Cherry wine

[Scooter68]

Terminated Fermentation today on my Tart Cherry batch. SG stopped at 1.008 stayed there for 3 days and nights. Well sealed carboy was not bubbling at all except after I returned testing samples to the carboy then it gave about 1 pip of the bubbler and quit.
Lees weren't too bad even with bentonite dropping so I used my second 1.5 liter container to top off the 3 gallon carboy. I then racked the second container remains into a 1 pint canning jar and a 1/2 pint canning jar used a piece of plastic bag under the standard canning lid to prevent contact with the metal lid. Then placed the 1 pint and 1/2 pint in the fridge. All were treated with 2 1/4 campden tabs for the total 3 gallons 1 and 1/2 pint.

Anyone have any suggestions to help prevent the MLF I'm open to them. The 3 carboy is now in the basement with the temp about 58. Will rack it again in about 1 to 2 weeks if I see significant lees. By my calculations the current ABV is 12.86%

 

[Johnd]

You're probably just fine at 58F in the basement with properly maintained SO2 levels, especially since you've never introduced and MLB to the equation. If you're just obsessing over it, you can always treat with Lysozyme......

 

[geek]

Terminated Fermentation today on my Tart Cherry batch. SG stopped at 1.008 stayed there for 3 days and nights. Well sealed carboy was not bubbling at all except after I returned testing samples to the carboy then it gave about 1 pip of the bubbler and quit.
Lees weren't too bad even with bentonite dropping so I used my second 1.5 liter container to top off the 3 gallon carboy. I then racked the second container remains into a 1 pint canning jar and a 1/2 pint canning jar used a piece of plastic bag under the standard canning lid to prevent contact with the metal lid. Then placed the 1 pint and 1/2 pint in the fridge. All were treated with 2 1/4 campden tabs for the total 3 gallons 1 and 1/2 pint.

Anyone have any suggestions to help prevent the MLF I'm open to them. The 3 carboy is now in the basement with the temp about 58. Will rack it again in about 1 to 2 weeks if I see significant lees. By my calculations the current ABV is 12.86%

Mine stopped at barely 1.000 and never moved lower. I used Montrachet.

 

[Scooter68]

This was the second time I've had a batch stop short with this yeast EC-1118* - It could just be stalled but then again it's close enough to finished that I'm OK with stopping now. I will have to watch it though as I don't want an MLF fermentation now. I was careful to only add half the nutrient initially and waited until it dropped tp 1.030 and added the rest then. It dropped so quickly to that point - would rather have added the additional nutrient at about 1.050.

Hate to add sorbate this early on since I would like to age it at least 7-9 months.

Anyone with experience in this realm feel free to chime in now.

*(Other than these 2 incidents the yeast has worked well - both of these were fairly high SG but then this yeast is supposed to be good for up to 18%. Acidity (pH) when measured today was 3.50 so that wasn't off and nutrient level should have been fine.)

 

[geek]

Personally, I like adding sorbate early on if I am going to back sweeten so any off flavor or smell from the sorbate can dissipate during bulk aging.

I did add it to this batch before I then added 2.5lbs of tart cherry juice to the wine, plus over 1lb of dark chocolate broken in pieces.

 

[Scooter68]

Actually what I've been reading is that the off flavors from Sorbate occur later as the wine ages not early on.

 

[dcbrown73]

Actually what I've been reading is that the off flavors from Sorbate occur later as the wine ages not early on.

I've heard the exact opposite. That it will fade with age.

I've also noticed that if you do back-sweeten. I do not taste the sorbate near as much as if I do not. I suppose the flavor blends better with the sweetening.

 

[geek]

I've heard the exact opposite. That it will fade with age.

I've also noticed that if you do back-sweeten. I do not taste the sorbate near as much as if I do not. I suppose the flavor blends better with the sweetening.

That has been my experience.

This last happened to us with the Sauv Blanc Rose from last year (available again this year)....the sorbate odor and taste was obvious early on but then it started to fade as time passed by and it finally went away after a few months...it is now a GREAT Rose.

 

[Scooter68]

In the words of Arte Johnson "Very Interesting" (You do remember that line right?)

As to sorbate taste when a wine is not backsweetened... I don't understand why one would do that. Sorbates use is normally only for wines that are backsweetened.

In any case I'm glad to hear that it worked well for you and I will have to give that some thought. I imagine since the fermentation stopped on it's own and I've now added K-Meta, I have a little time to think about this.

