Aussie greenhorn

[Aussiewino]

Hi everyone. Stumbled upon this forum whilst trying to find some info about wine making.

Live in the sunshine coast hinterland, Queensland, Australia. Moved house earlier in the year, my new property has an abundance of fruit trees of all sorts.

Just had a big harvest of Jaboticaba berries, and without much freezer space kinda jumped headlong into making some wine with them. Unfortunately may have bungled my 1st effort, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

I basically mashed around 8kg (17lbs), put it in a 25litre (which I think is around 6 gal) brewing bucket. Filled with water and 4kg white sugar. Let sit 24hrs, then put in yeast, stirred and sealed with airlock.

I let it sit in this primary fermenter for 5 days, stirring daily. There seemed to be plenty of activity over this period, with a bubble gurgling through the airlock every 5-10 secs.

I removed the pulp bag, and transferred it over to a 25litre glass carboy 24hrs ago. Once the pulp was removed I had to top up with around 10litres of water to take it up close to the neck of the carboy. Sealed with a cork, and airlock.

In the meantime I had researched a bit more, and realised there was a bit more to it. SG readings, camden tabs, yeast nutrient etc. But I just followed a very basic recipe I found prior to knowing these things.

I ended up getting a SG reader and tested it when I put it in the glass carboy y'day, but unfortunately not at the start of the primary ferment. It was at 1040 y'day.

What's worrying me is there is absolutely no activity in the airlock since changing it out of the primary. I'm guessing it should still be popping some air out, is it a failure?

I've taken due care in sanitation with anything that is in the procedure. I'm concerned that I used a cork bung rather than rubber, and the addition of extra water may be a problem, but I really know nothing. What has potentially gone wrong, and if so is it salvageable?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tom]

Looks like a thin body wine is in your future.
I suggest 5-6 pounds per gal.
Did you add Pectic Enzyme?
1.040 reading? seems very high for now in fermentation. Whats the temp?
Without the starting gravity we are guessing.
Adding 10ltrs of water is really thinning it out. Next time put berries in a straining sack in TWO fermentors. Get water in the bucket and add sugar to 1.085. If making 6 gal add 5 1/2 gal (and split it in 1/2 for ea fermentor) total and the sugar you add willl bring it up to g gal.

 

[ibglowin]

Welcome, glad you found us!

 

[Julie]

Welcome to winemakingtalk

 

[Flem]

Welcome to the forum. I would love to visit your country some day. It's on my bucket list, but my bucket is empty.

 

[robie]

Welcome to our forum. Tom's the man, he can help you with those fruit wines. Just follow his suggestions.

 

[jtstar]

Welcome before you start your next wine post the recipe and ask any question that your not sure about so we can help you learn along your way great bunch of people on this forum

 

[winemaker_3352]

Welcome aboard!!!

 

[Arne]

Welcome Aussie,
I'll trade you some of your sunshine for some of this rainy snow we are getting today.
On your wine, we probably need a bit more info, but did you put campden in when you racked? That will stop a ferment, and how about your temperatures? Should be in the mid 70's Farenhiet or so. What yeast did you use? You could possibly have made enough alcohol to kill it off. If so, you can start a referment with some wine yeast. You can do a little research on it, but I would probably use red star champaine yeast. There are lots of others and you can check online for their characteristics. If you repitch, make a starter, a cup or so of warm water, a little sugar, some nutrient or energizer if you have it, then pour the wine yeast on top. Let it sit til it starts hydrating and moving a little, then add a cup or so of your wine must. Keep on adding a little must every couple of hours or so and when you get a quart or so going, pitch it all into your wine. It should take off again. If you added campden when you racked, you should probably wait 24 hours before pitching the new yeast. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[Aussiewino]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. I'll try and fill in a little more detail. I haven't added camden tabs at any time. It mid spring here, and being a subtropical area temps are warming up, but it's been very mild for this time of year. I have it currently in the bottom of my food pantry, temp is pretty stable in there around the mid 70's. I used 8g of R56 Vintners harvest brand yeast, it is a red wine yeast.

I checked it this morning and there is loads of tiny bubble activity going on, but no activity in the airlock. I'll try and attach a pic. I'm wondering if the cork stopper is a problem. It seems well sealed, and you'd think the airlock would prove the path of least resistance to any gasses anyway.

My spirits are somewhat bouyed by the bubble activity, any more thoughts people?

