CC's not so fine WINE diary

[CrealCritter]

I decided its probably best to have one thread for wines, I'm currently making or going to make. It will help me with dates and other info.

Helpful on line tools, articles, etc...

Making Wine with Fruit (nicely written, easy to understand step by step how to) ---> https://www.baderbrewing.com/content/country-wine-making

Brewers calculator to determine alcohol by volume --->
http://www.happyhophomebrew.com/index.php?p=page&page_id=ABV_Calculator

http://www.aussiehomebrewing.com/AlcoholChart/BrewCalculator.html

Gravity Adjust Calculator ---> http://www.thebrewlist.com/calculator/gravity-adjust

Top 10 Reasons For Fermentation Failure ---> https://eckraus.com/wine-making-failure/

There’s A Sulfur Smell In My Wine! ---> https://blog.eckraus.com/sulfur-smell-in-fermenting-wine

Hydrometer Basics For Home Brewing And Wine Making ---> https://www.homebrewit.com/hydrometer-basics-for-home-brewing-and-wine-making

Campden Tablets: What They Can And Can’t Do ---> https://blog.eckraus.com/campden-tablets-what-they-can-and-cant-do

Topping Up Your Homemade Wines ---> https://eckraus.com/wine-making-topping-up/

Degassing Homemade Wine ---> https://blog.eckraus.com/degassing-homemade-wine

Are You Sweetening A Wine Before Bottling? ---> https://blog.eckraus.com/sweetening-a-wine-before-bottling

How clear your wine should be before you bottle ---> https://blog.eckraus.com/how-clear-should-a-wine-be-before-bottling

How to Use Bentonite to Clarify Wine ---> https://winemakersacademy.com/bentonite-clarify-wine/

 

[Hinotori]

Helps to have a nice backup record of what you did as well.

 

[CrealCritter]

Cranberry Premier Blanc - started Tuesday 18 June 2019 (very problematic to start fermentation - https://www.sufficientself.com/threads/cranberry-1092.16182/)

Initial Gravity 1096 18 June, approx 12.8% alcohol potential by volume.

Notes: bubble through air lock once every 5 seconds / slow ferment, probably due to low ambient temperature (62 degrees night / 65 degrees day) sulfur gas smell subsided / skim pulp tomorrow @ morning stir and add 1 tsp petic enzyme, still quite pulpy).

20 June gravity 1086 approx .9% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: None

21 June gravity 1082 approx 1.5% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.
View attachment 11512

Notes: bubble through air lock once every 3 seconds / ferment very slowly ramping up / pulp skim & addition of 1 tsp petic enzyme @ morning stir seemed to help / added 1 tsp yeast energizer at nightly stir to hopefully arouse yeast / No notable sulfur smell / tastes of sweet cranberries without any noticeable acid.

22 June gravity 1080 approx 1.75% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: bubble through air lock once every 3 seconds / ferment very slowly ramping up / noticed what seemed to be a oil slick floating on the top of the must, racked a little over 4 gallons from the middle of the must into new bucket. I believe the dried cranberries were treated with vegetable oil. / added 1/2 teaspoon of yeast nutrient and stirred until it fizzed.

23 June gravity 1072 approx 2.8% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: ferment slowly ramping up / racking and yeast nutrient addition seemed to help.

24 June gravity 1070 approx 3.0% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: ferment very slow / I may need to add a more water and sugar, I don't know yet disappointing...

25 June morning Special Note: after researching I came to the conclusion that I have to much berries in this must. I added 1 gallon of distilled water, 1lb 12 oz of sugar, 1 tsp yeast energizer & 1 tsp yeast nutrient. Gravity was 1.068, after water and sugar addition, gravity of 1.070. So starting gravity is now 1.096.

25 June gravity 1062 approx 4.3% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: \o/ hooray! ferment picked up blowing multiple consecutive bubbles every 3 seconds. Yeast made 1.3% alcohol in less than 24 hours. That's a very active ferment Looks like adding 1 gallon of water and 1 lb 12 oz of sugar did the trick. I'm not counting my chickens until the eggs have hatched though. We'll see what tomorrow evenings hydrometer reading is. Because this is a very challenging wine for a beginner to make. I've learned a lot from this wine so far.

26 June gravity 1050 approx 5.9% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: \o/ hooray! I got it fired back up and fermenting nicely.

27 June gravity 1040 approx 7.25% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: most definitely fired back up and fermenting nicely with a gain of 1.35% alcohol by volume in 24 hours, that a great fermentation rate. However, seeing this wine has given me such a fit, I'm going to leave well enough alone and not increase the alcohol level, I'll finish it as is. Its ready to rack now, but I'm going to wait another day or two, just to be sure it stays lit (keeps on fermenting).