 

[geek]

How's the cherry wine going for you guys?
I haven't checked mine in a while, so maybe tonight I will check it again. It's been a month since I stabilized and all..

 

[dcbrown73]

How's the cherry wine going for you guys?
I haven't checked mine in a while, so maybe tonight I will check it again. It's been a month since I stabilized and all..

I haven't touched it since I last racked it several weeks ago. I expect to rack it again around June. At that point, I expect to look into converting it to a Port. (or at least some of it)

 

[Scooter68]

My 3 gallon batch is doing fine. Adjusted the Acidity a little - it had gone up to 3.75. Working it down below 3.60 gradually. Taste is great - a little dry for my liking but oddly the SG is at 1.010 where it stopped at the end of fermentation. I'm ok with that but I'm keeping an eye on it making sure there is no MLF or other re-fermentation starting.

 

[Shred5]

I am new to wine making. I have grape vines, apple trees and cherry trees.

I just want to clear up some stuff on cherries and the difference between tart and sweet cherries. Tart and sweet have nothing to do with the flavor or amount of sugar in a cherry it has to do with the species of tree they come from. Sweet cherry tree (P. avium) and the tart cherry tree (P. cerasus) . Basically a tart cherry can be sweeter and have more sugar than a sweet cherry. Tart cherries also are better for cooking because they hold up better.

 

[Scooter68]

"I just want to clear up some stuff on cherries and the difference between tart and sweet cherries. Tart and sweet have nothing to do with the flavor or amount of sugar in a cherry it has to do with the species of tree they come from. "

While I agree that the sugar amount of a ripe tart cherry is not necessarily different than a sweet cherry, the flavor is different. Just as different varieties of fruits vary in flavor, strength of flavor and even sugar contents. They are both cherries but there can be big differences in the characteristics of different cherry varieties.

I have 16 oz bottles of concentrated Black Cherry juice and Tart Cherry Juice the taste is very different but the sugar content of those is exactly the same (and the mix amount for an 8 oz serving of juice is the same 1 oz to 7 ozs of water = 1 serving = 120 calories)

I have over 30 blueberry bushes and each type has certain characteristics. Size, sweetness, color, time of ripening, etc. In my garden I chose different tomato plants because the have different characteristics in flavor, size etc. In fact when making Apple wine, those with a depth of experience recommend blending at least two types of apples for a wine and they also state that in general tart apples make better wines.

There are flavor differences between different varieties of fruit and vegetables. Yes there is a general flavor characteristic of a Cherry, Apple, Blueberry etc but within those fruits the flavor still varies especially if you are talking about a Tart vs Sweet variety.

 

[geek]

Racked the cherry wine off the fine lees and the dark chocolate chunks.
Wine is very clear, it doesn't taste dry or sweet, cherry flavor is subtle and there's a hint of chocolate aroma.

 

[Smok1]

Racked the cherry wine off the fine lees and the dark chocolate chunks.
Wine is very clear, it doesn't taste dry or sweet, cherry flavor is subtle and there's a hint of chocolate aroma.

View attachment 37189

That looks great

 

[geek]

Does anyone know a good place (hoping for something at a local supermarket?) to get some sort of cherry extract without any additives but pure cherry concentrate?
I'd like to add a bit more of cherry flavor to this wine, although maybe I should just let it age for a couple months....

The problem is that my 5gal carboy needs to be topped off, missing about 1/2 a gallon and I don't want to rack down since I only have 1gal jugs available right now.

For now is sitting with the head space eliminator...so maybe this will hold on just fine for a couple months...

 

[geek]

Wonder if this concentrate may be good:

From Walmart.

 

[wineforfun]

Racked the cherry wine off the fine lees and the dark chocolate chunks.
Wine is very clear, it doesn't taste dry or sweet, cherry flavor is subtle and there's a hint of chocolate aroma.

View attachment 37189

Wine looks great and thanks for the idea of adding chocolate, I had forgotten about that. I have a batch of cherry fermenting as I type. Last batch I added some cinammon and clove. Turned out well. This one I may throw in some chocolate.

 

[Scooter68]

Wonder if this concentrate may be good:

From Walmart.

Don't see anything wrong with it. I bought a bottle to see if I liked tart cherry before I made my first batch. For the wine itself I used this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CO9PHB6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

(One bottle of the concentrate equals 1 Gallon of the stuff you are looking at.) BUT you can walk into Walmart and have what they offer - today !