# Started Daylily Wine!



## MedPretzel (Sep 8, 2005)

Starting to look good! I used the common day lily - the orange one that is not posoinous and grows everywhere.


I've made a 5 gallon batch using the following recipe:


12 qts day lily petals, lightly packed
2cans ofApple Juice frozen concentrate 
Water to 5 gallons
10 poundsgranulated sugar
10 tsp acid blend
2 tsp powdered grape tannin
3 tsp yeast nutrient
Lalvin 72B-1122 yeast



Pick petals only and wash. Be careful to remove all green portions of stem, as this can cause illness. Bring water to a boil and stir in sugar until dissolved. Remove from heat and quickly pour overlily petalsin primary. Cover primary and set aside for five minutes. Add remaining water and apple juice concentrate to cool the must. Stir in the remaining ingredients and activated yeast, cover, and put in a warm place for five days,stirring gently each day. Drip drain and discard petals. 





I'm not this far yet, but this is the rest of the methodology:


Pour liquid into secondary fermentation vessel and fit airlock. When wine clears, rack into clean secondary, top up and refit airlock. Rack, top up and refit airlock every 30 days as long as even a fine dusting of lees form. When wine stops throwing sediment for 30 days, rack into bottles and age 6-12 months before tasting. 





_[Adapted and modified from Jack Keller's recipe.]_


----------



## Waldo (Sep 8, 2005)

I have to ask Martina..How long does it take one to pick 12 quarts of flower petals?


I would like to see some pictures of the flowers in fermentation


----------



## kaizen (Sep 8, 2005)

Way too cool. I know a couple of breeders (daylilies, and I don't
want to even go there.) and can get flowers in a snap. How is the
wine supposed to taste?


----------



## MedPretzel (Sep 8, 2005)

As to the taste, I have no idea. This is my first daylily wine. 





How long does it take? Well.




It was a 95 degree, 95 % humidity day, so it seemed like it was 100 hours, but in actuality, it was quite quick (maybe 1/2 hour?). My mom has huge daylily beds in her garden, and since the cat was away (in Europe), and you know how mice will play (hehehe), I raided her daylily stash. They would have all died by the time she got back anyway. I just picked them off the stems, and went inside to the nice, air-conditioned house and destemmed/deflowered them (hey, where are your minds!) and rinsed them off in about 1 hour. So, all in all, it took me about 2 hours, I would say. I put them in the freezer there, raced over to my house in a cool, air-conditioned car, and they've been in the freezer ever since, until the day beforeyesterday.





I have taken some pictures. Just nag me to post them. I'm too lazy to get the camera now. It's a nice light-orangey-pink color right now, and the yeast was pitched yesterday. It's takin' off like a storm.





I might have to add more concentrate to it, since JK's site said "2 cans" for a one gallon batch, but I added a little more daylily to get the daylily umpf.





We will see.









Remember: Nag me. I might not get to it til Sunday (QuiToBee WineFest on Saturday), but I will definitely remember.


----------



## kaizen (Sep 8, 2005)

Nag nag nag. Consider yourself nagged, you deflowerer of little flowers.


----------



## Waldo (Sep 9, 2005)

Knowing that the best things in life are worth waiting for and being in training from Hippie to learn patience I will defer my nagging. At leat until after Sunday. No pictures by Sunday !! The nagging will begin


----------



## MedPretzel (Sep 9, 2005)

The daylilies.... Frozen... More to come soon.


----------



## Waldo (Sep 9, 2005)

Looks good Martina....They look like............Daylilies


----------



## kaizen (Sep 9, 2005)

I think you need more yellow.


----------



## MedPretzel (Sep 10, 2005)

Stirring the daylily.....


----------



## Waldo (Sep 10, 2005)

I am trying to imagine what that will taste like Martina.


----------



## MedPretzel (Sep 12, 2005)

Another pic of daylilies in the carboy:














I still have yet to top up. The SG is at about 1.060 now, but I added some sugar water, so the SG was initially lower (it was at 1.050 before transferring).


