What are you making and what have you made ???

[Kreigle]

The bottle is RJS Rockin Raspberry I made last year. The fermenter is Winexpert LE21 Marselan I just mixed up. Will add yeast tomorrow once it has had a chance to warm up (basement is currently 61F and I have it upstairs where temp is currently 72F)

 

[Jovimaple]

Bulk aging:
3 gal peach from peach nectar (no water added): will backsweeten and bottle late summer
6 gal FWK Tavola Cab Sav (to be bottled late summer/early fall)

To be started:
1 gal lingonberry from syrup
6 gal dragonblood (berry blend from Costco)
3 gal RJS Cru Specialty Vidal Icewine
2x3 gal RJS Cru Specialty Toasted Caramel dessert wine (fermented as a double batch)
3 gal RJS Cru Specialty Gingerbread Cookie dessert wine
6 gal Twisted Mist Pina Colada wine cooler kit (may tweak to 5 gallons, add sugar to raise abv, etc.)
6 gal Chilean Barbera juice bucket (pre-ordered, early May arrival)
3 gal RJS Cru Specialty Chocolate Orange dessert wine (pre-ordered, delivery this summer)
Probably another 6 gal batch or two of skeeter pee

As you might guess, the RJS dessert wines have become a huge favorite of ours. I grabbed some of the leftover 2022 batches because the prices for the 2023 versions are going up significantly. I haven't done the icewine kit yet, and the chocolate orange is new in 2023 (or at least hasn't been around since I started my wine making adventures in 2020).

Wow, I had better get started!!

Just picked up a FWK Peach on our way through Ohio from our vacation in DC. If that is still frozen when we get home today, I will probably keep it frozen for a bit. If it's thawed, I will start it this week.

FYI for those who might be heading through Ohio, Label Peelers doesn't have a storefront anymore, so it's best to order online and pick it up if you're in the neighborhood - don't expect to be able to browse their inventory in person.

 

[RevA]

I currently have a basic apple wine, a nice blueberry wine and a mixed berry tea wine going.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

I was gifted a small (1 foot) longan fruit tree. Might be making longan wine in about 7 years if I live that long.

 

[Hazelemere]

wild black cherries with wild blackberries ("Black Iris" - my neighbour Iris' tree) with or without Syrah and with or without Marechal Foch and Regent

I'm picking 2 wild cherry trees now. They are a pain in the ass to pit because they are small and the pits are large but they have a stunning, intense flavour and smell unlike commercial black cherries which are much larger, less tangy, not as dark and softer (less tannic)

organic end of season raspberries to make Raspberry Chambord table wine with RC212 yeast and Blackberry-Raspberry-Dried Elderberry with medium toast American oak cubes with more Chambord liqueur as a fruit port with EC1118 yeast.

homegrown organic white wine grapes including Siegerrebe, Ortega, Reichensteiner, Madeleine Angevine 1st and 2nd run (skins and sediment with pectic enzyyme soak and repress) blended or not with Russet apple wine (sugar added) and/or cyser (unpasteurized blueberry or raspberry blossom or cranberry blossom honey) to make Apple Edelzwicker or Cyser Pyment.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

I'm picking 2 wild cherry trees now. They are a pain in the ass to pit because they are small and the pits are large but they have a stunning, intense flavour and smell unlike commercial black cherries which are much larger, less tangy, not as dark and softer (less tannic)

I love sour cherries too - sadly my Montmorency cherry tree just bit the dust but I still have (Carmine Jewel) bush cherries.

I have one of these cherry pitters - it works pretty well with my sour cherries (though I should note that it was not as successful last year when we had a drought and the fruits were smaller). You still have to remove the odd clingy stone by hand, but I think overall it makes the job easier than using the single stone pitter.

 

[Hazelemere]

I love sour cherries too - sadly my Montmorency cherry tree just bit the dust but I still have (Carmine Jewel) bush cherries.

I have one of these cherry pitters - it works pretty well with my sour cherries (though I should note that it was not as successful last year when we had a drought and the fruits were smaller). You still have to remove the odd clingy stone by hand, but I think overall it makes the job easier than using the single stone pitter.

I put on rubber gloves, sit in a lawn chair outside with a plastic apron and squeeze the pits out between thumb and finger and then freeze them pitted in large freezer bags. I can pick about 7 lbs in 2 hours. Today was cherry synchronicity day. I was thinking about what would be really neat i.e. find another wild cherry tree. I'm picking the first one which has a bumper crop in perfect condition and then will move 1/2 mile north to a second one and then 1/2 mile east to a third one. Barbara, who I have never met walked under the tree I was picking near my home and said I can pick all of hers!!!! What a blessing. If I can keep up with all of the work before they shrivel up like raisins I may get 36 lbs which is the largest crop I've ever seen. I'm spending all of my spare time on this right now and can't imagine doing anything else until I pick late season raspberries and then wild blackberries. Good luck to all of you with your 2023 wines.