 

[Aussiewino]

A little more info.

Turns out the cork is way more porous than I expected. I sealed over it with some blu tac, and wouldn't you know it, bubbles started gurgling through the airlock every 5 secs or so.

I quickly uncorked it and put the SG reader in there, and resealed it. It's settled at 1040. I'm guessing it's OK to just leave it in there so it's easier to keep tabs on through the process?

So much for the mild weather, we got a taste of what's to come with temps in the high 80's and quite humid. Temp in the pantry was pushing 80. I plan to move the set up under the house where temps stay much cooler. I'm going to make a big poly styrene box to keep it well insulated, and keep any creepy crawlies out.

Once again, any advice on direction to take from here would be appreciated. Here's a pic of the Jabotica berries, anyone out there attempted a wine batch with these?

 

[robie]

Sounds like your fermentation is going.

80 at your place, huh, this morning it was 20F at mine.

Since you can't get into a place where you can keep the temperatures down a little lower, be sure to use a yeast strain that does well at your temperatures. You can also set your carboy in a larger bucket of water that is in contact with the floor or ground. That may help keep the temperature down a little.

Fermentation creates heat. The idea is that once fermentation starts going big, the temperature of the wine can rise 5 to 10F above the surrounding air temperature. The water will draw out some of that heat and help your wine stay at a reasonable temperature. Otherwise, the yeast will start dieing off if the temperature gets too high for them. Stress the yeast and you can get either a stuck fermentation or H2S, (or both).

Good luck.

 

[Aussiewino]

Hi everyone, long time since my original post. The 1st batch of Jaboticaba wine turned out surprisingly OK, if a little thin.

12mths down the track, and the tree has fruited heavily again. So I've started another batch. 30kgs of smashed berries, divided into 6 straining bags. 5kgs of sugar. 14 litres of water. All divided into 2 primaries, as per Tom's advice earlier in this thread. Thinking being, I will have enough liquid once the pulp bags are removed to fill my 25 litre carboy, and have some reserves for f pacs.

Put it all together 24hrs ago, with campden tabs and yeast nutrient. SG was at 1090.

I'm just about to pitch the yeast. I intended to add acid blend and pectinase y'day, but it hasn't arrived yet. And I unfortunately had to get a start on it due to time constraints. I'm hoping the acid blend and pectinase arrive tomorrow, and am wondering if it will be ok to add at that time?

After enjoying my initial efforts, I've decided to get a bit more serious, and give the wines every chance to turn out the goods.

I've also got 2 X 6 gal jugs of Mulberry wine, that I've just racked after 4 weeks in the secondary. I used a 75% - 25% fruit to water ratio, and it seems sufficiently flavoured, I'm very happy with it thus far.

2 days off summer here, and it's already hot and steamy. My mango trees are loaded with fruit, after a bust season last year. So they will be the next wine batch. Feel free to let me know of any good recipes.

Cheers all
Tim

 

[Chirata]

Jaboticaba

I am just beginning my first attemp at jaboticaba wine making and am curious how your seems to be doing?

 

[Aussiewino]

Hey Chirata. I only just racked it 2 days ago, and of course had a bit of a sample. The flavour is fantastic, with loads more body than my 1st attempt. It a little bitter, seems like it will really need ageing. Unlike my 1st batch, and a mulberry batch I have done which were quite smooth and palateable straight up. It's been in the secondary for around 8 weeks, and racked twice. I'll probably rack in another 4 weeks time and bottle. I'd prefer to bulk age it, but I need my 25litre carboy to start a mango wine as my trees are loaded with big juicy bowen mangoes.

Good luck

 

[Chirata]

Hey Chirata. I only just racked it 2 days ago, and of course had a bit of a sample. The flavour is fantastic, with loads more body than my 1st attempt. It a little bitter, seems like it will really need ageing. Unlike my 1st batch, and a mulberry batch I have done which were quite smooth and palateable straight up. It's been in the secondary for around 8 weeks, and racked twice. I'll probably rack in another 4 weeks time and bottle. I'd prefer to bulk age it, but I need my 25litre carboy to start a mango wine as my trees are loaded with big juicy bowen mangoes.

