]

I lost about 1/3 of my tomato ferment to heavy sediment. I went from three gallons out of primary to two. I am pleased with the taste; I oaked one gallon and one is un-oaked. My next tomato attempt will be just juice. I have a lot of juice in the freezer and canned juices so I'm hoping I won't have as much sediment. I do worry I may not have enough taste though. Guess we will see.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Did you have to add acid? My tomato wines have turned out awful, I did not measure acid or pH and I suspect I should have. Curious to know your recipe and/or process.

 

[VinesnBines]

Here is the recipe I used. How to Make Tomato Wine - A Home Winemaker's Recipe
I made a 3 gallon batch and pressed/squeezed by hand and had a lot of solids. The flavor is good. I just hated to lose a gallon of solids. I may need to plan on a bigger primary batch and know that I will lose a lot in solids. I will try just juice but I'm sure the flavor will be different.
Don't fret if you don't like it. I'm not crazy about my banana and the coffee I made. Other folks on the forum love the flavors. Everyone is different.

 

[BigDaveK]

Did you have to add acid? My tomato wines have turned out awful, I did not measure acid or pH and I suspect I should have. Curious to know your recipe and/or process.

Oh yeah. Still new at this so I don't have much in the way of testing equipment. I have narrow range test strips (2.0-4.0) to measure pH. I used 8tsp of acid blend to get it to around 3.6.

 

[BigDaveK]

Here is the recipe I used. How to Make Tomato Wine - A Home Winemaker's Recipe
I made a 3 gallon batch and pressed/squeezed by hand and had a lot of solids. The flavor is good. I just hated to lose a gallon of solids. I may need to plan on a bigger primary batch and know that I will lose a lot in solids. I will try just juice but I'm sure the flavor will be different.
Don't fret if you don't like it. I'm not crazy about my banana and the coffee I made. Other folks on the forum love the flavors. Everyone is different.

My recipe was almost identical except for quantity of ingredients and I used 71B. Oh, and no oak chips. I haven't gone down that road yet.

I tried something different this time. On day 1 after everything was added and mixed I got the drill paddle out and whipped that baby until it foamed. It was all settled down the next day when I added the yeast. I wonder if the extra oxygen was responsible for the fast ferment. I checked my notes - I've never had a ferment over 90 degrees until this one.

 

[BigDaveK]

I lost about 1/3 of my tomato ferment to heavy sediment. I went from three gallons out of primary to two. I am pleased with the taste; I oaked one gallon and one is un-oaked. My next tomato attempt will be just juice. I have a lot of juice in the freezer and canned juices so I'm hoping I won't have as much sediment. I do worry I may not have enough taste though. Guess we will see.

Yeah, I'm really curious about the sediment, too. To have all those tomatoes almost completely disappear was a big surprise.

 

[VinesnBines]

I strained through a fine sieve and thought I had all the seeds and shins but the sediment was so fine it settled fast. I don't have my notes with me but I can check to see how long it took to settle when I get home.

 

[Jovimaple]

Yup, tomato wine has lots of lees!

 

[Jovimaple]

Did you have to add acid? My tomato wines have turned out awful, I did not measure acid or pH and I suspect I should have. Curious to know your recipe and/or process.

I added about 2 1/2 tsp acid blend per gallon. Edited to add that I see I added water to 1 1/2 gallons but my final result was 1 gallon after racking off lees, so I am sticking with 2 1/2 tsp acid blend per gallon. It turned out good!

 

[BigDaveK]

I strained through a fine sieve and thought I had all the seeds and shins but the sediment was so fine it settled fast. I don't have my notes with me but I can check to see how long it took to settle when I get home.

Yeah, settling fast. 24 hrs into the carboy I have about a half inch. Still bubbling but slowing down.

 

[BigDaveK]

I added about 2 1/2 tsp acid blend per gallon. Edited to add that I see I added water to 1 1/2 gallons but my final result was 1 gallon after racking off lees, so I am sticking with 2 1/2 tsp acid blend per gallon. It turned out good!

View attachment 85861

That's the unfortunate part with homegrown tomatoes. If I like this batch I'll never be able to exactly make it again. I grow 2 or 3 varieties every year but then I'll also grow 3 or 4 new ones.

 

[BigDaveK]

Yup, tomato wine has lots of lees!View attachment 85857

I don't mean this in a bad way but that looks nasty! It looks like a science fair project. You had to be wondering about the flavor.