----------



## Waldo (Sep 12, 2005)

Bubble, Bubble, No Stems or Rubble


Daylilies Fermenting, Look at them Bubble


----------



## Waldo (Sep 21, 2005)

Comon Martina...whats the latest on the daylilies


----------



## MedPretzel (Sep 21, 2005)

Oddly enough, Waldo, the daylily wine is still bubbling away at a very quick pace. SG is at about 1.040.... I think we'll have liftoff any minute!












I've been superduper busy (got my juice yesterday, will post pics soon). Pitched the yeast for Niagara and Concord winestonight.



*Edited by: MedPretzel *


----------



## MedPretzel (Sep 24, 2005)

Still bubbling away!


----------



## MedPretzel (Oct 6, 2005)

The bubbling has died down a little. It was a very active fermentation, and it looks very pink right now, yet a little bit lighter than the picture shown.





The smell is very good.


----------



## MedPretzel (Oct 6, 2005)

Daylily wine update:














Hmmm. Just noticed that it looks darker... In real, it seems lighter than before. Strange?!?!? Doodoodoodoo! (Twilight Zone theme)


----------



## MedPretzel (Oct 15, 2005)

Well, it's still slightly bubbling. Just discretely, but still there.





I have a suspicion that some MLF is going on (sigh). But that's okay. I racked it tonight and topped it up with some concord. 





We'll see. I'm becoming skeptical.














Martina


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 9, 2005)

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I have posted something about the daylily wine.


I jumped the gun today and racked. Yesterday I added sparkelloid to the wine, and it cleared considerably overnight. 


Waldo, I thought of you.






It has cleared beautifully, and I still cannot get over how much it cleared since last night. I think I really am going to like this one, and might even do another batch next summer. 


I tasted a bit while I racked, and it seems that I will sweeten this one up a bit. I stabilized today, and must wait another few weeks (if I can manage that!) to see if any more sediment will fall. Then, my plan will be to filter, and then to bottle a week or so after that. 


That is the initial plan.


----------



## Steve in KC (Nov 9, 2005)

what does it taste like?


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 9, 2005)

Very fruity. I know this isn't going to help a whole lot, but it tastes a lot like my hibiscus wine. 


It's going to be sweetened up, I think. I still can't quite decide for sure. Maybe I'll do 1/2 and 1/2.


Does this help?


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 12, 2005)

Very gassy at the moment, and will filter. 





A couple of months (hopefully) and then it'll be bottled.


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 16, 2005)

NOt quite clear yet.









*Edited by: MedPretzel *


----------



## jobe05 (Nov 16, 2005)

Wow Thats got pretty color to it.


Now we nees a sniffer and tasting link on this forum so we can all sample each others wines........ Ya think George can work that out?.......


Nah...... I shouldn't have said that, now it's going to drive him nuts to see if he can do it.


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 18, 2005)

Okay, I couldn't stand it any longer, and I filtered tonight.











Me, in not such a good picture.









But the daylily filtered well:


----------



## bilbo-in-maine (Nov 19, 2005)

Nice, Martina! Is that the first pass?


----------



## masta (Nov 19, 2005)

Wine has a beautiful color and looks like the filtering did wonders for it.


Nice to see a face with the post and not just a hand...LMAO!


----------



## PolishWineP (Nov 19, 2005)

You are in inspiration to me! I want to start branching out into other things. (Dang! Can't quit that job or comute yet. Note to self, figure out way to buy more time...) The day lily is what really got my attention. I do need to learn which plants are a danger to me though, before planting! Keep up the great work!


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 19, 2005)

Aw, thanks everyone!





Bilbo, This is the first and only pass through the filter. I usually only do it once, and it seems to work well. I have a medieval-vinbrite gravity filter, and it's just a time thing. One day I will have to get myself one of those mini-jets everyone loves so much! 





Masta, thanks for the nice compliments! IWhen I look at the pictures now, I keep thinking, I should have straighented up my work-area!!!!! Luckily, you don't see where I keep my supplies (bottles, empty and filled), this-n-that, etc...





