# Choke cherry getting bubbly



## pwrose (Aug 13, 2010)

Well not just yet,,,,

Started with 12 total lbs of cherries boiled them down into 1 gallon of juice that was refridgerated with 1/2tsp petic enzyme for a couple of weeks. Here is the recipe and the numbers for the start of this wine.

1 gallon chokecherry juice
2 gallons of water
Measured the SG at 1.022 the acid at .3% and the ph was above 4.4 (thats the highest my strips went)
Added the following to the primary with the juice and water
2300 grams of sugar (should be right around 1.090 SG)
6 tsp acid blend (increases at .15% per tsp per gallon should give me around .6%)
1.5 tsp tannin
3 tsp yeast nutrient
1.5 tsp yeast energizer
1.5 tsp pectic enzyme
Stirred everything well to disolve the sugar and to mix in the other ingredients. Put the top on the primary with a clean cloth covering up the airlock hole. I will check the SG, acid, and pH agian in the morning and plan to pitch the RC212 yeast then as well.

I have tried chokecherries straight off the tree and boy are they bitter, but after adding sugar to them they make one heck of a cherry juice drink. My wife, son, and daugher kept comming back wanting another little shot glass of the juice.


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## winemaker_3352 (Aug 13, 2010)

Yeah they are bitter - but with some sugar they aren't bad.

Mine is in the secondary now - not too bad so far - a little astringent.


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## Goodfella (Aug 13, 2010)

I think that is a great looking recipe that will turn out very nice.


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## pwrose (Aug 14, 2010)

Checked the SG this morning and it was exactly where I was wanting it at 1.090
I tried to check the pH but the test strips turned too red with juice to get a reading on it so I decided to just wait until later when it goes into the secondary to recheck it and check the acid at that time as well.

All looked good so the RC 212 yeast was pitched.

A new wine is being born, can't wait to see how it turns out.


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## Wade E (Aug 14, 2010)

I know a lot of people who make this up north and love it.


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## pwrose (Aug 15, 2010)

Within less than 12 hours I returned home to find a nice thick cap on the top. It was puched down and stirred really good.

If this one turns out good I have found access to abuot 10 more trees with cherries so next years batch will be oh in the range of 12+ gallons.


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## winemaker_3352 (Aug 15, 2010)

What color is your must - mine was a deep red color - was actually quite pretty.


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## pwrose (Aug 15, 2010)

It is almost black it is so red.
When i first tested the pH and acid it wasn't as dark as it is now. I tried to test the pH 12 hours after I mixed it all up before adding the yeast and it turned the pH strip so red I couldn't read it.


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## pwrose (Aug 16, 2010)

I stirred the must for the last time today and tried what was left on the spooon,,,,, that was a mistake.

These cherries are not meant to be eaten off the tree and once all the sugar has fermented out it isn't meant to try as a dry wine at least not an early dry wine...... 
This will most definately need backsweetening and alot of it.... LOL


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## countrygirl (Aug 16, 2010)

i kinda figured...one of the reasons i didn't try this as a newbie...i'm gonna learn from u, lol...
i also found tons of extra trees while picking blackberries. i found it amazing how one tree could be completely ripe on one end of the field, and one no where near ripe on the other end
you be sure and let us know how the backsweetening goes!


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## winemaker_3352 (Aug 16, 2010)

pwrose said:


> I stirred the must for the last time today and tried what was left on the spooon,,,,, that was a mistake.
> 
> These cherries are not meant to be eaten off the tree and once all the sugar has fermented out it isn't meant to try as a dry wine at least not an early dry wine......
> This will most definately need backsweetening and alot of it.... LOL



Yeah - not sure how yours tasted - but mine was very atringent - i back sweetened it and it helped a lot - going to let it age a while and retest - i might need to sweeten some more later on.


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## Wade E (Aug 16, 2010)

I know the people who were on the other forum I admin lovedit dry but in my opinion lots of fruit wines need at least a light sweetening.


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## pwrose (Aug 16, 2010)

The best way to describe it is to take a handfull of cherries right off the tree and put them all in your mouth and mash the juice out. If you can handle that then I think you might like this wine dry.
On the other hand I think that it will be a really really good wine once it has been sweetened and aged. I would tend to think this is one of those wines that would require 2-3 years of aging to be at its best, maybe longer.

Next year I think I will leave the extra tannin out of it, Wade what do you think about that, would it hurt the final wine to leave it out?


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## winemaker_3352 (Aug 17, 2010)

pwrose said:


> The best way to describe it is to take a handfull of cherries right off the tree and put them all in your mouth and mash the juice out. If you can handle that then I think you might like this wine dry.
> On the other hand I think that it will be a really really good wine once it has been sweetened and aged. I would tend to think this is one of those wines that would require 2-3 years of aging to be at its best, maybe longer.
> 
> Next year I think I will leave the extra tannin out of it, Wade what do you think about that, would it hurt the final wine to leave it out?



I totally agree - i think it will need more time.


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## pwrose (Aug 22, 2010)

I have been out of town for the last 3 days and haven't been around to update any of the wines I have going. Well I am back and here is the update for the chokecherry.
It was in a 5 gallon carboy even though there was only 3 gallons however it wasn't in there very long and it was still fermenting when it was put in there so the CO2 was displacing the air pretty good. When I check the SG it was at .996 So it was racked into a 3 gallon carboy with sorbate added. I will let it clear for a month or so and at the next racking I will be backsweetening it.