Good luck

I have put word out to a couple of folks who have jaboticaba trees that I'm willing to pay to pick! It's season may be done tho for this year. Anything you might do differently next time.
I messed up this first time around as I did not yet have a bag. So I began without one then 3 days later I fond some and put most of the pulp inside and then removed it from the primary while I added my sugar. Without a second pair of hands I improvised and set the bag on the upside down fermenter lid by the kitchen sink while I checked SG and measured sugar etc....then I heard a load splat and realized that my gorgeous bag of skins had fallen on the floor. I placed it in the sink for further review when, while I was distracted my husband came and washed his hands....grrrrrrr, at that point I figured the good stuff was a moot point and tossed it in the composter. It had 3 days but I would have preferred several more. How many days do you think the pulp/ skins should stay in the primary since it has so much tannin?
Love to share ideas with you since I am starting out with jaboticaba for now then maybe some dragon blood (I have lemon trees too) then eventually some kits to tide me over to next season....
Aloha,
Colett

 

[plonklab]

Old thread but there are still questions I may help with.
Jaboticaba is without question the best fruit wine i've ever made. Here's a 1 gal recipe, i made in 2005. I've not been able to get enough fruit since then or I would have done it again.
1.2 kg Jaboticaba fruit pulp (seeds removed but skin on.)
1 kg raw sugar
1 tsp acid blend
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp pectic enzyme
yeast ec-1118

Get the skins out after 5-7 days, loaded with tannins. The wine had good body. Don't even think about drinking it until it's a year and it will take a while to clear but it's well worth the wait. if you cna get Jaboticabas and you can pitch a good amount healthy yeast you can't go wrong.

 

[Aussiewino]

Hey Chirata, I left it on the skins for five days. Because I had so much pulp in there it was hard to keep it punched down. I'll wait until I've sampled some in a years time, before making consideration for change.

Thanks Plonklab. They sure are an amazing fruit, and incredible tree. Mine had another flush of flowers on it, just as I picked this batch back in november. The berries just started forming, but the prolonged dry spell stopped them in their tracks, and I thought they would fail.

As you well know, we are right now experiencing an incredible rain event, starting up your way in FNQ, and literally just passing me by now in the Noosa hinterland. We have had 550mm+ of rain here in the past 3 days!!! Our American friends here probably won't quite comprehend this, that's something like 22"!!!! Luckily I live on a high ground, because there's some serious flooding going on.

Back on topic my Jaboticaba and Grumichama trees have instantly burst back into action. The dormant berries have turned back to bright green and doubled in size overnight. So I'm super excited that I'm going to have another crop ready soon!

 

[Chirata]

Mahalo polnkLab and AussieWino,

I tried some jaboticaba wine 12 years ago that a friend made and went right out and planted 2 trees. She has since passed before I got the recipe but I now finally harvested 16 lbs of the fruit and thought I'd dive in to replicate it as it was the best fruit wine I'd ever had as well!
Next year with your recipes and advice and better wine making knowledge ill be better prepared. In the meantime I'm slugging away with the thin batch I have started as it seems to be progressing. If I can wait 12 years for a tree to produce I ope I can wait 1 year to drink it.
So if I understand it correctly one the bubbling stops ( mine has not yet- SG of 1.000) I need to bulk rack and wait several months,mother once sediment of ?? Not sure how much quantity accumulates, I need to rerack, and rerack untill it clears and then bottle?
Can you tell I'm a complete newbi, this is my first adventure into wine making and am having a blast, learning as I'm going....
Mahalo for all the pointers in advance!

 

[Eddy Monsoon]

Hey Chirata, I left it on the skins for five days. Because I had so much pulp in there it was hard to keep it punched down. I'll wait until I've sampled some in a years time, before making consideration for change.

Thanks Plonklab. They sure are an amazing fruit, and incredible tree. Mine had another flush of flowers on it, just as I picked this batch back in november. The berries just started forming, but the prolonged dry spell stopped them in their tracks, and I thought they would fail.

As you well know, we are right now experiencing an incredible rain event, starting up your way in FNQ, and literally just passing me by now in the Noosa hinterland. We have had 550mm+ of rain here in the past 3 days!!! Our American friends here probably won't quite comprehend this, that's something like 22"!!!! Luckily I live on a high ground, because there's some serious flooding going on.

Back on topic my Jaboticaba and Grumichama trees have instantly burst back into action. The dormant berries have turned back to bright green and doubled in size overnight. So I'm super excited that I'm going to have another crop ready soon!

Hi Awino

Northern rivers first timer here, I'm having a go at Jaboticabas , harvesting from a friend

Have you refined your technique at all over the years ?

Cheers