Ultimate Cherry Pomegranate Wine

[ThousandJulys]

Ok, so I was hoping you all could give me some guidance on this new wine I am trying.

I've made cherry wine in the past, but I thought sweet and tart cherries with some pomegranate would be wonderful!

I have the capacity to make whatever you all think is acceptable for the fruits I have. I checked all the ingredients and none have any bad preservatives or things like that. Here is the list...

24oz. Pom Wonderful Juice
32oz Trader Joe's Organic Pom Juice
16oz Trader Joe's California Pom Juice
6oz Trader Joe's DRIED Pomegranate Seeds

6lbs 2oz. Vintner's Harvest Sweet Cherry Puree for Beer and Winemaking
8oz Dried Tart Montmorency Cherries
12oz Trader Joe's Dried(?) Dark Sweet Cherries

So that is a total of:
78oz. Pomegranate (dried and juice)
120 oz. Mostly Sweet Cherry & Some Tart (dried and juice)

Total of all ingredients = 198 oz. puree, juice and dried fruit. Or 12.38 pounds.

That leaves me thinking I should do a good three gallon batch, at ~ four pounds of fruit per gallon.

Do I need to adjust this recipe of ingredients following? I'm assuming the acidity will be somewhat of that of a raspberry. Sweet and tart.

11.25 quarts of water
6.75 lbs sugar
~12lbs cherries and pomegranates
1.5 tsp. acid blend
3/8 tsp. tannin
3 tsp. yeast nutrient
3 crushed KMS tablets
1.5 tsp. pectic enzyme
1 packet Red Star Montrachet yeast OR 1 packet Lalvin Bourgovin RC 212

By the way, my conversion is 106oz LIQUID to 26oz DRIED fruits. That equates to about a 4:1 liquid to dried.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Never taken on this the mighty mighty Pomegranate before!

-Ryan

 

[ThousandJulys]

Is this too much dried fruit? Or is everything just about right?

 

[ThousandJulys]

BUMP I could really use some help here.

 

[krhodes]

Sorry I can't help you, I am still playing around with store bought juices. I do think this sounds great and would love to know the results. Good luck to you and your wine.

 

[Bailey]

I've only played around with a few fruit recipes so far - turned out ok by me. But what you have looks reasonable to me.

4 +/- lbs per gallon is a good starting point.

Do any of the dried fruits have sulfites added? If so they may need to sit for a while to let that dissipate. They could even be added to the must once fermentation is going (after re-hydrating and sitting for 24hrs.)

I'd mix it up (rehydrate the dried fruits w/ hot water as part of the must first), taste it before adding any sugar to see if it tastes 'fruity' enough.

Test the acid levels - don't know what dried fruit might do there.

Get your S.G. where you want it and have a go at it.

For what it's worth, that's my vote.

Good Luck!