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## pwrose (Sep 5, 2010)

Going to backsweeten this today or tomorrow depending on how fast a response gets posted.

Heres my delima, I want this wine to be a sweet sweet wine, somewhere around 1.020-1.025 SG. Using the wine calc I come up with somewhere around 1kg of sugar.
The measured SG is .994 with a target of 1.025. Since the wine calc I have doesn't allow me to put any value less than 1.000 for the measured SG, I added the .006 to the target to get a 1.031 value for the calc only. That figure gave me an amount of sugar just shy of 1kg.

Does this sound about right for a 3 gallon batch?


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## Tom (Sep 5, 2010)

I would not just add sugar directly to back sweeten.
Make a simple syrup 2 parts sugar 1 part water. When I make simple syrup I make at least 1/2 gal. I use spaghetti jars for measurement. Make at least 2 jars. So,4 jars sugar 2 jars water. 
Make sure you have added enough Sorbate before adding the simple syrup. Start with adding 1 jar mix well and check the gravity. Oh did I say TASTE it. Better have SWMBO taste it. repeat till you/she likes it.


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## pwrose (Sep 5, 2010)

Oh I don't add just sugar, I make a syrup out of it.
I was more wondering if the numbers were correct. However I have done it already, I used 1 kg of sugar made into a simple syrup. I put the syrup into the primary and then racked the wine into the primary with it. Gave it a good stir and checked the SG and it was at 1.022, so a test glass was in line. Well sweetness was fine however it still had the serious pucker effect. It is drinkable only if you like the bitterness, I expect this to go away with time. Next years batch will not have the extra tannins added to it. I can say that this has got to be one of the best smelling wines I have made outside of the blackberry. I will certainly be making two batches of this next year. Oh one thing that I did do with the syrup was I added 3 tbsp of vanilla extract to it, you can't taste it right now but I think that is because of the bitterness of the wine itself. With any luck with some age it will turnout to be a nice sweet cherry vanilla wine.

PS: the wife doesn't really like to drink wine, well at least not until she had some of the blackberry but she still is not sure she wants to have a glass of the others yet. Fine by me --- I mean thats more for me,, LOL.


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## Tom (Sep 5, 2010)

REMEMBER the 3 P's"
Patience X 3
Plus Time is your BEST friend


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## pwrose (Dec 7, 2010)

Well its only been 4 months since I started this one and it still has some aging to go, however I am finally starting to taste the improvements.
It was very bitter last time I racked it and at that time it was backsweetened to 1.022.
The backsweetening took some of the bitterness away, but now three months since then it is really starting to smooth out. It still is bitter but it is atleast pallatable. I can't wait for another 3 months to pass. This will be a great wine to go with a thick ol porterhouse, or some good and rare primerib.


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## winemaker_3352 (Dec 8, 2010)

pwrose said:


> Well its only been 4 months since I started this one and it still has some aging to go, however I am finally starting to taste the improvements.
> It was very bitter last time I racked it and at that time it was backsweetened to 1.022.
> The backsweetening took some of the bitterness away, but now three months since then it is really starting to smooth out. It still is bitter but it is atleast pallatable. I can't wait for another 3 months to pass. This will be a great wine to go with a thick ol porterhouse, or some good and rare primerib.



This is like deja vu - what you just explained is exactly how my choke cherry is doing.


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## Julie (Dec 8, 2010)

pwrose said:


> Well its only been 4 months since I started this one and it still has some aging to go, however I am finally starting to taste the improvements.
> It was very bitter last time I racked it and at that time it was backsweetened to 1.022.
> The backsweetening took some of the bitterness away, but now three months since then it is really starting to smooth out. It still is bitter but it is atleast pallatable. I can't wait for another 3 months to pass. This will be a great wine to go with a thick ol porterhouse, or some good and rare primerib.



PW you are making me hungry. I have a choke cherry wine going right now as well but I mixed it with some elderberry. I am planning on stabilizing and backsweetening this weekend. I have not tried this at all and getting curious as to what it taste like. Glad to hear yours is coming along so well.


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## pwrose (Dec 8, 2010)

I was going to bottle it when I racked it this time, but decided since I didn't need the carboy right now I would just put it back in and bulk age for a little longer. I am however going to be bottling my elderberry port this weekend and backsweetening my blueberry.

I know that next years choke cherry and elderberry harvest wont get here soon enough.
I already ordered a fine mesh screen that I am going to make a net out of to catch the choke cherries, that is if the trees are as full as they were this year. I am thinking at least 10 gallons or more next year.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Aug 10, 2015)

When you boiled the berries you also boiled the seeds, is this releasing to much tannins from the seeds then? Would a freeze then thaw plus enzymes get the juice out without to much bitterness, or at least extra tannins coming from the seeds maybe? I am asking because we just harvested our first chokecherries from our own bushes this year. We were considering steam juicing them vs doing a boil. Also Cassien fining agents are supposed to be able to pull out excessive tannins, some suggest to use in elderberry wines but I think chokecherries might have a bit more tannins than elderberries! WVMJ


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## GreginND (Aug 10, 2015)

Jack, FYI - this thread is 5 years old. 

Good info though. I use my chokecherries fresh - never cooked - steam juiced or otherwise.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Aug 10, 2015)

Yeah I know, these should be getting good by now I have a ziplock full of chokecherries and a bunch of really dark honey to stand up to them. When you do them raw, freeze and thaw in the must and let them soak in the primary for how long? More should be coming next year, if this years batch is good I can get the wife to help me pick more! WVMJ


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