Favorite wine recipes

[1tongarden]

No there red rasberries, and are you talkin about the peach wine recipe at the top of the page

[Moondog]

No there red rasberries, and are you talkin about the peach wine recipe at the top of the page

yes - leave out the raisins anyway. the acid blend will be enough.
 

[1tongarden]

Hey moon do you know any sites where i can get some wine yeast for sparkling wine, ma and i are gonna give it a shot. Sparkleing rasberry wine, sounds good...lol  Thanks you.

[1tongarden]

Or tell me the kind i should be using. thanks

[Moondog]

The cheapest way to get yeast if Ebay..-Paypal is so much more convenient than credit cards for me...  I have never made a sparkling wine. But, if I was going to try, champaign yeast I would think would be what you would want..

[Paul5388]

I tried champagne yeast with root beer one time, just trying to get some carbonation, and it still tasted yeasty to me.  I really would like to make some root beer, but just don't seem to ever find a recipe I can live with the yeast taste. 

[Moondog]

Paul5388,

Too much sugar or not enough sugar. Put in less or more sugar so that the yeast can ferment to completion - if it was sweet too much if it was dry not enough. Once the fermentation has stopped or nearly so. Then add a non sugar sweetener - called wine conditioner to taste nobody would want a non sweet root beer. I have never made root beer and I assume that it needs to be bottled at the end of fermentation but just barely to it will have some pop.  Most low alcohol drinks like beer and ale use a different yeast than wine yeast so they die at a lower alcohol content and I would suspect the yeast was wrong for the purpose. Root beer of course should have a beer yeast that will die out at about 6-8% alcohol content. Wine and champaign yeast will hang in there for up to 18% so if not enough sugar the yeast go into hybernation and just hang out waiting on some more sugar leasding to that yeasty taste.

JMHO
Dog

[Paul5388]

Yep, a Google search seems to indicate using ale yeast instead of champagne yeast.  I may have to try one more time.

[mphymel]

Say Moondog, have a few questions that I'd like your opinion on.

My recipe for this mead I am making calls for stabilizing and racking on to one pound of honey.

The recipe says, and I quote..."Rack again onto 1 lb of buckwheat honey and 1/4t potassium metabisuphite or 5 campden tabs and 2 1/2t potassium sorbate to stabilize. Add Super Kleer to clarify. Bulk age for six months to a year before bottling."

1. Should I heat this honey to kill off any nasties that might be in there?
2. How should I interpret the addition of stabilizers? Is it

    (1/4t pot. metabisuphite or 5 campden tabs) and ( 2 1/2t pot. sorbate ) ?
    Or is it
    (1/4t pot. metabisuphite or (5 campden tabs and 2 1/2t pot sorbate )?

3. Do I dissolve in the stabilizer(s) in a small quantity of must and mix it in, or do I just add the stabilizers directly?

Here's a pic...



Mark

[Moondog]

That looks exactly like my meades maybe a little darker but I bet that is the picture. Potassium Metabisulfite and Campden are both sterilizers. Use one or the other. The Postassium Sorbate is a stabilizer. I don't often used stabilizers on wines that will not last for more than 2 years. Meade can go funky on you pretty easily. So the Sorbate is probably not a bad idea. You can add them directly. However if it was me I would add the sterilizer and put the airlock back on for 2 days then add the stabilizer and clarrifier(I don't ever clarify but I don't care if my wines are a little cloudy most settle right out though - especially meade). Wait one week for the clarifier to clear a little and bottle in sterile bottles. I don't do long term storage in the plastic containers. Don't know if it would hurt or not but I just don't do it. Six Months is the minimum for a good meade. Too soon and it will be kind of harsh. It mellows with age.

Great Looking Job

Dog

[Moondog]

Well it rained today and was a great time to get my mead bottled. If it rains tomorrow I will bottle the watermelon wine. The mead was only 7 months old and a little bitey today. 15 Bottles. It had only aged in the demijohn for 6 months. So I need another 3 to 6 months in the bottles to see if it improves. Not very happy with this batch but there is no substitute for age - there was a slight bitterness to this batch but it still had 18% alcohol. Tomorrow will bottle the watermelon. I will get some pics tomorrow. I really didn't think about doing pics today. Should have but didn't do it. Already put it in the cellar for a little age time. I will definately take pics tomorrow or this weekend of the watermellon wine. I hope it comes out okay - it is hard to get a good watermellon wine. It is about 8 months old so it is probably as good as it is going to get.

