CC's not so fine WINE diary

[CrealCritter]

Next up... Red Clover Wine.

Recipe::
3 quarts fresh red clover flowers
4.5 lbs ripe bananas -or- 3 pints of frozen reconstituted 100% white grape juice
6 lb finely granulated sugar (tweak to OG ~ 1.090)
6 tsp acid blend
3 tsp yeast nutrient
3/4 tsp wine tannin
spring water to 3 gallons
Montrachet wine yeast 1 package.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Holy Cow - you are truly a mad wine scientist, lol!! I'm impressed!

 

[CrealCritter]

Nothing ventured nothing gained. Red Clover wine process.

First you need to wade out into the field and pick the red clover flower tops. They snap off pretty easy. Then you need to de-stem them. I found there is a soft spot at the base of the flower head that you can pinch off with your thumb nail and the stem and leaves come right off.

Next wash them well and figure out how many loose packed quarts you have.
4 quarts give or take.

Next add Pectic Enzyme and Potassium Metabisulfite (follow the directions for doseage amounts on the bottles) i dosed for 1 gallon split between 2 1/2 gallon jars. I know what your thinking Potassium Metabisulfite??? Well yes it's a sterilization agent can you just image all the different kinds of bacteria on these fresh field picked red clover flowers.

Next boil 1 gallon of spring water and pour over flowers when piping hot, enough to submerge the flowers and allow to sit 24 hours loosely covered for the Potassium Metabisulfite sulfur dioxide gas to gas off.

And because I know your going to ask... Yes I did... I did taste the red clover tea and i'm still alive you would be surprised what it tastes like. It smells a little like a bbq glazed pork butt cooking on the grill or maybe a beef roast with vegetables cooking in the oven (very inviting). The best way I can describe the tea taste it has a very sweet cleansing taste almost like a very very mild antiseptic and very sweet honey combined. When I say sweet I mean like linger in your mouth a long time sweet. Way longer than if you just eat a spoonful of honey and way sweeter.

This is a far as I got today I have to let it sit for 24 hours before I make up the must and pitch the yeast.

More info on red clover tea, if your interested ---> http://supplementsos.com/herbal-tea/red-clover-tea/

Started 27 August OG 1.094. Has a bit of a red tint about it.

 

[CrealCritter]

3rd racking on the sassafras wine, since it finally stopped fermenting. Gravity is .991 and I swear it smells and tastes like a mild Kentucky burbon whiskey. Anyways i stabilized and back sweetened to 1.000 gravity (about the same gravity as water).

Not to bad of clairity for the third racking.

 

[CrealCritter]

Both red clover and Niagara (white) grape wines started yesterday. Amazing the red clover color change already.

 

[CrealCritter]

Yeast are such interesting bacteria. Anyone care to guess what color this red clover wine will finish out as? I'm glad I put a label on it because I wouldn't recognize it after one day of the yeast working at cleaning house.

Day 0

Day 1

 

[CrealCritter]

Cranberry is such a pain in the a55. spewing wine into the air locks, I gave it plenty of head space for secondary ferment. So it shouldn't do this, but apparently this batch of cranberry has a mind of it own. I just hope there's not to much of a mess in the morning.

Edit...
I decided on a different approach, why fight it? Clean rags soaked in sanitizer and a rubber band over the bung hole. Hopefully it'll calm down in a couple of days and I can bung and air lock them then. This is the first wine I've had go crazy during secondary ferment like this.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hope it works out for ya....stoopid cranberries!

 

[CrealCritter]

The hardest part of making wine, is drinking the wine you made. It's a really hard job but someone has to do it .

Cheers

 

[frustratedearthmother]

It's a really hard job but someone has to do it .

You could probably find volunteers for that so you wouldn't have to, lol.