 

[Hazelemere]

My wife, the daughter of a mill right, took the cherries, crushed them through a sieve wearing rubber gloves and re-crushed them by hand as they drained through the stainless steel sieve and kept re-crushing them by hand while using tweezers to pick out the pits. I found my soul mate. One of the questions I asked her before marrying her was "Will you love my grapes?" She said yes and the rest is history. PS this is so much faster than pitting them one at a time. We froze all of the non-pit juice + pulp.

 

[Hazelemere]

Last night pressed (to avoid wasps which we have a bumper crop this years) 65 plants worth of homegrown Siegerrebe SG 1.092 and Ortega at SG 1.097. Will rack off of sediment this morning to get a first run and seed with Lalvin 71B yeast plus use the sediment to flood press skins with the sediment plus pectic enzyme for 48 hours before repressing to get a second run. This is the best Siegerrebe I've seen in 50 years. The Ortega has the highest brix I've ever seen. We'll probably press homegrown Madeleine Angevine and Reichensteiner in about 2 weeks.

 

[benchmstr]

Nothing..was making a 10 gallon batch of berry wine, and a 20 gallon batch of scotch mash..then a car ran through the front bedroom of my house that happened to be my brew lab..the holes in the door are from my rack of empty wine bottles flying across the room and going through the door lol

 

[David Engel]

I feel silly even responding to this thread. I have 10 Merlot vines almost all at maturity. Two years in a row of only having enough grapes to make a bottle... both turned out to be vinegar (really had no idea what I was doing and did not have the equipment). This year the vines finally produced and I should have at least a couple three gallons of juice. I have all the equipment (finally) and will attempt again.

 

[winemaker81]

I recently started a Metheglin, mead spiced with cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and a bit of nutmeg. The plan is to backsweeten with frozen apple juice concentrate.

 

[vinny]

I recently started a Metheglin, mead spiced with cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and a bit of nutmeg. The plan is to backsweeten with frozen apple juice concentrate.

Do you flavor in primary or after fermentation? I made a mead, and when I tasted it, I thought why does anyone make this? Honey is more expensive than sugar, and it is BORING. You warned me it would be insipid... And here we are! Bryan is right again...

Now I need to fix it.

 

[winemaker81]

Do you flavor in primary or after fermentation? I made a mead, and when I tasted it, I thought why does anyone make this? Honey is more expensive than sugar, and it is BORING. You warned me it would be insipid... And here we are! Bryan is right again...

Now I need to fix it.

I add flavoring prior to fermentation, this time ground cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and a bit of nutmeg. My regular notes are here, and I'm also doing an In Detail blog. Neither are not up-to-date; that should be fixed this evening.

This one is a poster child for "lack of proper planning" and "let's change our mind frequently".

My original plan was to make a 4 liter batch, as an experiment. The idea was to make a coffee mead, but I looked at the Coffee Port I have and decided I had plenty of that type of wine. I like it, but it's nothing I drink frequently.

So ... I decided to emulate Starrlight Meadery's Honeyed Spiced Apple mead. Ferment with apple pie spices and backsweeten with frozen apple juice concentrate. I got that started, diluting 5 lbs honey to SG 1.100, fermented to 1.020 and put it under airlock. Turned out I got 6 to 7 liters.

So ... I changed my mind on quantity, and was going to make another batch to fill a 12 liter carboy. As I was buying the honey, I changed my mind again, and decided to fill a 23 liter carboy. I figure it will come out good and I'll kick myself for not making more. That batch fermented to 1.020 and I put it under airlock, and the two batches were a few liters short of filling the carboy. Darn.

So ... I purchased 3 lbs of honey and started a third batch, which went under airlock at 1.015. Finally ... I have enough to fill the carboy + a bit.

I'm going to rack in 2 to 3 weeks, and make a decision on flavor. If it needs more spices I'll add some in bulk, and I'm considering adding 1/2 oz medium toast Hungarian cubes. I'll bulk age 3 months and taste test. At that point I may stabilize and add the apple concentrate, plus bentonite. From there I'll probably bulk age 3 months then bottle.

 

[Hazelemere]

I have 19 lbs raspberries 23 lbs wild cherries and 38 lb wild blackberries thawing in 3 primary fermenters with cane sugar. I'd like to mix EC 1118 yeast (so I can make 1, 2 or 3 fruit ports plus 3 table wines. Has anyone tried mixing Lalvin EC-1118 yeast with Lalvin 71B or RC 212 yeast to good effect? I want the EC1118 for high alcohol and one or the other of 71B or RC212 for fragrance and spiciness. I'll add 1 lb dried elderberries to the blackberry ferment. I could split the Port and table wine musts after adding water and pectic enzyme to the cane sugar soaked and thawing fruit after 48 hours, but if any of you can convince me to blend the yeasts I'll do it. I'm using 6 lb fruit per 3 lbs cane sugar per 1 Imperial gallon of water excluding the elderberries. I'll use medium toast American oak cubes at 30 per 5 Imperial gallons for 120 days on the wines containing wild cherries or blackberries. Has anyone mixed 71B with RC212 to good effect?