 

[Jovimaple]

@BigDaveK The batch pictured is different than the one from the recipe. I got some free tomatoes from a friend of a friend who had a farm with lots of late tomatoes and a freeze was predicted. This was in October in Minnesota!! So I have no idea what kinds they were. (The farmer just said "all kinds" when I asked.)

That batch is still to be bottled, but if I recall correctly from taste testing, I don't think there was a big difference in taste from my first batch. But I do intend to do a side by side comparison when I get around to bottling the 2nd batch.

I got 2 gallons + about 2 liters from the 3 gallon carboy pictured. I put 10 multicolored crushed peppercorns in one of the gallons, hoping for a bit of spiciness. Those are my last remaining wines from 2021 to be bottled - that's on the list for early April.

Of course, when I realized almost everything was bottled, I started 2 kits. So many plans, so little remaining room for storage! I do have enough bottles for the tomato wine but not sure about the 2 kits + the pineapple backsweetened with pina colada mix on deck after that, and and and ...

 

[Jovimaple]

Yeah, it looks crazy but clears into a very nice looking white with a slight aftertaste of tomato.

 

[BigDaveK]

Of course, when I realized almost everything was bottled, I started 2 kits. So many plans, so little remaining room for storage! I do have enough bottles for the tomato wine but not sure about the 2 kits + the pineapple backsweetened with pina colada mix on deck after that, and and and ...

I know!! I only have 1 wine in a small primary bucket right now and no shelf storage for my big buckets. Might as well keep them on the bench. But an empty bucket on the bench is a horrible waste of space, so.......
What a great hobby!

 

[BigDaveK]

Update!
My tomato wine, 10 days in secondary, no fining agents.
I had to sneak a taste this morning. I AM BLOWN AWAY! SHOCKED! No tomato taste. Bit hot at 13% ABV. Some described it as almost a chardonnay. Yeah, I can see that. I like it so much I just may keep a couple bottles dry. Plenty of time, we'll see where this goes.
This was a crazy, whimsical wine experiment that I'm VERY happy with.
Let's see....18 #'s of tomatoes for 4 gallons and last year I harvested 160 #'s. Hmm....

 

[VinesnBines]

To bump this thread and report on my tomato wines. The first batch was approx 3 gallons; 6 lbs fresh tomatoes, 2 qts half-dry frozen pulp - lost one gallon to pulp and gross lees (even after straining). Two gallons. One gallon was oaked and the other was not oaked. Started on 10/3/21. Today, the oaked is too close to VA (vinegar) [I'm really sensitive]. The unoaked is naturally degassed and nice. I might like a little more mouth feel - my son and daughter in law will give the final verdict this weekend.

Second batch is pure juice from home canned tomatoes (draining the juice from cold packed quarts). started on 3-28-22. Still some residual pulp and CO2 but the taste is good.

Since I want a little more mouthfeel in all three gallons but I'll toss in some liqui-gum (gum abraic) . I may back sweeten the oaked gallon but maybe not the other two.

An interesting experiment that I will try again! So many twists and ways to make tomato wine. Much better than the tomato jam experiment.

 

[alecia68]

I added about 2 1/2 tsp acid blend per gallon. Edited to add that I see I added water to 1 1/2 gallons but my final result was 1 gallon after racking off lees, so I am sticking with 2 1/2 tsp acid blend per gallon. It turned out good!

View attachment 85861

I added about 2 1/2 tsp acid blend per gallon. Edited to add that I see I added water to 1 1/2 gallons but my final result was 1 gallon after racking off lees, so I am sticking with 2 1/2 tsp acid blend per gallon. It turned out good!

View attachment 85861

 

[BigDaveK]

An interesting experiment that I will try again! So many twists and ways to make tomato wine. Much better than the tomato jam experiment.

That's interesting about the oak.
Like I said above I used about 18 lbs fresh for 4 gallons. The last time I snuck a taste I was shocked. It was really good dry! I may bottle some dry, some lightly sweetened. We'll see, still months away. I'm hoping to bottle and taste before this years harvest to decide how much to make.

Usually I can my tomatoes as salsa, pizza sauce, and a Rotel clone. Since I added wine last year I increased the number of plants this year.

Oh, I think I made tomato jam 2 years ago. It was pretty good but I wouldn't make it every year.