First Fruit Wine

[nursejohn]

I just ordered a can of Vintners Harvest strawberry from FVW. I am going to be using the recipe from the FVW website. Up to now, I have only made kits. Since this is my first attempt at fruit wine, I wanted to keep it simple. I will be making the 5 gallon recipe and was wanting to add some fresh bananas to it also. My question is: how many pounds of bananas should I use for 5 gallons and when I slice up the bananas to put in the straining bag, should I leave the peel on for some reason or take it off. Sorry if these seem like dumb questions, but if you don't know, ask I always say. Thanks a lot for any help or suggestions, John.

 

[Goodfella]

Hey John,


I may be wrong, but I will answer the best I can.


Bannana's are mainly for adding body to wine, after fermenting them there is not alot of flavor left. The added body however, is very good for the wine. IMO


If it were me... I would slice about 5-8 lbs and simmer them in a pan with a little bit of water til they are pretty mushy, Then put them in a strainer and only add the liquid to my wine.

 

[Cracked Cork]

You may want to consider making that a 3 gallon batch instead, it will have a little more body and taste than just 1 can to 5 gallons. The banners should be simmered with the skins on. Crackedcork

 

[nursejohn]

Thanks for the advice. I'll let you know how it turns out, John.

 

[xanxer82]

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[intoxicating]

I think I remember hearing someone say if you simmered the skins with the bananas, or added them including skins to the must, you got some of the flavor of bananas, and if you didn't use the peels, you just got the body. Does anyone remember if how it works?

 

[nursejohn]

I am going to start my wine this weekend and only have 1 can of the VH strawberry, so my question is: to give it more body, and I want tomake 5 gallons,howmany pounds offresh strawberries would I need to add along with the VH can? Thanks for any help, John.

 

[Waldo]

I would recommend10- 12lbs

 

[nursejohn]

Thanks Waldo, I appreciate the help, John.

 

[nursejohn]

Update: I know that I posted this over a month ago, but I just got this started last night. Too many projects and not enough time. I'm very proud to say that my 17 year old son became an Eagle Scout and a lot of time has been dedicated to getting that squared away with him. I added the strawberries as suggested and did the bananas as suggested also. Looks and smells good thus far. Thanks for the help, John.

 

[vcasey]

Sounds very good. I recently bottled a strawberry & banana mead using wildflower honey, taste at bottling was very nice and I am looking forward to tasting it in a couple of years. BTW, the banana flavor was there but in the back ground and I also have a thread going on a banana clove mead and the banana flavor in that is sure not hiding in that one either, keep in mind I used LOTS of bananas because I really wanted the flavor.
Congratulations to your son on earning the Eagle Scout rank. I know how challenging and time consuming that can be for the whole family - both of my boys are Eagle Scouts as well.
VC

 

[Goodfella]

Hey Buddy,


Congrats to you and your son for both of your successful projects!!!

 

[Wade E]

Youre on your way to a great wine.

 

[nursejohn]

Today I racked my wine from the bucket to the carboy. Shortly afterwards, the wine was foaming back up through my airlock. You can see a lot of CO2 coming up through the wine. Any suggestions what may be causing this? Thanks for any help or suggestions, John.

 

[vcasey]

When you racked the yeast got all stirred up and got a nice dose of oxygen so they got right back to work. I don't remember how big the batch is but put some in a bottle with an airlock until it settles down then you can add it back to the rest.
VC

 

[nursejohn]

After lots of foaming, it seems to have settled down some. Not foaming over any more, so put clean K-Meta in airlock and put airlock back on carboy. Just wanted to make sure that I hadn't messed up my wine.

 

[nursejohn]

It has been 4 days since I racked my wine to a carboy and it is still "fizzing up a storm". Sounds like a soda when you first pour it. Just checking to make sure that this is OK. This being my first fruit wine, I am not really sure what to expect. Any extra guidance is appreciated, John.

 

[fivebk]

Sounds normal to me!!As the fermentation slows so will the fizzing sounds and airlock activity. I do think that fruit wines develop more co2.

BOB

 

[vcasey]

The wine is fine just fermenting and with any luck releasing a bit of CO2. I would suggest having a glass of wine but its way too early, at least for me!
VC

 

[nursejohn]

Thanks for the replies. I feel better now. I had only made kits up to this and wasn't sure what to expect.