Tropical Blend a little flat...

[drainsurgeon]

Just bottled my first Sketter Pee (Cranberry-Lime at 10.7%) and this one could be trouble. It's VERY good>

I also racked my Tropical Blend that I started on 7-16-16. It's got 2-48 oz cans pineapple juice, 4#Mangoes, 4#Peaches, 3#Tropical fruit (Pineapple, Mango, Strawberry), 3#pineapples (canned) and 5 Bananas. Followed Dragon Blood protocol. Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast. 1.094 SG start. .984 SG finnish (it was dry in 3 days) Temp ranged from 68-78 degrees F. Added 6 tsp Pectin Enzyme to start and added 3 tsp more after sitting 2 weeks (post k-meta, sorbate, superkleer, back sweetened to 1.080 with 7 1/2c sugar) because it wasn't clearing at all. After 6 days finally started to clear.

It looks good and has good aroma but tastes very flat. Checked the pH and its at 3.7. Drew a glass and sprinkled a little acid blend to 3.5. Still flat. A little more to 3.4, better. A little more to 3.3 and thought 3.4 was better.

I think I'm on the right track but not sure how much to add to the 6 gallon batch. 1 tsp at a time and re-test? I'm also a little disappointed in the flavor so far. I was really hoping for the mango flavor to pop out but it's not. The flavor is not offensive, just not real fruity. I'm thinking about adding a mango concentrate. If it's like Dragon Blood it will take a month or two for fruit flavors to come through.

Whats your thoughts. Add acid blend to 3.4 and bulk age for a month or two? Add some flavoring? I'm still pretty new at this and don't want to screw up a 6 gallon batch. Fire away!

 

[wineforfun]

A few observations.

Yes, the cranberry-lime is very good. Easy to drink.

.984 finish? My hydrometer won't go that low. Didn't realize you could get below .990.
I assume you meant 1.008 on backsweetening, not 1.080.

As far as the flavor, I would give it some time(couple months) and see how it is. If it isn't to your liking, then figure the adjustments to make for next time. I never use pineapple juice for my DB variations. I use either Realemon or Realime. Another thought would be to up the poundage on the mango(if that is the flavor you are going for) and get rid of the other fruits or at least the extra pineapple. You have a lot of pineapple going on.

 

[salcoco]

do a bench trial. use 10 grams of tartaric acid dissolved in 100ml of water. using 100ml samples put 1 ml of dissolved acid solution in one sample, two ml in next, 3 ml in next and so on. taste test. each ml of acid added to sample equals one gram of acid to one liter of wine. i would suggest just tartaric acid as your mixture should have plenty of citric and malic acid from the fruit.

 

[drainsurgeon]

A few observations.

Yes, the cranberry-lime is very good. Easy to drink.

.984 finish? My hydrometer won't go that low. Didn't realize you could get below .990.
I assume you meant 1.008 on backsweetening, not 1.080.

As far as the flavor, I would give it some time(couple months) and see how it is. If it isn't to your liking, then figure the adjustments to make for next time. I never use pineapple juice for my DB variations. I use either Realemon or Realime. Another thought would be to up the poundage on the mango(if that is the flavor you are going for) and get rid of the other fruits or at least the extra pineapple. You have a lot of pineapple going on.

Well, my hydrometer is an Alla brand from France. It says it's for beer & wine. There are 4 lines above .990 which tells me it goes to .982. I have had 3 out of the last 4 batches go below .990. Skeeter Pee to .988, second Dragon Blood to .986 and this batch of Tropical Nectar to .984.

I'm not sure how you would go about calibrating a hydrometer, but it really doesn't mater in my opinion. The start and finish # would both be off by the same amount and would result in the same finished difference to calculate alcohol %. The lower # would bottom out at some point and tell you that the ferment is done. Doesn't really matter what that # is. Please correct me if I'm wrong here.

I double checked my SG after back sweetening and you are correct. It's 1.008.

I'll wait out the flavor for a while before tweaking, but if it doesn't come around a bit, I won't be making the Tropical Blend with pineapple juice again. Thanks for your help!

 

[drainsurgeon]

do a bench trial. use 10 grams of tartaric acid dissolved in 100ml of water. using 100ml samples put 1 ml of dissolved acid solution in one sample, two ml in next, 3 ml in next and so on. taste test. each ml of acid added to sample equals one gram of acid to one liter of wine. i would suggest just tartaric acid as your mixture should have plenty of citric and malic acid from the fruit.

Thanks and I'll pick up some tartaric acid my next trip into town. I'll give it a few bench trials and see what happens.