Wine additives

[touchtoomuch]

Termini, The oranges add a little flavor. But the main reason for using them is they have citric acid in them which raises the acid level. I have found though in the two batches I have done that the oranges and lemons still didn't bring up the level that I was shooting for which is .6 TA.... I ended up adding acid blend to get to that point. Without have a test kit to test your TA your shooting in the dark. You can always add a little acid after fermentation if you get a test kit, but it is always advisable to do most of your correction before fermentation and if needed do a LITTLE after fermentation. At least that has been my understanding throughout my learning curve. I am just going to guess, but I want to believe that your TA is going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of .3 to .4 after adding the oranges. Probably closer to .3 ... In my recipes I added oranges and lemons ( Jack Kellers recipes # 29 and 30) and I ended up with .4 ... It took me 1 tsp per gallon to raise it to .6 ....... I am not suggesting you add acid blend without a tester, but more than likely an addition of 1 tsp per gallon ormoreis going to be needed... Your on your own there....

 

[termini]

I don't know if I will go that far and do that , however, I do have some wine tannin powder..... is that, or does that do the same as acid blend?
I probrably won't mess with that on this one.
I was able to get out and gather more petals for a two gallon batch of liquid ( NO SUGAR!) that I will slowly add to themust(?) to lower the S.G.
I have to get going, but I will put together my update on what I have done for review. Tomorrow, I hope.
I was able to get up to St. Paul, and to the Northern Brewer to pick up some stuff. I figured with gas the way it was, and when I found out how inexpensive the yeast is, I loaded up on the stuff. Figured it would be cheaper to throw it away when it expires in 2010 than to order the stuff every time I think I might need it.........
I'll let all ya'll know.......
Seems I've created a bit of work for myself---- just to get a little buzz on.......


YA KNOW... I heard this in Amway years ago,.. if you bang your head against the wall long enough.. eventually your ears will pop out and you can hear what people are trying to teach you!!

 

[touchtoomuch]

No, tannin and acid are two seperate animals. Both are needed in dandelion wine for dandelions have no natural tannin nor acid. If it would make you feel better, go to Jack kellers website and email him. It might take a while for him to answer you though. He's a pretty busy guy. If it were me I would go ahead and add 1/4 tsp of tannin per gallon and at the least add 1/2 tsp of acid blend per gallon. That should get you close on TA without going overboard. Both of these should be added before fermentation, especially tannin. No tannin additions after fermentation is complete. At least thats what I have been told. Good luck... Edited by: touchtoomuch

 

[termini]

Thanks touchtoomuch,well I hope I can do this correctly....
Referencing the recipie I posted, this is where I strayed and then modified and corrected using all your inputs.


Made 7 gallons of liquid( seeped and boiled petals, then strained)
peels from 20 oranges
2 lbs of golden raisins
14 lbs, 4 cups of sugar
just over 1/4 tsp of K-meta
S.G. was @ 1.110
onto emergency questions and advice on the forum....
split into two 3.5 gallon batches( primary fermenter too small)- created another fermenter out of a 5 gallon bucket that I sanitized, drilled and put an aircraft rubber grommet into.
added 1 gallon of more dandelion liquid to each bucket( 2 gallons with 7 qts. of petals)
S.G. 1.095@ 70 degrees
added peptic enzyme (on the light side of measurement)
yeast energizer
yeast nutrient
bentonite
a little orange juice from the peeled oranges
all additives measured per package instructions


THEN I WENT DOWN A DIFFERENT ROAD:
Figured as long as I now had two buckets, and saw quite a few opinions on what yeast to use:
one bucket has the Lalvin D-47
one bucket has the Red Star Cote des Blancs and 1 can of white grape juice which may bring the alcohol up a bit


Well those are the results, and when I got home from work tonight, everything was a-bubbling" what could possibly go wrong....."


I do have a question about my 6.5 gallon carboys that I will be using. They are all that I have to use when it comes time to rack. But I think I should post it on the General questions......


THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS!! later, I will post how they turned out. Unless, of course,you feel a small explosion and once again--the smoking hole! Ha Ha

 

[Wade E]

The Cotes Des Blanc will most likely be a slower fermentation.

 

[termini]

copy that, understood.
Say--- if my palete is not really that experienced yet, do you think I would really be able to notice the difference between these two batches?

 

[Wade E]

Very hard to say as every one has much more or less defined sense of taste. If you are a smoker then your sense of taste is much more limited. I work in the woodworking trade and deal with a lot of dust in which those particulate masks that I wear do help but I still come home with stuffy nose. After having a week vacation I can taste much better then it spirals back down after 2 weeks back to work.

 

[touchtoomuch]

Termini, sounds like you need to invest in some more carboys. you want to make sure you dont have much headspace as they are aging. Possibly a couple of three gallon, couple of 1/2 gallon, couple of 1 gallon carboys. I thought when i first started I was just going to have a few, LOL... Now I have so many of different sizes I almost need a storage room for carboys...

 

[Scott]

Termini how is the dandelion progressing???????

 

[termini]

I hope -------really great. we bottled it August 31 but I have not been on the forum lately because I have been doing alot of hone improvements and now duck and deer hunting is sneeking up on me.....I will try and get some pictures up by 10/2. The main pic that I am working on ,which will eventually be the Dandelion label, is a picture of my Sicilian Grandfather's wine press with his stomping boots and his old straw gardening hat both hanging from it.
I was able to put some of the Dandelion that would not fit into bottles into beer botles with air locks, and although I am told that it needs to wait a LONG time, we will taste it here shortly.
-----looks like I don't have an icon to attach photos...............

 

[Wade E]

To attach photos you have to hit the reply button on the extreme right of a previous post.

 

[termini]

HERE WE GO>>>>>>>>

 

[termini]

gotcha thanks

 

[Wade E]

Great pic!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Nice photo...you could use that on many labels.