Lingonberry from IKEA syrup

[sgx2]

Aieee! Sorry to hear that, Red! Can you verify the recipe you used? Did you use the same IKEA syrup that I started with? How much did you dilute it? Also, what yeast did you use?

 

[MisterHobbs]

I've got an Ikea only 5 minutes away. The perfect wine for meatballs.

 

[sgx2]

I've got an Ikea only 5 minutes away. The perfect wine for meatballs.

Don't you mean "the perfect (swedish) meatballs for wine"?

 

[Jovimaple]

Reviving this thread with a photo of my beautiful lingonberry wine before I bottle it!

Made it for a friend who loves lingonberries. Fresh/frozen berries were way too expensive, so I searched on making it from syrup and found this thread.

 

[Jovimaple]

I got the syrup from Amazon. I think it was about $18/bottle and I used 2 bottles, so it was a still a little spendy, but the frozen berries would have been close to $100 for a 1 gallon batch of wine!



Recipe adapted from what y'all were doing on this thread:

2 16.9 oz bottles lingonberry syrup
1/2 C sugar dissolved in 2 C water
14 C water (including rinsed out from bottles)
2 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1/2 tsp tannin
1 Campden tablet, crushed
Red Star Premiere Classique yeast (partial package)
S.G. before yeast: 1.088
Final S.G. before backsweetening: .994

Note: I have a heater pad with a thermostat that I kept at 75 degrees F, so it keeps my fermenting buckets at a more even and warmer temp than the room temp - I think it turns the power on the heater pad at 2 degrees lower than the set temp and turns it off at 2 degrees higher.

2021.01.17: Mixed all ingredients except yeast in 2 gallon fermenting bucket covered with a thin towel
2021.01.18: Stirred must, then pitched yeast
2021.01.19: Stirred twice because there weren't many bubbles and I ended up adding more yeast; in hindsight, I think I should have waited closer to 24 hours after adding Campden tablet and as I recall I was excited to start this and pitched the yeast closer to 10 hours. 6 hours after the 2nd yeast pitch, it was fermenting merrily and the must was up to 78-79 degrees.
2021.01.20: Some bubbling while stirring
2021.01.21: Lots of bubbles; stirred must
2021.01.22: Bubbly still; stirred must
2021.01.23: Fewer bubbles; s.g. 1.006; racked to gallon carboy (+ almost 1 pint)
2021.02.06: s.g. .994; stabilized + 1 crushed Campden tablet and racked to gallon carboy, topped off with extra pint
2021.02.20: Racked and backsweetened* with 1 C simple syrup (2 sugar: 1 water)
2021.02.28: Planning to bottle today with 1 crushed Campden tablet; Final S.G. = 1.012

*Trying to sweeten to my friend's taste. I find that I don't care for the lingonberry wine, myself, but I sweetened it a little less than I did my cranberry. I figure that this will be an experiment. I'm going to record the sweetened s.g. before I bottle, and then if I make it for her again, I will be able to adjust.

But it's just so pretty!!! Definitely bottling in clear bottles!

Edited to fix typos because I do my best editing after I hit the Post button. Grrrr.

Edited again to record S.G. after backsweetening.

 

[Scooter68]

Your comment on editing - Yeah I often cringe after I post comments. At least on here you have a day or so to catch and fix those pesky typos.

 

[Jovimaple]

Gave my friend a couple of bottles of the lingonberry wine. Her verdict: "You need to open a winery!"

So I guess it's a success!

 

[DrGriz]

Bringing this one back for a couple of questions.

My wife is first generation Swedish and loves lingon.

I am getting some freeze dried berries to try. This is because it seems to me that freeze drying will be the most like fresh, when reconstituted. At least that's what I think. I want to avoid preservatives in preserves. Syrup may be another good way to go but I will try this first.

Anyway, I plan to reconstitute with water, pour the contents through a fruit bag and top off with more water, and sugar to SG 1090. Adjust pH with Citric acid if necessary. Add tannin and pectic enzyme. I will treat with K campden before pitching EC-1118.

Anyone done this with lyophylized lingon, or with any freeze-dried fruit? Any process thoughts there? Is it a bad idea?

Is citric acid the way to go?

Finally, when I get to it, I would probably backsweeten to taste/SG 1015 or so. Any recommendations there?

 

[Jovimaple]

I don't have any answers about using freeze dried berries. I think your plan sounds good.

As far as backsweetening, I do not chase numbers ... I bench test and go by taste.

Good luck!!

 

[DrGriz]

Thanks so much!

 

[DrGriz]

Uggh! Wouldn't start for 4 days so I piled on the nutrient and energizer. Now it's going fine, but none of my previous country wines have needed so much. Guess lingonberries are missing something EC1118 craves.

 

[QuiQuog]

Guess lingonberries are missing something EC1118 craves.

Brawndo?

 

[Swedeman]

Guess lingonberries are missing something EC1118 craves.

Lingonberries contain high levels of the preservative benzoic acid, which may interfere with your yeast. I previously worked for a company in Sweden that produced lingonberry jam and we once experienced a shipment being halted at Polish customs due to its high preservative content. However, no preservatives were added to the jam.

 

[DrGriz]

Lingonberries contain high levels of the preservative benzoic acid, which may interfere with your yeast. I previously worked for a company in Sweden that produced lingonberry jam and we once experienced a shipment being halted at Polish customs due to its high preservative content. However, no preservatives were added to the jam.

Wow! Thanks for that information! That absolutely makes sense. Just looked it up and Benzoic acid is an antifungal agent as well as a preservative. Maybe it's a wonder I was able to get it going at all.

SG is down to 1.030 today, 6 days after pitching, down from 1.090 (before adding sugar it was 1.011). And although it's still bubbling mildly, much reduced from yesterday, I will probably transfer it into a carboy later today or tomorrow. I am tempted to add more energizer, but I'll see what it does overnight.