The first blueberry and strawberry: Raw but Promising

Its been way too long, but waiting is the name of the game when it comes to making good wine, yes-no?

I haven't laid down anything new, because the season for getting good fruit in NY has waned, unless I really wanted to make some apple wine, we got plenty of those right now! I wanted to see how the blueberry and strawberry I laid down in June came out. I had made a gallon of each if you recall.

Well on September 28th, we busted open the gallon jugs and I racked it into new ones to get out the sediment, and Tim and I started imbibing it. It was raw and lacked any real nuance, but it was certainly quaffable and pretty enjoyable. I had about a 13% alcohol content in each flavor from the vinometer test. I will post some pics of the evening we had shortly!

For a first attempt, it wasnt bad. I had little to no hope of it being drinkable even though I was very meticulous about the process early on - adhering to strict sanitzing practices and cleaning everything, as well as making sure my measurements and timing were dead on. The strawberry and blueberry flavors came through nicely, but there was still a yeasty scent and taste to it, that I imagine would have dissapated had it aged a little more and been bottled before quaffing. The blueberry had very nice body to it, and reminded me very much of a new grape wine. The strawberry was a bit thin, and I think it could probably use some grape wine concentrate to round it out a little more. I will remember that before I bottle the next batch.

I am going to wait a while longer and bottle the next ones coming down the line, most of which were first racked in July: 1 gallon of peach, 1 gallon of blackberry, 5 gallons (MORE) of strawberry that has cleared very very nicely and 6 gallons of Pinot Noir that I will be interested in trying soon as well. I think around Thanksgiving I will do another update with the peach, blackberry and other. I may start bottling them around that time.

Talk to you soon, and expect some pics shortly!

Racking 5 Gallons of Strawberry, 1 gallon of peach, and new Blackberry!

Made sure the PA levels on my 5 gallons of strawberry were about 3-4, and racked it into a secondary fermenter. I am seeing a lot of CO2 still, a lot of yeast action, that I did not see with the 1 gallon that I made. I am assuming this is because the yeast has much more to eat in the 5 gallons than the The airlock looks like it is elevated and releasing CO2 in the 1 gallon of strawberry, I think fermentation is still taking place even though I see NO bubbles in it. Maybe its stuck?

I racked the 1 gallon of peach wine I made into a secondary fermenter, its pretty cloudy, I am going to see if it clears in the next few days now that its racked. I left the peach must in quite a while, but I am betting it clears pretty nicely. We will see!

I also started one gallon of blackberry, a request from my wife's grandmother, who fondly recalled her father making it while she was growing up. I figure it will make a nice Christmas present!

Pinot and Strawberry - Secondary Fermentation

Man, thats the most wine I racked yet, my arm started to get sore holding the tubing in place! Well, I got six gallons of pinot into a secondary fermenter, and I should be able to add some clearing and fining agents next week. Its supposed to be drinkable after 3-6 months.

I also got the fruit out of my strawberry primary fermenter, its amazing what mush it looks like after a few days in there, but boy oh boy does it smell good!! I should be racking that one shortly into a secondary after I confirm the PA isn't higher than 3 or 4.

Expect some pictures of my modest (so far) setup in the next few days...

Im going to need more bottles soon! Looks like I will have to drink some more wine!

More Strawberry, Peach and Pinot!

On Saturday, before a long bike ride, my friend Tim and I along with my wife went to the local farmers market on the lookout for some fresh fruit - we found some nice Georgia peaches at one of the stands and purchased 3 pounds of them, enough for a gallon. We didn't have time Saturday, and I wanted to get some more ingredients and items before we started, so Id have enough for the coming wines I wanted to make.

So this past Monday I picked him up on our lunch break and we went to the local wine store, L and M and made some purchases. I bought some Pastuer Red yeast, a new 23 liter primary fermenter, and a 6 gallon carboy, along with some new air locks, stoppers, and some course-nylon mesh bags.