28 June gravity 1030 approx 8.6% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes I went ahead and racked into secondary. However i racked through a length of copper pipe, because of the sulfur it produced early on. Yielded 5 gallons plus a little for the newbie wine maker. Tastes good, I have a good feeling this is going turn out wonderful.

3 gallons cranberry on the left, blackberry on the right

Continued to part 2 (10 picture limit per post)

 

[CrealCritter]

Blackberry Montrachet - started Tuesday 18 June 2019.

https://www.sufficientself.com/threads/blackberry-1090.16183/

Initial Gravity 1110 18 June, approx 14.8% alcohol potential by volume.

20 June gravity 1082, approx 1% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: bubble through air lock once every 5 seconds / slow ferment, probably due to low ambient temperature (62 degrees night / 65 degrees day) / faint sulfur gas smell present / removed ferment bag and squeezed pulp and juices.

21 June gravity 1072, approx 2.26% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: multiple simultaneous bubbles through air lock once every 5 seconds / ferment speed ramping up / faint sulfur gas smell present.

22 June gravity 1.062, approx 3.5% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: Vigorous ferment that fizzes when stirred, coming along nicely. / very faint sulfur gas smell present.

23 June gravity 1.054 approx 4.6% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: Vigorous ferment that fizzes when stirred, coming along nicely. / sulfur gas smell subsided / This wine is doing so well i'm thinking of increasing the starting gravity to 1.105 instead of 1.090. Thereby increasing the potential alcohol by volume to around 14% instead of 12%. I've checked my manual math and verified with on-line calculator --> http://www.thebrewlist.com/calculator/gravity-adjust I need to add 1lb 5 oz of sugar to raise the ABV by 2% for this 4 gallon batch. Red Star Montrachet yeast has an alcohol tolerance of 15%, so why not? decision time...

24 June gravity 1.044 approx 5.9% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: I stirred in 1 lb 5 oz of sugar and the must foamed up but subsided after a few mins of stirring all the way to the bottom. I also added 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient per gallon. I re-measured gravity after the 1 lb 5 oz sugar addition at 1.064. This will bump the starting gravity to 1.110 or 14.85% alcohol potential. A starting gravity of 1.110 will be used from now on for calculations.

25 June gravity 1.050 approx 7.75% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir. Blurry pic but is 1.050

Notes: This batch is really a pleasure to work with, despite the addition of 1 lb 5 oz of sugar the morning of 24 June, fermentation has not missed a beat and is still extremely active. This batch should be ready to rack into secondary in 2 or 3 days once the gravity falls to 1.040 or a little less.

26 June gravity 1.040 approx 9.1.% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: I snuck a little taste - Mmmm lip smacking delicious / After taking gravity reading I poured the top 3 gallons into a clean and sanitized bucket, the last gallon I poured through my large funnel with fine screen. I then rinsed the original bucket and funnel of sediments and cleaned and sanitized the bucket. Then I poured the entire 4 gallons back into the original bucket, re-lided and air locked the bucket. / this batch will be ready to rack into secondary in a few days. It sure will be nice to get this wine into clear glass carboy, so I can observe its progress and not have to stir it every morning and evening and also take nightly hydrometer readings.

27 June gravity 1.030 approx 10.5.% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: I went ahead and racked into secondary glass fermenter. Yielded 4 gallons, one 3 gallon glass carboy topped and one 1 gallon glass jug topped. Plus about 4 ounces for the newbie wine maker 10.5% it has a bit of a kick to it now, but is lip smacking good.

Continued to part 2 (10 picture limit per post).

 

[CrealCritter]

Strawberry 1090 started 01 June 2019

https://www.sufficientself.com/threads/strawberry-1090.16158/

20 June (day 19) Notes: in secondary since 11 June (9 days) / bubble through airlock one every 15 seconds / fermentation is still very much active. Nice bright color & pleasant strawberry/alcohol aroma from airlock / thick layer of sediment. Will need to be racked again soon to get it off the sediment.

27 June (day 28) Notes: in secondary since 11 June (17 days) / fermentation is still active. Nice bright color & pleasant strawberry/alcohol aroma from airlock / thick layer of sediment. Will need to be racked again soon to get it off the sediment.

09 July (day 39) Bubbles completely stopped. Pulled a hydrometer reading of .990 or 13.5% alcohol. Racked and topped both gallons again into sanitized 1 gallon jugs, to clear. Clearing has already started in the necks of the jugs. This should make a nice Strawberry Rosé if all goes well from here on out.

17 July (day 47) - natural clearing continues, its nice to see light shining though a bottle. The 1/2 pint jar has been cold crashed and will be the final color of this batch of strawberry wine. It will be more of an orange than red, unless I add a drop or two of red food coloring. Time to get to this point is not bad at all, only 47 days since making. Next racking will be the final racking before stabilizing, back sweetening and bottling.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

If wine can be beautiful - that's beautiful!

