Carrot Wine Needs More Flavor/Body

[Vertumnus]

Hey all, I started a 5 gallon batch of carrot wine back in April with 18lbs of carrots and following Ray Massaccesi's recipe. Initial SG was 1.090. Final SG is 0.992. A quick run through the ABV calculator puts it at 12.86%. Yeast used was K1-V1116. Has been kmeta'd but no sorbate or clearing agent as of yet.

When I was first assembling the batch, I boiled/simmered the carrots in a sugar syrup for 30 minutes, but did not have space in my primary to keep them submerged during the primary fermentation. So there wasn't a lot of contact with the carrots themselves. Now as to the final product, it definitely has an alcohol smell, taste, and burn, but little to speak of in taste or body. Also was a little bubbly, and so could do with some degassing.

I'm thinking of putting some carrot juice from the store in there and racking it after a couple weeks or a month. Would that provide some of the needed flavor and body? What about these f-paks that I've heard about but not tried? Any other spices or flavorings which people might think are good? Not in any real rush to drink this, it's been more of an interesting experiment, though I would like to get it bottled soon so I can use the carboy for some Skeeter Pee.

 

[seth8530]

Very interesting colour. If I was you I would give it more time before you make a judgment on what you should be doing with it. However, worst case you could always blend it with another compatible wine to create something fun.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

April this year? Its a bit young to be making big decisions on it. Did you add any Niagra grape juice for body? We have made carrot before, you dont expect a lot of body from them so you can boost it with something like optiwhite, grape juice, cook a few bananas with it while you are cooking the carrots, but it usually turns into a nice dry white wine. WVMJ

 

[Vertumnus]

Guess I am being a bit harsh on it, yes it was April of this year that I made it The original recipe called for 2 1/2 pints of grape concentrate, I used 100% grape juice. At some point, I topped it up with a cheap chardonnay after a racking. I'm thinking that I will make a 5lb banana flavor pack for it. Bananas and carrots just sounds like an interesting mix.

 

[Winorick]

I think that you're on the right track, it just won't be a full bodied wine unless you add a quart of glycerine. I made a Carrot/Hop wine a couple of years ago, and it was very good, and you had no idea that it was made with carrots. I used 1/2 lb of white and 2 1/2 lbs of brown sugar. I turned out dry, with a final sg of 0.99. The hops give a nice touch.

 

[fabrictodyefor]

I too am interested in how your carrot wine turns out. I started a carrot on 11/20/13, using bein_bein_'s recipe from this forum. It called for red grape concentrate, but I used 56 oz of concord grape juice that I got from a friend who has concord grapes....13 lbs carrots, 4 lbs raisins and the rest of the normal ingredients. I simmered the carrots till soft, then poured water they simmered in through a mesh bag. Left the carrots in the water and grape juice for 24 hours, then squeezed the carrots, though there was little left. I used kv116 yeast. It fermented to 0.998. I then set it on an oak spiral for a couple of weeks. since then I have just racked a few times and have been letting it sit in a car boy. This was to make about a 4 gallon batch and I do have 3 1/2 gallons aging away! I tasted it a few times, not a sit around sipping under the hot sun drinking wine, but I can see the potential with a great meal. But I had figured a year bulk aging before I wanted to try and bottle. BUT, I am pretty new at this wine making and could be wrong on the time frame! Your color is awesome! Good luck with yours.

 

[Vertumnus]

So I thought I should give you guys an update on how things are going with the carrot wine. I finally racked it on 07/15 after two months just sitting there in the carboy. Ended up not doing the flavor pack. After consulting my notes, I realized one big thing I missed which was probably contributing to the lack of body and too much burn was that I was missing a tbsp of acid blend from the recipe because I had run out at the time. After racking, I added the final tbsp. A few days later, a taste test was in order. As I remember, the extra acid did help it a little providing contrast, but the fact that it hadn't been able to blend during fermentation gave it a slight tartness that I don't think would have been there had I done the steps correctly the first time. Otherwise, it cleared up quite nicely. I think I may call this one a carrot rose' because of the light carrot exposure and the color, lol.

My tasting partner also recommended I back-sweeten it somewhat, but I'm prone to just let it age in bottle (need the carboy for other projects). I agree, fabric, that this is probably more something for pairing with a meal rather than regular drinking . The unique taste and aroma is too interesting to pass up by overpowering it with sugar. I haven't tried oak before so I'm a little hesitant since I don't know how to determine how much is enough.

Will post pics when I get a chance