Monday night he came over and we made some awesome chicken spedies on the grill, popped open a magnum of Fisheye Pinot Grigio, and got to work cutting the peaches up. we gave them a good mashing and added the sugar water, tannin, yeast nutirent, acid blend and pectic enzyme and acid blend, and yesterday after the must cooled down I added the yeast, so thats starting!

After we cleaned up and finished with the wine, we started on the juice kit of pinot noir I got a while back. I cleaned the primary fermenter and sterilzed everything, added bentonite (Im not sure what that is, have to read about it) and water to the juice and added the oak chips and the yeast, and by yesterday, it was already bubbling and fermenting. Cant wait to sample that. I have to say, it was a lot of fun making wine with a friend!

After really loving the smell of the strawberry wine I made a gallon of and wrote about previously, I decided to make a whole lot more, about 5 gallons worth. I must have looked a little nutty driving home from work yesterday carrying 20 lbs of fresh strawberries in plastic bags on my scooter.

Man, cutting the tops off 20lbs of strawberries takes a while! The most fun part was after I put them in the nylon bag I beat the crap of them with my fists, making a nice frothy strawberry juice. I added 5 lbs of sugar I boiled in water and put the lid on it. The must was still really warm this morning, so I will add the yeast nutirent, acid blend and pectic enzyme tonight when I get home, then add the yeast tomorrow. I should have a lot of Strawberry wine to drink in a few months.


I will be racking a lot of this wine in the next two weeks, and I will upload pics at that time to finally show what my setup looks like.

Secondary Fermentation

Well All Right! Now Im on my way to making some wine! This past weekend I finally got the two wines I started a couple weeks ago into secondary fermenters. I removed the fruit from the strawberry after one week, after the PA (potential alcohol) was about 3-4, using my hydrometer. I then cleaned and sterilized with ammonia two 1 gallon jugs, and stoppers and airlocks, as well as much racking tube. After 2 weeks I did the same with the Blueberry. I let it sit overnight to let it precipitate out and then racked both of them into the clean 1 gallon jugs.

When moving wine with the racking tube, they recommended putting the fermenter three feet above the other while moving wine from one to the other using gravity. Here is a pic of that it looks like. to the right (note, this is NOT my wine setup, however, I WILL ADD some pics of that at some point soon, I promise!)

I had a bit more luck at 4 1/2 feet, and I put the tube to the side of the gallon jug to eliminate a lot of air getting into the mix, so it ran down the side instead of shooting into the middle of the jug, making bubbes and adding air, which IS NOW MY ENEMY. I filled the jugs to just about where the stopper fits, and labeled the outside of them with the date that I racked them. Within hours the sediment was precipitating and I was seeing bubbles, indicating some secondary fermentation was beginning. They will sit for at least a couple months before I rack them again to fine them and remove sediment. I am also looking into getting some marbles to add to the bottom of the fermenter to add volume to bring the level to the top again after I rack it again. This was recommended by my good friend Mike Sears, and I think its a great idea.

We had very warm weather here in Syracuse over the last few weeks, and with no air conditioning in my house, it provided an excellent environmentfor fermenting!

The strawberry smells awesome! Not like the blueberry, which smells very yeasty still. Im not sure if thats something I should be worried about, but man, it smelled good enough to drink already!

Next Stop: Peach, More Strawberry and Pinot Noir! My first real grape wine, which should be an interesting experience, of which I will write all about! My good friend Tim Wheeler requested when asked that he would like to see a peach wine, so Im going to bring him over one day soon and show him how to make one. Also, strawberries are cheap and in season now, so I am thinking about getting about 20lbs and trying to make an even larger batch of 5 gallons.

Blueberry and Strawberry Goodness - two new wines a'comin!

