# 1st Time Wine Maker (Help)



## wvpcdoc (Nov 24, 2006)

I am making my 1<SUP>st</SUP> batch of wine and since I lack experience I have some questions. I am making a three gallon batch of Elderberry wine. Here is my time frame so far. Do these numbers look normal. 
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Started on 11/15/06
11/16 Added Yeast
11/17 Stirred 
11/18 Stirred
11/19 Stirred
11/20 Stirred
11/21 Stirred and test = 1.050
11/22 Stirred and test = 1.030

&gt;&gt; Is it normal to drop .020 in one day?

11/22 The recipe said when it reached 1.040 to move it into the secondary container. So I racked the must into the secondary container.

The recipe said to test it again in 3 to 4 weeks and it should read between 1.010 to 1.000 then add crashed Camped tablets.

11/24 I thought I better test it again since it dropped 0.20 in 24 hours the last time I tested it. Well it tested 1.050 the 1<SUP>st</SUP> time and I drained it and tried it again and it tested 1.000. I repeated my test two more times and it read 1.000.

Should it have dropped that low?


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## redderthebetter (Nov 24, 2006)

From what I see, you are right on target.1!.03 is my normal pri to sec goal. Some wines are real slow(blueberry) and some are done before you know it(Blackberry in three days). At least that has been my experience. Now just let is sit and settle for 2-3 weeks. Rack and then either finish, and bottle, or bulk age it. I have never tried elderberry, thoughI think I weedeated a bunch this summer before I knew the difference. Good luck.


Making scratch fruit wines is the coolest thing. It's totally easy,but people around you think you are some sort of wizard. when you let them taste your creations.


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## Wade E (Nov 24, 2006)

When you are putting the hydrometer in the must do you spin . Spinning
the hydrometer gives you a true reading because it breaks up all the
air bubbles that suspend the hydrometer and give it a false high
reading sometimes especially in a wine thief. Also, the smaller the
batch and the higher the temp. of the must to a certain degree, the
faster the fermentation.


*Edited by: wadewade *


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## wvpcdoc (Nov 24, 2006)

Thanks for the info redderthebetter 


Yep I gave it a good spin. What threw me off was it read high the 1st time and I let the wine out of the wine thief and captured some new then tried it again and got the lower reading then repeated it again and got the same low reading. 


So on the stage that I am at now should it stay around 1.000 or will it go up or down? I guess what threw me off was on the recipe it said "Test it again in 3 to 4 weeks and it should read between 1.010 to 1.000 then add crashed Camped tablets." I just thought it took the 3 to 4 weeks to drop down between 1.010 - 1.000.


So what I get from redderthebetter is that it is ok for it to read 1.000 at this stage.


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## Cracked Cork (Nov 25, 2006)

Fellow Mountaineer, a recipie is a guide, they cant know the temp of
your house, they can only give you a guide. Take the landmarks as
important, such as racking at 1.03, adding camden after 1.00 but pretty
much ignore the specific number of days, your hydrometer knows what is
going on and that is your guide to when you have to do
something. Did you go out and pick your own berries? We are in
the eastern panhandle and there are not too many to pick here so we had
to grow our own.



Today we are going to sit back and watch the game and sip 8 year old homemade blackberry wine!



Crackedcork


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## rshosted (Nov 25, 2006)

It sounds like it is pretty much done. It may drop a little still (to .996) this is becuase even though 1.00 is the 'bottom' the alcohol will actually have your hydrometer show a lower reading than 1.00.

I would just suggest you get it racked off the main lees (as they will rot if you don't) and let it settle for another week. Rack again, and add your camden. 

MAKE SURE YOU CRUSH YOUR CAMDEN VERY VERY WELL. if there are small chunks, they do not disolve and you will have little white specks in your wine that never go away. And you won't be the first, nor the last to make that mistake.






