Hello!!

[Coyote Creek]

I am fairly new to wine making, I have played around with what I would call a more primative way of making wine. I got me intrested in making it as I like fruit wines and and I live in the south. I am very eager to learn and have been reading alot of books and articles on the art of winemaking. I am sure I will be asking alot of newbie questions and thanks in advance for your help.


For those wondering what I mean by primative, my buddies uncle only does his wines no matter what they are one way. 1 quart of any fruit to make a gallon of wine, crush, water to make gallon, 6 cups of sugar and yeast. Leave for 3 weeks undesturbed then rack 5 1 gallon wines to a 5 gallon carboy and leave 3 more weeks then strain more and bottle. No sulfites, nutients, hydrometers, nothing. This is fine for they way he does it and he has many peoplewho keeps him busy making wine, but I have always tried different ways to do things and the more I read on wine making over the past 9 months the more I want to do things a different way.


Any one ever tried doing it this way,I really don't like the idea of it buthe has been doing it this way forever and is just a old country gentleman and the only way he knows to do it.


Thanks in adavce for any help in the future,


CC

 

[ibglowin]

Welcome to the forums, glad you found us!

I am no expert in the fruit wines but ask away and someone will chime in for sure.

 

[Runningwolf]

Welcome aboard!

 

[rhoffart]

Welcome ... not a fruity guy either ...

 

[Wade E]

That method is pretty much all that is needed but.......... I highly recommend using more fruit per gallon ore best of all n t diluting it down at all unless its one of a few fruit that are very high in acid and need diluting.

 

[Scott B]

Welcome to the Party!!!

Where in the south do you live?

 

[Coyote Creek]

Tuscaloosa,AL

 

[Coyote Creek]

The more I read I think that using like a qt of fruit like a muscadine it would be around about a 1/4 of the fruit that Waldo and others would use. I think that is why I have never gotten that real muscadine flavor. I picked around 60 pounds of Blueberries and about 75 pounds of Muscadine and Scuppernongs this year and have them all frozen just learning everything I can on here and through literature to better my chances of making a good wine I can share with folks. I do have a blackberry that is finished and dry just waiting to be backsweetened a little as it is kinda dry and a little tart right now, it was started before joining up on the site and I think I was off on the weight of fruit I used on it also. I did a 5 gallon batch with only about 12 pounds of fruit but it had a good color but like I mentioned above I can't really taste that blackberry character in it due to the driness but hopefully back sweetening a little will help. I started it at 1.090 and it is at 0.990.

That method is pretty much all that is needed but.......... I highly recommend using more fruit per gallon ore best of all n t diluting it down at all unless its one of a few fruit that are very high in acid and need diluting.

 

[Waldo]

Welcome
Glad to have you onboard

 

[Wade E]

What you can do in these non flavor instances is add a F-Pac. F standing for flavor. What we do is take a bunch of fruit and just enough water in a pot and simmer it down extracting the juices and then add it back afterwords to get the flavor where its needed. The only thing with this is it adds sugar so if you like your wine very dry this may nit be for you. It usually doesnt add much sugar to change it that much though and usually we have to sweeten it still after.

 

[Scott B]

Tuscaloosa! My daughter went to the university there! Get town.

 

[Coyote Creek]

Yes sir, I have lived here all my life and also went to University of Alabama. I think it is great town that isn't to big and not to small. I work at the hospital just up from the campus.

 

[Scott B]

Great town! Never meet a stranger. Always friendly.
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Have they recovered from the tornado?

 

[Coyote Creek]

The town has started to recover Scott. Alot of the storm damage has been hauled to the landfills and things look bare in alot of places but looking less like a disaster zone. There are a few houses here and there that will need to be torn down but alot of rebuilding and life coming back to the area within weeks of the tornado. There are alot of new zoning rules around the 15th street area just off campus that has halted some of the local business from already beingback but all that is getting worked out and hopefully most of that will be back shortly.