PWP, thanks for your kind words. It's _you all _who inspire _me_. Daylily wine is excellent, and I can only recommend to make it. I will post tasting notes and what I would do differently once I've bottled it.









thanks again, everyone!








Martina


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 20, 2005)

I guess this is one of the last updates for the daylily wine procedure:


I bottled tonight. YAY!





And I thought I'd give Stinkie a run for his money



:





Here it goes!!!














Proper sanitation is a must for your equipment. I got a no-rinse sanitizer from FINEVINEWINES to do the trick (LDCarlson)











Not only is it important to have clean bottles when starting to bottle, but you must sanitize them as well. Here are the unsanitized, yet clean bottles (faced down in the box so I know I have cleaned them thoroughly).











The bottles were sanitized in a 5 gallon, food-grade pail. The bottle tree is from FINEVINEWINES and here you can see the 24+ bottles on it:














After sanitizing the bottles, you need to work fairly quickly, but it's important not to forget your other equipment. Very bad photo, since Spencer decided he wanted to see what was going on. (I tried to cut him out, but he's still there!) 














Now the bottling can begin!














After about 24 bottles, the 187-gift bottles are filled and foreseen with their santized caps:














Awwwww....



One 187 bottle was not quite filled.... Shhhh!














Ahemmm... Back to winemaking: Here are my bottles without corks:














I only use FINEVINEWINES corks. They sit nicely and are a breeze to put in.A quick dip (5 at a time, usually) in the sanitizing solution, and off we go. Hmmm. I wonder why my hand is so unsteady?














And here the (almost) final product:














I'm going to let them sit for about a week the way they are, and then think about putting the labels on them. 





That's it!


----------



## Waldo (Nov 20, 2005)

Bravo!! Bravo !!



Bravo !!






Martina you have excelled once again my good frtend


----------



## bilbo-in-maine (Nov 20, 2005)

There's no doubt you gave Stinkie a run, and then some..

But what is your Palmolive? Chew on that and then let us know!

By the way, the series of photos was not only entertaining, but also 
informative. I think a number of us newbies got some valuable pointers on 
how to go about a bottling session. Thanks so much.

Bill


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 21, 2005)

Yikes,






I forgot a Polly Palmolive!!






I guess I have no mascot, except my cats, but some people think they shouldn't be around the wine (which they usually aren't). But whenever they see the camera, they're THERE, stuck like glue tome.


----------



## bilbo-in-maine (Nov 21, 2005)

Martina, Stinkie has Palmolive sewn up. You need your own "brand item". 
There must me some quirky Cleveland object sitting on one of your 
shelves. Look with more than your eyes, Grasshopper...


----------



## jobe05 (Nov 21, 2005)

MArtina, those look really good. I have bben toying with the idea of doing some 187ML bottles with every batch for tasting over a period of time. The ones I have found at my local shop takes #7 corks. Although this is fine, your screw caps have me intrigued. Were they used? Just often wondered how a home brew could get those caps on with the bottom part of the cap that is serrated (sp), so they break when first opened. Is there a capper for this type cap?


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 21, 2005)

I reuse them. One of my sources for bottles loves to sell sutter home white zin in the 187 ml bottles. I take great pains (!!!) to sanitize everything and to reuse the caps. If the caps do not close well, out they go (thrown away). I know a lot of people are hesitant to re-use the caps, but I really haven't hada leaker yet. I store the wines upright in a milk-crate. I have to say that usually, I can re-use the caps 2 times, and then their time is up.











Again, if I notice that the threads are loose, the cap is thrown away. I don't even try to mess with it.





I also use beer bottles, which are seen here (top part of the "X")











I like them because they are perfect for 2 glasses of wine - for dinner or for just those "only 1 glass of wine" evenings. I didn't do it with my hibiscus wine, only because I'm too lazy.





Bottom line: Cleaning the bottles and sanitation is everything. I haven't had any problems with them at all. *Edited by: MedPretzel *


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 21, 2005)

I couldn't wait.



























Here we go a-labeling!