Two other small tips (you may be doing them already as well) make sure you taste your wine everytime you test it. The experience can be beat! And make sure you keep all these great notes you are making and what you are posting in here with your thoughts. In six years when you are sitting back sipping on the best Elderberry wine you have ever made, you want to know exactly what you did so you can recreate it. I have had a few wines that will never be the same becuase I didn't keep track of what I did. (don't forget to keep track of the temperature if possible). 

Cheers! 
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## wvpcdoc (Nov 25, 2006)

Thanks for the info. I bought Vintners Harvest. I hope the game is as smooth as the wine!


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## wvpcdoc (Nov 25, 2006)

Thanks for the info rshosted!


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## wvpcdoc (Nov 25, 2006)

rshosted
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What did you mean when you said “I would just suggest you get it racked off the main lees (as they will rot if you don't) and let it settle for another week”


What did you mean by that? Now I am really showing my greenness J


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## Wade E (Nov 25, 2006)

The sediment at the bottom is called lees, and if left to long in the carboy the lees go bad and give the wine an off taste.


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## wvpcdoc (Nov 25, 2006)

Thanks wadewade !


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## kutya (Nov 26, 2006)

I just aquired about 10 lbs of elderberries, Could you post your recipe. I'm thinking I will steam these before I use them in a 3 gal batch.


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## rshosted (Nov 26, 2006)

Wade wade gotcha covered! 

So, I'm assuming your wine started to bubble and ferment?


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## bmorosco (Nov 27, 2006)

kutya said:


> I just aquired about 10 lbs of elderberries, Could you post your recipe. I'm thinking I will steam these before I use them in a 3 gal batch.




Steam Extraction......That must work pretty well!!


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## grapeman (Nov 27, 2006)

I don't know if I would want to steam extract the elderberries. If you do, try a very small amount first. When the elderberries ferment, and I'm assuming also steaming would do this, they give off a VERY STICKY greenish-yellow goooooo. You might really mess up your extracter if this happens. You will have to put a vegetable/olive,etc oil in you primary to get the gook to loosen up to clean out with soapy water. Other than that, it makes a very good wine. Good luck.


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## NorthernWinos (Nov 27, 2006)

What's in Elderberries to make the green goo??? Keep reading Posts about them and that gooey stuff....but hear that the wine is wonderful.
Kutya, if you steam extract the juice, let us know how it works...


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## wvpcdoc (Nov 27, 2006)

I got lucky and never had the green goo problem. Well so far I haven’t lol*Edited by: wvpcdoc *


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## wvpcdoc (Nov 27, 2006)

I purchased Vintners Harvest Fruit Bases and went off the recipe from it. I am not sure if it would be the same recipe using the actual elderberries. If you would like the recipe let me know and I will scan the label and send it your way.<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

I sampled my batch last night and it is not as sweet was I would like. I went used the full flavor recipe. Is there any way to sweating it or is it too late? I just started the 2-3 month stretch of letting it settle and clear.


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## kutya (Nov 27, 2006)

I'm re-thinking the steamer... I may just put them in a straining bag, and run with that???? I did not know they produced "goo"... I don't like goo....lol..... I may try your suggestions, and just do a small amount...


doc, I found a recipe that I'm going to run with... thanks jh


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## Wade E (Nov 27, 2006)

wvpcdoc, sweeting is done after the wine is clear and stabilized but
before you clarify if needed. Reason for that is that if you add sugar
before its time you will start fermentation all over again and your
alc. % will increase and usually overpower the taste of the wine. Once
the wine is done fermenting you can rack it off the sediment and either
bulk age until it is clear which I recommend, or add m-meta and sorbate
at that point and back sweeten. After sweetening you should wait a week
or two to make sure you dont have refermentation. If the wine is clear
at that point you may bottle. If not clear you can bulk age until clear
or add a clarifier.


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## pkcook (Nov 27, 2006)

WV,


I prefer my country wines sweet or off-dry. As Wade has said, let it finish and if you want it sweeter, first add k-meta and sorbate and then make a simple syrup of 2 parts sugar/1 part water and heat until sugar is disolved. I usually wait a few days before adding the syrup. 


