Green Tomato Wine

[corn field]

Ripe tomato is usually drinkable in 8 months, green tomato takes about a year but is great at 2years. No I don't use oak but try it and let me know. Your recipt seems right on to me. I don't use raisens because the sulphur treat ment they use to preserve them gives me a serious alergic reaction. I use either white grape concentrate or welches white grape frozen concentrate I think it helps with the sour taste IMHO. I keep all of my wine in the basement and it is around 50 in the winter and 65 in the summer.

 

[Waldo]

But why only half the batch? This stuff is really tart...

I made this recommendation on the assumption that you would want to retain a degree of atartness to this wine which this procedure i FELT WOULD ACCOMPLISH TAHT

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Thanks, Ron. My basement has a similar winter temp so maybe just leaving this alone for a while will do the trick.
Waldo - thanks. I've only done kits, red wine from juice and fruit wines so I haven't ever cold stabilized anything (the pino grigio I started around the same time is my first white wine). I wouldn't have thought of only doing part of the batch to retain some of the tartness. This is all really interesting and it's going to be neat to see how it progresses.

 

[grapeman]

With practice you can add (x)carbonate for the treatment to the full batch after finding the correct amount to add. Waldos way is another possibly safer way. That way if you take too much acid out, you can blend back to the right amount. Yes you are correct Waldo. Many ways to skina <STRIKE>cat</STRIKE> er, dog (Waldo's a cat guy).

 

[Brewgrrrl]

With practice you can add (x)carbonate  for the treatment to the full batch after finding the correct amount to add. Waldos way is another possibly safer way. That way if you take too much acid out, you can blend back to the right amount. Yes you are correct Waldo. Many ways to skin a <strike>cat</strike> er, dog (Waldo's a cat guy).

Thanks, Appleman (and good to know who the cat and dog people are).

 

[boozinsusan]

So, how is it coming along, brewgrrl? Mine tastes like a Chablis (kind of) and is clearing pretty well (next racking will be in a few weeks, i think).


How about yours?

 

[Brewgrrrl]

It'll probably be a while longer before I rack it off the oak chips (lightly toasted American oak). So far so good, but I think Ron's right that this is going to take a while for the taste to settle - even though it's clearing nicely, mine is still green-tasting.

 

[Waldo]

May be a perfect pairing with Fried green Tomatoes then brewgrrrl

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Here's hopin'!

 

[RSRN601]

Tomatoe wine sounds interesting. Is there a preference to the type of tomatoe? I use Romas for making sauce and salsa.

 

[boozinsusan]

Welcome RSRN601!


I guess seeing which type of tomato to use would be part of the experiment, and therefore, fun, of this obsession.... the green tomatoes I used were the regular beefsteaky kind that had to be picked before a frost.


I typically grow romas too for canning, and would be interested to know if there is a difference. I imagine there would be more sediment from romas since there is more pulp and less juice/seeds than regular tomatoes, but that is just a guess on my part.....


I think I will be tasting and racking/bottling this soon! Woo hoo!


I did not oak, and only have a small batch (it is now in a 3 liter jug - already racked from a one gal jug) and will be bottled into beer or other smaller bottles.


I figure that even if I don't like the taste of it for casual drinking, it probably would be good in spaghetti sauce, right?

 

[boozinsusan]

I like the taste so far, but it does have a little "bite" to it (tartness).


I jsut added some light toast American Oak to it. I will let it sit a while and then bottle - it is already pretty clear.

 

[Brewgrrrl]

My basement is reallyreallyreally cold, so there is not much going on down there right now.

I am looking forward to the Spring thaw and seeing how the green tomato wine turned out (mine was made from the beefsteak tomatoes too)...

 

[boozinsusan]

Do you have any updates yet? I still have not tasted mine again..... letting it sleep a while, I guess.....

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Mine is oaked and almost clear - it's funny you are asking because I was just thinking I should really rack/degas it this coming weekend. I'll sample it when I do and let you know.

 

[Ankita]

Hi Brew Girl,

Its an interesting post and the wine you make it seems to be very tasty.
My recipe about green tomato wine :

3 1/2 lbs / 1,600 grams green tomatoes

2 1/2 lbs / 1,100 grams granulated sugar

Juice of 4 lemons

1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme

2 lbs / 900 grams raisins

1/2 oz fresh ginger

Wine yeast

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient / energiser

8 pints / 1 gallon water

1 campden tablet

</span></span></span>Wash
and chop tomatoes. Add to winemaking fermentation bucket, together
with all other ingredients, apart from wine yeast. Stir wine mixture
and leave to settle overnight.



Add activated wine yeast and stir the tomato wine 'must' twice daily for
five days. Strain the tomato wine mixture thoroughly, extracting all
of the juice and liquor. Transfer fermenting tomato wine into demijohn,
with an airlock. Rack for the first time at four weeks, and then two
or three more times until clear and one year old. Bottle the tomato
wine and leave to stand for a few months before drinking.

You can get varieties of wine by this resource winegrowersdirect.com.au.

</span></span></span></span>

 

[boozinsusan]

Mine is being used mainly for cooking, so I bottled into Grolsch bottles. Tastes "green" (SURPRISE!)
Was good in a chicken/mushroom dish with a cream sauce.

 

[Brewgrrrl]

I'd caution using all of it - everything I've heard about this wine is that it takes time to mellow out. I've had more than one batch of other wines that I thought were only good for cooking, but then a year or two later realized (when I only had a bottle or two left) that they had become delicious. I am still bulk aging this one...

 

[boozinsusan]

Thanks Brewgrrrl, I will keep that in mind.
I like the recipe that Kartik posted too - I like the addition of ginger. Maybe I will try that as well.....