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 21, 2005)

Oh yes, I tried something new out today when labeling. (Can you find my mascot?)





I used plain copier paper (2.88 at walmart) and cut the labels with a paper cutter. (3 across, 3 down, lots of excess because the darn printer can't print closer to the edges) I used a glue-stick to put them on. I did the edges all around and then an "X" in the middle, from each corner to the opposite one.





The printer has been acting up with the colors lately (I think one color is close to empty) so the labels are a lot pinker than the original label I had designed. I still think it looks decent, and the only place where you really notice that it's not "correct" are the 187-gift bottles.





Bummer.





But, that concludes the daylily wine and most likely post until "real aging" has taken place and my husband can give me his input.



I couldn't take it, and opened the first bottle (duh!) tonight, and gave it to my husband to try. He LOVED it. He said it had the right bite, the sweetness and taste. He couldn't believe it was daylily (I always ask him what he thinks it is!). He said it tasted like a fruity-grape wine.


It's been fun (as always) and I hope someone else is daring enough to make it. It's a great recipe as it is, and quick to clear and no hassles. What would I do differently? At this point, I probably would add a wee bit more acid (maybe 1 tsp more for 5 gallons). I'm interested to see how this one ages. 6 more days, and it's off in the green bin with these bottles. Outta sight, (not quite) outta mind.



*Edited by: MedPretzel *


----------



## jobe05 (Nov 21, 2005)

I like that label, good job and thanks for the pics.


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 21, 2005)

Thank you.







For completion, here's what it was supposed to look like.


----------



## bilbo-in-maine (Nov 21, 2005)

Beautiful label - I think the reverse text is a great idea if the wine is dark. 

I mentioned the mascot at one of the other threads. It will be fun to see its 
story evolve!


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 21, 2005)

Thanks for the input on the label. I was a little sad that it turned out SO PINK!





The orangey color would have been better, I think. I guess yellow is the color that's missing.


----------



## Steve (Nov 22, 2005)

Martina,


What software do you use to make your labels? I made my first one with word, but it isn't as good as yours.


Steve


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 22, 2005)

I use an older version of Corel. It is very complicated to learn, so that's why I stuck with an older version (8). It does just about anything I want it to do, though. I have to say, it was worth the pains of learning the program.





Thanks for the compliment!


----------



## MedPretzel (Nov 23, 2005)

My parents and my husband tested the wines on 2 different occasions:





The general consensus is: A keeper!!!!


----------



## Waldo (Nov 25, 2005)

That is an awesome label Martina


----------



## poppysue (Jul 27, 2006)

I have a big daylily collection too.Your wine looks so pretty ... I think I'll have to try this.


----------



## poppysue (Jul 29, 2006)

I started my batch today. I decided to try 1 gallon for starters. If I like it I'll make a bigger batch next year. I filled a pot with blooms and brought them inside to clean and remove petals










I tasted each different cultivar before I added it to the pot. There were probably 2 out of 25 or 30 kinds that had a bitter or biting taste. They tatse a little like lettuce. This pile here was almost enough for 2 gallons.I went out and picked a few more and froze enough for the second gallon batch. 








Here they are in the primary.


----------



## MedPretzel (Jul 29, 2006)

Looking good!


----------



## dfwwino (Aug 25, 2006)

I think Martina or Waldo need to add a "How to" for label making to the library above. I have zero artistic talent and need all the help I can get.


----------



## Runningwolf (Jul 11, 2013)

Ok folks, today as I was out strolling in the gardens with my wife it got me to thinking about daylily wine. We have made salads and hors d'oeuvers with daylilies so why not. So with that said I thought I would bring back to life this very old thread. I only wish the original poster was still around on the forum to talk to.


----------



## Sammyk (Jul 11, 2013)

I was intrigued and kept reading and then realized how old the thread is! Can anyone describe the taste of the wine? And how does one know which varieties are edible or can be used for wine?


----------



## derunner (Jul 11, 2013)

I trimmed back some of my daylilies this spring as they were expanding into my garden. I may have to rethink this if I can make wine out of these flowers.


----------

