Beet Wine

[MedPretzel]

Well, sorry about my "lie." Although it's a bit off topic, but I've had an incredible headache for the past 5 days, and am not useful really for anything at all.

The beet wine is going to have to wait til I'm sure I won't make any mistakes.

 

[MedPretzel]

Well, I reconsidered my last post and bought beets.





Note: Do not buy tinned beets for this. I had enough for 3 gallons in my cart and then triple-checked the label, and it turns out they put salt in it "for flavor". So, I felt like a stock-boy putting all those cans back on the shelf.





Anyway, so I went over to the produce department, and lo and behold, you could only buy organic beets (organic = expensive). So I bought enough to make 2 gallons for it. I then whizzed over to my WalMart and got beet-seeds. I will be planting beets this year.

88 cents for about 100 beets sounds a lot better than 1.69 for three large ones.

This will be one of my more pricey wines, I guess.

Martina

 

[Hippie]

Sounds good to me! Wait until you see how easy it is to grow beets! Remember, the deeper you dig the soil, and the looser it is,the larger the beets will grow. Rake the dirt, sprinkle on the seeds, rake it again. That's it. They will be everywhere!

 

[MedPretzel]

Very cool advice, thanks Glenvall.





I also added a little bit of ginger, a little bit of anise, and 2 cloves. I hope it's okay.

 

[Hippie]

Sure, that's OK, it's your wine, but now it's beetgingeraniseclove wine instead of beet wine.

 

[MedPretzel]

So it could be BAGC Wine?CABG Wine?

Edited by: MedPretzel

 

[Hippie]

Now, now, Martina, remember to list in order form most to least!

 

[MedPretzel]

Darn! Why can't it be called Dinger?





Then I could name it Alphabet (ABCD) Wine!

 

[Hippie]

Oh my God. i just could not get it until I scrolled up and then it hit me like a ton of bricks! DUH!


LMAO

 

[MedPretzel]

you know me -- silly as always!

 

[Hippie]

Yeah, I know. Have you started the beet wine yet?

 

[MedPretzel]

Yes! I did!


Beginning SG was about 1.075.... A little on the low side, but I ran out of sugar and there was a snowstorm, so..... It's gonna have to do.





It smells like.......... beets..... I can't say that this fermentation smells good.

 

[Hippie]

10%, or thereabouts. Nothing wrong with that. When can we have more information as to other ingredients, method, must taste, pics, etc.?

 

[MedPretzel]

Sure... As soon as I get my lazy butt down in the basement, I'll take some pics. It's due for a transfer to the secondary soon anyway.

Patience, my sweeties.

 

[Hippie]

Great! Looks good. How much beets did you use and other ingredients?

 

[MedPretzel]

Yikes, y'all are gonna kill me on this one.





I basically winged it.


To my knowledge I have made rougly 2 gallons:


5 lbs beets
5 lbs sugar
1 tsp anise
1 tsp ginger
2 cloves
pectic enzyme
nutrient
energizer
acid blend
1campden tablet


My trusty Montrachet was the yeast I chose.


Starting SG was somewhere around 1.075 or so. I usually add sugar to make it up to 1.080 or 1.090 but I only had 5 lb in the house, so that's all that went in.





Fermentation took off right away, looking okay. After about 7 days in the primary, I still have the beets in there. Tomorrow I will take it out, though.

 

[Hippie]

Hhmmm...5 pounds in 2 gallons only got you to 1.075? OK. I see you didn't add grape tannin powder, or just forgot to put it down here? Looks good to me.

 

[MedPretzel]

Yes, I added tannin powder. I forgot to add that to the post. I think I ended up putting 2 tsp of it in.





Sorry, my note-taking wasn't too great on this one.

 

[Hippie]

Do you add tannin to taste, or is it just me? Maybe it is the OCD. I usually add none at all if I think the fruit has plenty of it's own.

 

[MedPretzel]

I add tannin to give it a little edge. It's in almost all fruit-wine recipes which might lack that zing that reds and whites (grape) have. So, it's just one of those things that become a given when I make my wines.





I'm not too sure which of the stuff I make has a lot of tannin in it or not. Since I try to stay away from Welch's when I make my wines, I usually just add it.