 

[CrealCritter]

If wine can be beautiful - that's beautiful!

Both gallons of strawberry are coming along nicely. It's still very much actively fermenting though.

 

[CrealCritter]

Blueberry Montrachet 1097 - started 23 June 2019

Its a rainy day what else is a guy to do but raid the wife's canning shelf, for something to make wine out of. What's this? 5 quarts of blueberry juice from 2015. Actually is more like blueberries in light syrup - nice!

Next step find a legit recipe ---> http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques38.asp jackkeller recipes are legit.

Next step heat up some distilled water to make at least 3 1/2 gallons of must. Then wash and sterilize the tops of the canning jars. I need to figure our how much juice I have and its gravity. Open and separate juice from blueberries through a fine strainer into a clean, sterilized gallon pitcher. Juice is a little less than a gallon and sitting @ 1.032 or a little north or 4% alcohol by volume potential.

To the pot I added a little more than 3 1/2 gallons of water and heated just to warm. I calculated I need about 7 lbs of sugar to bring the the juice and 3 1/2 gallons of water to a starting gravity of 1.090. So I poured the blueberry juice in one if my ferment buckets along with a little over 3 1/2 gallons of warm water. Then I measured out 7 lbs of sugar and stirred it in real well. I took a gravity reading and determined that, darn I can still do math. 1.092 is close enough for government work

A little under 4 1/2 gallons of must

Next I added the chemicals as per the recipe and stirred in real well.

And fitted my fermentation bag over the bucket and emptied all those delicious blueberries into the bag. I lifted the bag and squeezed the blueberries inside the bag to mash them a little. Then I re-fitted the bag over the bucket, fitted the lid and set in with the other two wine I have fermenting. I'll pitch a Montrachet yeast starter about 1:00 pm tomorrow to give the requred 24 hours time for campden to gas off.
Easy smeezy... Blueberry Montrachet 1092

Well after I was done making the must, my wife said, you know since your wanting to make wine and all let's go through the canning shelf and see what we can find and toss the old stuff. My wife found another quart of blueberry juice from the same batch. So I dumped that into the fermenter. It most likely thew my gravity off, but I can adjust that when I get ready to pitch the yeast. Anyways that brings me closer to 4 1/2 gallons. But... We found some canned peaches, which should be enough for 4 gallons anyways

24 June - I pulled the fermentation bag and squeezed out as much liquid as I could. Then I took the starting gravity reading 1.093 or about 12.5% alcohol potential. Stirred in red star Montrachet yeast started, covered and air locked the fermentation bucket. Hopefully this will turn out to be a nice bodied violet colored wine.

25 June gravity 1091 approx .25% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir.

Notes: very slow to start. I've read blueberry is one of the hardest fruit wines to get started. I'll check again tomorrow evening before I get to concerned about though.

26 June gravity 1091 approx .25% alcohol by volume produced so far. Nightly gravity reading at stir. It died

I added 1 gallon of purified drinking water to drop the starting gravity & dillute the must with hopes of getting this blueberry must fermenting. I also poured the must into a clean sanitized bucket and back again twice to oxygenate the must. I will need to add 1lb 8 oz of sugar once it's fermenting strongly to bring the starting gravity back to the original. I also made a yeast starter with 2 cups of must, 2 cups distilled water, two teaspoons sugar and a pinch of yeast nutrient. My plan is to add 2 more cups of must to the starter for 2 days then add the 1/2 gallon yeast starter into the now 5 1/2 gallons of blueberry must. Blueberry is the hardest to get fermenting out of all wines. I'm such a glutton for punishment... But nothing ventured nothing gained. Its a opportunity to learn new things and if I can't figure it out there's always the drain.

1.082 gravity after addition of 1 gallon of water.

Yeast starter

27 June morning notes: I awoke this morning to find both the yeast starter and must in the fermentation bucket aggressively fermenting. Looks like adding 1 gallon of water and oxygenating the must got it started finally \o/ . I went ahead and added the yeast starter anyways, since it won't hurt anything. I'll let it ramp up a few days and then add 1 lb 5 oz of sugar to get the starting gravity back up to around 1.092. Finally got it started, horray \o/

27 June gravity 1.072 for reference only

Continued to Part 2 (10 picture limit per post)

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Dang! You need to sell this stuff, lol!

 

[CrealCritter]

Doing it cheap! --->

I have to admit I'm very jealous of his level of hillbilly.

"I hope I learnt you something right there" @4:09

"And I'm telling you what, it'll make you do a double back flip, this stuff right here" @12:00