Add the syrup to the sweetness you prefer and let it set for a week, a month, or longer.Keep an eye on it to make sure fermentation doesn'trestart. When you are sure it isn't, stir the heck out of it and wait another day or so and bottle.


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## Wade E (Nov 27, 2006)

Or you could use the wine conditioner to sweeten. You may also use
fruit juices to sweeten. What I usually do is buy all natural juice
from a health store, put it in a pot on the stove and reduce it down to
about half and add it. What this does is makes it into a concentrate of
pure fruit juice, no additives. It keeps all the flavor and sweetness
and you dont dilute the alc. to much that way.


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## wvpcdoc (Jan 8, 2007)

Well it’s been sitting for a few months. I just took a reading and its .990. Is that good or bad?<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

I gave it a taste today and it taste strong as Whisky! Now that I have my breath back lol I need to know the best way to back sweeten.


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## Wade E (Jan 8, 2007)

.990 is good. That means it has fermented all the way. Have you
added
stabilizer and k-meta yet? You must do this before sweetening or it may
start fermenting all over again and make more alc! What was the
starting SG on this batch. The easiest way to back sweeten is to make
up a batch of syrup consisting of 2 parts sugar to 1 part boiling water
to melt the sugar and add it in very slowly testing frequently and
making sure not to over sweeten because once over sweetened youll have
to add a commercial dry wine to bring it back to where you want it.
When you have reached the point at where you like it, check SG with
hydrometer and remember this # as it will probabaly be very close to
your target # for all your wines when back sweetening in the future.
Another way is to add juice or like I do is to reduce a juice in a pot
on the stove so as to keep all the sweetness but not dilute the wine to
much. The other option is to use a wine condtioner which is an inverted
sugar that is sold in wine making stores such as on this website. Some
people say that itgives it a funny taste though. As far as strong goes,
this will mellow out when sweetened a little and alot with more time!

*Edited by: wade *


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## wvpcdoc (Jan 8, 2007)

#1 i just added the potassium sorbate to stabilize it. how long should i wait now before i move to the back sweating process? <?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

#2 As for as the SG Test
11/20 1.050
11/21 1.030
11/24 1.000
11/26 1.000 added the campden tablets.
12/26 .990
1/8 .990
does that answer your question? since this is my 1st batch i am very green lol.

#3 i went off the 3 gallon "full fruit flavor" recipe.
when you say two part sugar 1 part water would i do something like two cups of sugar to one part 1? or would i make it in a bigger batch?


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## Cracked Cork (Jan 10, 2007)

WVPCDOC, good game wasnt it. You can make up as much syrup as you need,
just add 2 cups of sugar to 1 cup of water and boil until it clears,
dont walk away from it though, you gont want caramel! Congradulations
on your first batch of wine. Have you gotten your bottles yet?



Crackedcork in WV


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## Wade E (Jan 10, 2007)

You can add it now. Then let it sit for a week just to make sure she
dont start fermenting again. Very rare but is possible. Good luck.


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## wvpcdoc (Jan 10, 2007)

<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />Yep Cracked <?amespace prefix = st1 ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficearttags" /><st1:City wt="on"><st1lace wt="on">Cork</st1lace></st1:City> it was a good game  I ordered some a while back plus my family and friends have been saving them for me.

I want to thank everyone for holding my hand through my 1st batch! 

I am going to start looking into what to make next. This time of year fresh fruit is hard to get. Have any of you used Oregon Fruit Purees? If so which do your recommend?

wade: Thank you for guiding me through the whole process.


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## OilnH2O (Jan 13, 2007)

Doc, I noticed you hadn't gotten an answer to your question yet. I haven't tried the Oregon Fruit purees, but put that phase in the seach function on this forum, and it will pull up all the previous threads where that product was discussed. It looks like there are 5-6 of them, including this one!


That may help you out!


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