 

[Ohio Bob]

I understand your intents. I wonder if you could use your yeast of choice based on flavor, then at SG of 1.020, toss in the EC1118 to all that you want to be high alcohol. I’ve heard that the flavor profile is pretty much set by SG of 1.030. So the new addition of the 1118 would keep the flavor profile but bump the alcohol.

I would not try mixing yeasts in the same primary. Many, if not all, of the last few years of winemaking, I’ve used split yeast batches, one yeast in 3g and another yeast in a separate 3g, combing at SG of 1.020, at which time I would start MLF as well.

 

[Hazelemere]

I have 19 lbs raspberries 23 lbs wild cherries and 38 lb wild blackberries thawing in 3 primary fermenters with cane sugar. I'd like to mix EC 1118 yeast (so I can make 1, 2 or 3 fruit ports plus 3 table wines. Has anyone tried mixing Lalvin EC-1118 yeast with Lalvin 71B or RC 212 yeast to good effect? I want the EC1118 for high alcohol and one or the other of 71B or RC212 for fragrance and spiciness. I'll add 1 lb dried elderberries to the blackberry ferment. I could split the Port and table wine musts after adding water and pectic enzyme to the cane sugar soaked and thawing fruit after 48 hours, but if any of you can convince me to blend the yeasts I'll do it. I'm using 6 lb fruit per 3 lbs cane sugar per 1 Imperial gallon of water excluding the elderberries. I'll use medium toast American oak cubes at 30 per 5 Imperial gallons for 120 days on the wines containing wild cherries or blackberries. Has anyone mixed 71B with RC212 to good effect?

I found the answer to my question -EC1118 is a dominant yeast which will or maybe will kill 71B or RC212, so once added water to my berry-sugar blends and weigh them with water from a hydraulic lift (motorcycle lift) I'll split the fruit ports (EC1118) from the table wines. I'll use RC 21 or 71B on the table wines. Please comment on blending the 2 table wine yeasts.

 

[Hazelemere]

I understand your intents. I wonder if you could use your yeast of choice based on flavor, then at SG of 1.020, toss in the EC1118 to all that you want to be high alcohol. I’ve heard that the flavor profile is pretty much set by SG of 1.030. So the new addition of the 1118 would keep the flavor profile but bump the alcohol.

I would not try mixing yeasts in the same primary. Many, if not all, of the last few years of winemaking, I’ve used split yeast batches, one yeast in 3g and another yeast in a separate 3g, combing at SG of 1.020, at which time I would start MLF as well.

Great answer! Thank you. Makes perfect sense to me as long as the EC1118 is really vigorous. I'll add an EC1118 starter from small batches of each wine eg. 1 US gallon 5 bottle batches of each fruit.

For you newbies I just got a fantastic answer to a question. I've been making wine for 55 years and will be 74 in November. There are some very good winemakers on this site including "Ohio Bob". If you want to learn how to make wine a great start is to read all of the posts on this site.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Great answer! Thank you. Makes perfect sense to me as long as the EC1118 is really vigorous.

No, thank you for the kind words. I’m just repeating knowledge I gained from this site.

Since the SG will be at 1.020, it will be a hostile environment for yeast, even 1118. I suggest you use a starter so the yeast colony is super robust. I would expect the balance of the ferment would be very quick.

 

[Hazelemere]

No, thank you for the kind words. I’m just repeating knowledge I gained from this site.

Since the SG will be at 1.020, it will be a hostile environment for yeast, even 1118. I suggest you use a starter so the yeast colony is super robust. I would expect the balance of the ferment would be very quick.

I'll ferment each separate fruit in 1 US gallon batches from pulp free must to get super vigorous EC 1118 starter on each must at high alcohol to spike the non EC118 wines. I press fruit wines after 6 day vigorous ferment, usually SG 1.040-1.050 (~5 % alcohol) to get the fruit seeds away from the alcohol in my bladder press with stainless steel seed screen. I'll ferment the press wine to ~SG 1.020 and then split the SG 1.020 musts as table wines without EC-1118 starter and the ports with EC-1118 starter.

Here is what I'm thinking of as a wine menu for 2023 for each of these fruits:

1. Raspberry Chambord (table wine spiked with French Chambord liqueur 15 bottles with 1 Chambord bottle per carboy with sorbate and no oak. I haven't decided on RC 212 vs 71B ( I'm looking for ideas here fellow aficionados!!!)
2. Tripleberry Chambord Port (15 bottles of equal parts blackberry-elderberry with raspberry + 15 medium toast American oak cubes after ferment for 120 days). Spiked at SG 1.020 with EC-1118 starter and finished with 1 bottle of French Chambord liqueur
3. Wild Cherry Port (15 bottles ( I've never made this so it will be total fun). I'll add medium toast American oak at 15 cubes for 120 days) and add 1 bottle of Dutch Bols Cherry liqueur to finish it.
4. Black Iris - table wine as a blend of blackberry-elderberry and wild cherries (12 lbs blackberry-elderberry with 12 lbs wild cherries (Iris is my neighbour who has the wild cherries)
5. Blackberry-elderberry - table wine 20 lbs blackberry-elderberry on medium toast American oak.

Comments please e.g. suggestions that I might consider that I haven't thought of that work.