Wine

[CJ1]

I'm not sure how many of you make your own. But I'm sure that most of us at least appreciate wine. I know I sure do.

With good wine being so expensive I like to make my own. Which will be even cheaper once my strawberries and raspberries start producing.

I mashed up a batch of strawberry kiwi wine. I like a sweet wine as opposed to dry and strawberry wine seems to naturally come out sweet without using a lot of sugar.

For a 5 gallon must I use six pounds of strawberry three kiwis and four pounds of sugar. That's two thirds less sugar than my sweet grape wine.

Make sure you boil your fruits after mashing them to kill the natural yeast as these yeasts tend to produce off flavors and like to use alcohol as fuel once the sugar is gone. Which in turn produces water. To make things simpler I mash them in a blender and add them to normal filtered water then boil. After its boiled for 10 minutes I pour it in a 5 gallon bucket and add the sugar. Too it off with filtered water and wait until it cools.

Once it's below 80 degrees F I add normal redstar yeast and put a lid on it with an airtrap. Then let it sit until it's only burping every few seconds. That takes about two weeks. I'll then rack it into a 5 gallon carboy. I siphon it to reduce the amount of sediment and put an airtrap on the opening and let it sit in the basement for about a month. Then rack it again back into my bucket then back into the carboy and let it sit for another month.

After this I'll bottle it and let it sit for six months. It mellows the flavor a lot in just a little bit of time.

Then enjoy.

 

[CJ1]

I made some dandelion wine, using bread yeast, and it turned out good! I was happy with my results.

Maybe you could do a step by step tutorial with pictures on your wine making?

So it's that time again. Well kind of. This wine is going to be made into brandy. But the process is basically the same. Ish.

When I was grocery shopping today I found strawberries on sale 2.99 for two pounds. So I bought six pounds.

And half a pound of raspberries.

Instead of starting out completely fresh I kept the pulp from my last batch and froze it. I'll add it to the must from the new fruits for a type of sourmash brandy. But you can do the same with your wine to add a unique delectable flavor. I suppose you could call the finished product a pseudo grappa.

Because I'm using this batch for brandy I went light on the fruits and heavy on the sugar. It would still make a fantastic wine. But yeah. Ten pounds of sugar. Boil your water and grind up your fruit.

Be careful that you don't overfill your pot. It will boil over from the fruit.

I only boil the first part of the fruit when making brandy. For wine you want to boil the entirety of your fruit to kill the natural yeasts. But I've found that when making brandy having just a little of the natural yeasts gives a better flavor once distilled. Not so much for just wine.

It's still cooling. So I'll add the redstar later as it's more susceptible to hear that the natural yeasts are.

Using more sugar will increase your specific gravity. So it's imperative that you use a yeast that can thrive in that environment.

 

[baymule]

Lick marks on the computer screen........... keep trying to drink that stuff....

 

[sumi]

Lick marks on the computer screen........... keep trying to drink that stuff....

She sells some of it @baymule

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Sounds good. I've been trying my hand at making wine from purchased grape juice - made right in the jug. I get the all natural, no preservative added juice - pour some of the juice into another container then add the sugar and yeast. I bought champagne yeast because it's supposed to produce a little more alcohol content. First batch was so-so (used regular yeast for that one), second was great after aging for 6 months, third one is still working, but after tasting I think it's going to be a little sweeter than what I normally like. But - still drinkable! We need a "cheers" emoji!

 

[baymule]

I made some dandelion wine, using bread yeast, and it turned out good! I was happy with my results.

Maybe you could do a step by step tutorial with pictures on your wine making?

 

[baymule]

I could probably do that. It'll be a week or two till I start another batch.

And you're right dandelion wine is really good. So is dandelion whiskey.

Oh, you simply must tell us how you make dandelion whiskey!

 

[sumi]

This is very interesting, @CJ1, thanks for sharing and the pics! I may try this some time, I'm curious about this wine.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

 

[CJ1]

I used to use champagn yeast. But after some experimenting with my SG hydrometer I found I was getting about 15% ABV out of redstar and like 17% out of EC-1118. Which is great. And produces a great tasting wine. But I can get redstar from my grocery store for 5 bucks for 2 pounds whereas I have to drive an hour to get the other type for a dollar an ounce.