CC's not so fine WINE diary

[wyoDreamer]

I used to buy seconds from the apple orchards near our first place. I made alot of apple pie filling and applesauce those 4 years.
I have 2 ancient apple trees right now - beyond full-grown. No-one knows what kind of apple they are, the guy who grew up in our place told me that they were lousy apples, lol. I found out that they are decent apples if you pick them in early to mid-August - which is very early for an apple to be ready for picking. Most apples aren't ready until September around here.

One of our friends planted a number of apple trees in his yard, then spent the winter making an apple grinder so they can make apple cider. He was going to build an apple press, but found one on-line that was cheaper than he could build one. Now with all the flooding and the river being high at his place, all his apple trees are dying because the ground is saturated and the roots are rotting. He told me he was hoping that I would have an excess of apples so they could use their new toys.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Wow - That sounds delish!

 

[CrealCritter]

Gallons of wine in the making, left to right, Strawberry, Cranberry, Blueberry Blackberry, Sassafras, Red Raspberry.

 

[CrealCritter]

Golden Strawberry wine!
I would never have guessed that strawberry wine was not red.

Me too, but just because a strawberry is red on the outside doesn't mean the wine will turn out red. Unless artificially colored. I guess most everyone tastes with their eyes, as much as they do with their nose and tongue. My wife said I don't care what color it is as long as its good. I agree with her, so Golden Strawberry Wine will remain Golden with no artificial flavorings or colors. The way it's supposed to be

 

[CrealCritter]

I have lots of red stained clothing to prove that too! I used to pick wild blueberries, now that is a chore. Those plants are less than 18" tall...

That blueberry wine is a pretty color!
Can't wait to see what other pretty colors you end up with.

I bet blueberry picking is a real chore. Would take a good back for sure.

I racked, back sweetened to gravity of 1.000 and degassed the Blueberry last night. I want to let is sit another week or so before I bottle it. Just to make sure I didn't pick up any lees during racking that could settle out in the bottles.

My wife helped me with back sweetening, its really a two person job. One to slowly add sugar and one to stir so it all dissolves. Out of necessity, I made a whisk to attach to my drill with a plastic coat hanger and some length of weed Wacker line. It worked well for stirring and degassing. Amazing how much CO2 was in the wine. I whipped it up to a froth. The whisk is the pink thing pictured.

 

[CrealCritter]

My watermelon wine made with a vintner's best wine base, has given me nothing but troubles. I followed the directions, pitched red star montrachet yeast as per the directions and it took off like a rocket. After some time it slowed to a crawl then stopped fermenting. I thought it was done fermenting, but when I checked it with my hydrometer the gravity was at 1.012. Directions say its done when the gravity is .998 or lower. I checked the gravity every day for 5 days and it was 1.012 every day. So I had my very first stuck fermentation.

After pitching two more dry yeast packs, it still would not fire back up. So I made a yeast starter with plenty of sugar, yeast nutrient, 2/3s water 1/3 must and got that going. Every day I would add a l add more must and yeast nutrient to the starter. When I had the starter volume up to a gallon (many days), I pitched the starter into the must and after two days it still didn't start fermenting bound and determined to get the must fermenting again. I poured the must from one bucket to another 12 times. The next day I had a little fermenting activity. it's been slowly ramping up over the last few days and now I have a good active ferment again

The problem it seems was there was not enough oxygen in the must for the yeast to continue to reproduce. So it basically suffocated and died off. This is why your supposed to put a towel over the fermenter and not a lid and airlock for the duration of the initial ferment (usually when the initial gravity is 1.040 or a little less is considered the end of the initial ferment) and stir twice a day to oxygenate the must for the yeast to be able to continue to multiply.

Anyways i have a healthy ferment going again, I hope it continues I've lost 10 days (240 hours) due to the stuck fermentation but that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. I learned something new and figured out the root cause on my own and fixed my error, so it's all good... Like I said before... Experience is a strange thing, you get it right after you needed it.

I was just about to the point where I was going to pour 5 gallons of wine must down the drain into the septic tank. I'm glad that sometimes, I'm stubborn and don't give up easily.

 

[CrealCritter]

Blackberry is finally bottled, corked and capped. I need to wait for the bottles to dry to apply the labels. It was back sweetened to 1.005 per my wife's taste buds. Yielded 19 750 ml bottles plus some in a quart jar, that my daughter in law and I drank.

At 16.3% alcohol by volume, its most definitely some happy wine. Next thing I know my daughter in law is chasing my grand daughters around the house, laughing and I'm most definitely buzzing. This is the best wine, I've made yet. My daughter in law says I should call it Buzzin' Blackberry -:lol

Yeah...Blackberry is done.

 

[CrealCritter]

Easy Apple Juice Wine 1.105 (approx 15% ABV)

Dollar General has 1/2 gallon apple juice on sale for $1.00. After looking at the ingredients (filtered water, apple juice concentrate and ascorbic acid) we determined this stuff is just right to ferment. So my son in law and I bought all the had at the local dollar general store (18 bottles) it's 1.055 on the hydrometer right out if the bottle but for my 3 gallon batch I added 3 lbs of sugar to bring the gravity to 1.105.

My son in law is making up 5 gallons and his will be cider, he is not adding any sugar to his, so it'll be lower gravity/lower ABV. about 8.5% when done.

Wine Recipe ---> https://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request200.asp

My Ingredients (per gallon)
1 gal Clover Valley dollar general bottled apple juice (2 64oz bottles)
1 lb granulated sugar (approx 15% ABV)
1 tsp acid blend
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1/4 tsp tannin
1-1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
1 pkt Champagne wine yeast

Super easy and cheap.

 

[CrealCritter]

Yeah... Red Raspberry is bottled.

 

[CrealCritter]

I had some extra from lees on the bottom of the carboys, so I made my wife a few bottles back sweetened with local honey to her taste buds.

I carefully syphoned off the clear wine from on top of the lees after cold crashing into canning jars and shook the tar out of them to dissolve the added honey. Poured her a taste test and added more honey until she liked the taste.

I told her I won't be clear, like store bought wine due to the honey addition, but she said that was OK with her. She likes sweetening with honey better than sugar, even her coffee.

Now both batches of blackberry and raspberry are done and she's all set for the Oktoberfest party

Happy Wife / Happy Life.