CC's not so fine WINE diary

[CrealCritter]

You're gonna have to build a new room on your house to store all this wine!

Actually I converted the space under the stairs going up to the second story into my wine cellar.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Sounds like a good plan!

 

[CrealCritter]

Sounds like a good plan!

Basement would be best but this house doesn't have one, just a crawspace.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Time to start digging, lol! Just kidding.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Looks awesome and I bet it will make wonderful mulled wine. Maybe it should come with a high-alcohol warning, lol!

 

[flowerbug]

that's not Boonesfarm for sure! whew!

 

[CrealCritter]

I've never tried to make wine before. Maybe I should give it a try; your posts are so clear!

Blackberry or raspberry were both pretty easy and would be a great starter wine try try first. ---> http://www.ritebrew.com/category-s/1969.htm

 

[flowerbug]

i couldn't waste that kind of stuff down the drain! that's all too valuable organic material. worms would probably love it all too buried in the gardens. if i lived closer i'd gladly volunteer to take it and use it. i have buckets of worms that would probably go nuts over it.

i also feed the worms in my worm farm with any food or paper scraps. i just can't think of wasting any $ we've spent on food/vegetables even if we can't eat them the worms can do the honors and in the process turn it all into prime garden fertilizer.

 

[CrealCritter]

Well I'll be doggoned...

I had made up a 5 gallon apple cider wine back this fall, that I thought I posted here, but I can't find it. I kid you not, my wife's Rottweiler eat the little sticky note off of the primary fermenting bucket. Now I have no idea what my starting gravity was so no way to determine the alcohol content

Oh well, I guess the alcohol content is a mystery I know it's at least 12% ABV.

I kind of forgot about it actually, I had it airlocked in with all my brew gear. I have no idea when I started it, but I racked it over the weekend added campden, potassium sorbate and bentonite. It's gravity was .990 totally dry at the time of racking. up juice.

This is just the excuse I was looking for to purchase a PROOF & TRALLE to correctly measure alcohol content of my non back sweetened jacked up juices.

 

[CrealCritter]

It's been a while... My wife brought home a bucket of fresh picked local. I think she's trying to get my on things I like doing. So, why fight it... why not make some wild persimmon wine. I tasted one and man are they sweet this year. We did have one frost already so it stands to reason. Why they taste like candy. For those of you who have never tasted persimmon wine, it's a little different. Imagine plum and peach with slight hint of pumpkin spice and you'll be pretty close to what it tastes like.

Sugar is the variable here, with most all fruit wines the natural sugar content varies year to year.

I think I'll go with a nice light and fluffy, drinking wine, lower alochol content this time. Shoot for around 10% ABV or so. I'll use my hydrometer and stirr in sugar untill the original gravity is about 1.080 or so. If I allow it to finish dry as water at 1.000, it will be about 10.5% ABV, which should be pretty close to what I'm envisioning.

Self created recipe for 1 gallon batch.

3 pounds ripe Persimmons
1 teaspoon acid blend
Bottled filtered sping water to make one gallon probably about 7 ~ 8 pints.
1 packet Montrachet yeast
1 Campden tablet, crushed and dissolved
1/2 teaspoon yeast nutrient
White table sugar to 1.080 starting gravity.

More to follow...