Dog

[mphymel]

Hope that comes out well. I finally racked that batch I have going, I will let it sit for several months.

We will be picking blueberries in a couple of weeks, thinking of emptying the freezer of last years and making a run with that, now that I have my primary available.

Keep us posted on that watermelon wine.

[Greginnd]

Potassium Metabisulfite (Camden) - source of sulfites that produce SO2 in the wine. This protects from oxidation and bacterial infections.
Potassium Sorbate - prevents yeast from multiplying. It stabilizes any wine that has sugar added. Without it the yeast will continue fermentation if you sweeten your wine.

Note, to stabilize with sorbate (and sulfite - you need both) the wine should be as clear as possible. Sorbate does NOT kill the yeast, only prevents it from multiplying. So you want to clear out as much yeast as possible before adding any sugar or honey and sorbate.

If you have proper sulfite levels, I would not worry about boiling the honey. The mead should be protected just fine. Wine (and mead) has the right levels of alcohol and acid to protect it from any bacteria harmful to humans. The SO2 protects it from any bacteria that would spoil the wine. The final demon is oxygen Keep it under an airlock while it is aging and clearing.

I let my meads bulk age for 6 months to a year before sweetening and stabilizing. Racking every 3 months or so.

Yesterday I picked 27 pounds of really ripe chokecherries. Hope to get another 50 pounds this evening.

[mphymel]

Guys,
I am about to bottle in a couple of weeks. Any tips on doing this without making a mess. I there any precaution I should take to avoid too much exposure to air, or anything like that. Also, any tips for cleaning the bottles?

My mead is in a 6 gallon carboy, and my bottles are church wine bottles with screw tops. I have never bottled before, this is my first batch of wine.

[Moondog]

find some campden tablets(I get them on Ebay Cheap). Wash all the wine bottles and lids with soap and water and rins thoroughly. Make a solution of campden(avoid chloinated water for the camden rinse) to rinse the bottles in and soak the caps in. Rinse the bottles in the solution and soak the caps. I use a regular old siphon from the auto section of big lots. The ones with the squeezy ball pump. I have an aluminum rod that has a cable tie that holds the siphon hose. make the opening on the siphon hose about an inch from the end rod. The rod tip will rest on the bottom of the demijohn with the hose about a inch off the bottom. Begin to siphon(before you do this rinse the siphon in the campden solution too inside and out). Siphon into you rinsed bottles. You can use about 2 gallons of campden solution and just keep cycling it back and forth from bottle to bottle to rinse. No reason for more than a couple of gallons. I don't even pinch the siphon between bottles. I just don't let the wine splash on the bottom. I let it run down the glass. Never had an issue.

Dog  

[Moondog]

This is a great time to capture a taste. As well make sure to have a wine glass handy just don't be disapointed until it is at least a year old.

[mphymel]

Thanks for that feedback. I have some tablets. Didnt know about the water though, glad you mentioned that. I spent the money on one of those siphon things from the brew supply folks, and used it when I racked, but it made a horrible mess, and it leaks in air and you lose suction. I think I would be better off with a regular siphon like you mentioned.

This would be a good weekend for it. Nothing but rain all day and into the week.

[Rick]

This may sound weird, but, would anyone have a recipe for just 1 bottle? In case I don`t like it or, it just don`t come out right. I`ve never tried anything like this before so I `de rather not take any chances. Thanks a lot.......rick

[Moondog]

Rick a gallon is easy to do. Just take a 5 gallon recipe and divide by 5. I do quite a few gallon batches to test and see if it will yeild something I want to drink. Things like pineapple, may apple, prunes, potatoes, and other odd stuff sometimes to see if they will make good wine (I even thought one time of trying gensing berries but never got around to it).  A cheap way to do a is to take a mason jar with water in it and a milk jug. Make your wine in the milk jug. Take a clear hose that fastens to the cap of the milk jug(drill a hole and force it in) and then put the other end down in the mason jar full of water - this makes an effective airlock. This is a very cheat entry into wine making but it sometimes yeilds surprising results.

Dog

[Rick]

Thanks a lot Moon, that does make a lot of sense, I really appreciate it....rick