For my first two, I created the must in a 6 gallon primary fermenter for each fruit instead of of the way-too-small 1 gallon fermenter, to much better effect.  I used 4lbs of strawberries and 4 pints of blueberry for each, and about 3 quarts of water and 2 lbs of sugar for each. I cooked the water and sugar together, cut up the fruit, removing any nasty bits or stems and put them in a straining bag - I then added the pectic enzyme, tannin and yeast nutrient and let it sit for 24 hours.  I didn't use a campden tablet, decided not to, cause I would like to try to make wine without sulfites.  I also used ammonia to sterilize all my tools, instead of potassium metabisulfite (pot meta), since thats another source of sulfites in wine.  I've read much that sterilizing with ammonia, and cleaning it very well with hot water can of course be a very good sterilizing agent, as long as you make sure "every last molecule" of ammonia is washed away.  Yesterday I added my yeast after the must had cooled.  I chose Pasteur instead of montrachet, since I wanted to try something new.  I will see how it turns out in a few months!!!  

Stay tuned! As soon as my 6 gallon fermenters are free again, I am going to start a pinot noir from a juice kit I got.

I will let you know how the racking into the secondary fermenter and the hydrometer tests work out for me.  

Back Again with Cranberry and Blueberry Trials

Hello again, Im back, just going out now to get 3lbs of cranberries and 2lbs of blueberries to make some new 1 gallon batches, this time with a correct 6.5 gallon fermenter, so I dont have problems with the 2 gallon one overflowing like I did last time. I also now have 6 1 gallon jugs to use as secondaries and ones for fining the wine a bit more, so Im looking forward to getting back into it!

I will be back on here shortly with more info. All is well with mama and baby, so time to sneak down to the basement for some more winemaking experiments!

I also procured a ethernet enabled temp guage that will help me make sure the temp in my fermenting chamber is solid for making vinos!

I am going to have to start running NAGIOS on this Mac G3 I have to get the sensor data to be emailed to me on an hourly basis, which should be fun.

Kevin

Return

Hello, had some excitement in my life in the way of a new child, so Ive been quiet for a while. I plan on bringing home some ingredients this week and get cooking again with my new equipment! Cant wait to get back on to making some of my own wines!

Recent Purchases, Learned Responses, and Sterilizing

I recently got some more equipment, due to arrive soon. I am going to have to get some more yeast (Maybe montrachet, maybe a champagne - I have not decided) for my second attempt at this as well, and probably some #6 stoppers for the 1 gallon jugs.

Last night I ordered four gallon jugs for my third racking stage, and I also got another big 7.9 Gallon primary fermenter. My advice: this or the 6.5 gallon size should be used at all times, as opposed to anything smaller. While it might seem like over-kill, you never have to worry about over flow problems, and its much easier to punch down the must when you don't have to worry about the wine splashing up over the sides.

I also got a wine thief that is big enough to hold the hydrometer for easy measurements. I greatly saw the benefit of this when doing my initial testing using a beaker and turkey baster

A word on cleanliness: Sterilize everything that touches your wine.

There is a debate over the best methods for cleaning your fermenter, carboy, and instruments. Most people say that using some crushed Campden tablets swirled in the fermenter or carboy, oxy-clean or ammonia. I have been using ammonia, and rinsing it out very well. This method was recommended in one of the books I read, and the author swore that as long as you rinsed all of it away, using this should be no issue. I think oxyclean is also a good choice for letting a carboy or fermenter sit in for a while before use.

I will most likely be writing more on this topic shortly.

Reset! Im trying again.

Well, I knew it may happen and everyone told me it might! I am going to try this cranberry again most likely, or a blueberry. I need to both monitor the PA levels better, punch down the must and use a bigger fermenter for my batch. I did get some practice fiddling with regulating the temperature in the fermentation chamber. I also got a chance to mess with the hydrometer and the vinometer, which was very useful. I will be much better off this time!

I am setting up a computer and wireless network for my own purposes, which will also have a network-enabled temperature and humidity gauge set up to alert me if the temp drops in that chamber.

Where can I get those primary fermenters cheap? :)

Did I mess up? Maybe...

Well, I spent this past Sunday slow cooking the cranberries, chopped the golden raisins after letting them soak overnight, and boiled some water with some sugar in it to appropriate levels, and put it all in the 1.5 gallon primary fermenter with Yeast Nutrient, Pectic Enzyme, a little Tannin and some Acid Blend. I thought that I might have a problem when after putting it into my primary fermenter it was almost full, and had to let go of a bit of the water. Regardless, the lid fit over the top. I mashed down the fruit in the nylon bag real well, and I sallied forth. This is #1 lesson learned - Always use a primary fermenter container bigger than you think you will need. I could have just as easily used the 7.5 gallon one I had, with no real issues. I added the yeast the next day after it all cooled down and put the lid on it, where it then went in my fermenting chamber.

A word on my fermenting chamber. I have a large shelving unit downstairs, and I wrapped one of the shelves in Tyvek wrap and put a small space heater in there, where I was able to maintain a 75-80 degree temperature range, giving the yeast a nice warm environment for eating sugar and pooping out ethanol. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

Ive been punching down the must in the bag (which rises to the top, almost pushing up the lid, but I don't mind since it needs a little oxygen in there) every day since Monday, to make sure it stays nice and fresh and mixed. I use a cleaned potato masher to punch it down. I have to check the PA on Monday, and if its high enough (3-4) I will take out the fruit. I may also decide to let it sit on the skins a little more, but with Cranberry I worry about that making it too bitter.

I will let you know how it proceeds! Worst case scenario is that I try again real soon!

The start of Sweet Sweet Cranberry Wine...

Well, I got back a couple days ago and immediately went out to get my supplies.  I have to clean the fermenter and thaw out the cranberries, which I got frozen and preservative-free.  I allowed a pound of golden raisins to soak overnight, and I am going to bring the cranberries to a boil and add the sugar water shortly and place it all in the fermenter with some pectin enzyme, yeast nutrient and tannin.  I've decided to try not adding sulfites to my wine (no campden tablets), since I know a couple people who haver pretty bad allergic reactions to it, and I just don't think it will be needed in the process.  More to come this afternoon, Im not adding the yeast in until tomorrow, so that should be when all the fun starts.

Two Fruit Wines Im Going to Try First

I think I am going to start with a blueberry and a cranberry wine. Id like to get fresh fruit, but I may have to settle for frozen in the case of the cranberries. Thats fine in some regards, as long as there is no preservatives in the frozen fruit and they are flash frozen. It can even help, since it splits the skins and makes it easier for them to give up the juice. Im going to try with a gallon of cranberry and possibly 5 gallons of blueberry. I will see how this goes. I want to try fruit wines before I move on to the more expensive Pinot Noir juice kit!!!!!

Im traveling a bit on business this week, but as soon as I get back Im going to get a few more implements at the dollar store. Ive got a list of some other things Id like before I get started. Ive found I can do a lot of shopping at the dollar store, especially for some basic items like you see below. If only they had carboys! Below that, are some items I need to get for my next trip to the wine store, the excellent L&M in Syracuse. www.landmwines.com

• Sugar (white refined) (multiple lbs, also get container to store it in)
• Large spoon (or other long implement to punch down must)
• Turkey baster (for wine thief)
• measuring spoons
• measuring cup
• Graduated cylinder? (or something long/cylinder to do the SG/PA test with)
  
• Container for implements
• digital thermometer
• spice rack for holding chemicals
  

I also want to get a scale so I can measure the weight of oak chips for some oaking later in the process. (Not for the fruit wines)

At Wine Store

• Yeast energizer
• 6 gallon kit riesling
• Titriable acidity test kit
• http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=7439
• Pasteur Champagne yeast
• wine thief
• Dual Scale liquid thermometer
• http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4719
• 1 gallon carboys

A Modest Beginning

Well, here I am, long time wine drinker, first time wine maker. Ive bought a lot of equipment, juice and read countless web pages and lots of nice print on the subject. I think Im ready to make my first fruit wine...

Follow me as I take a journey down the winding path of winemaking?