LONG night of winemaking!

[MedPretzel]

Unfortunately, I didn't test it.

 

[masta]

One gallon of honey weighs approximately 12 lbs. Based on 9 lbs of honey (10.6 oz per lb = 95.4 oz) the starting gravity of a 1 gallon batch would be ~1.329 or potential ABV of 45% !


Increasing the total volume to 3 gals would bring the SG down to ~1.11 and potential ABV to 14.85%.

 

[MedPretzel]

Woah, I made a total error....





I put in 4 pounds, not 9. (What the hell was I thinking?) Sorry! I am so sorry for the goof.

 

[masta]

I thought something was wrong...LMAO!


4 lbs of honey in a gallon would give you a SG of ~1.147 and potential ABV of 20.02%. Even with champagne or similar type yeast it will finish sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

 

[MedPretzel]

Thanks, masta! I am such a loser!

 

[kaizen]

I was putting 3-4 lbs of honey per gallon. I get a faint honey
taste but it is a very harsh wine to drink. I am hoping that it
really mellows with age, 1-2 years

 

[MedPretzel]

Yay!





I finally used my superkleer today on my lilac wine. It's been at 0.990 all summer, and I thought, what the heck.... It's just not clearing as I had hoped, and I think I am going to filter this one in a new contraption that Bill B. mentioned to me.


I'm dying to try it out, but just 24 more hours, one racking, and then a week of sitting there, I'll be able to tell you more!





Martina

 

[MedPretzel]

2 new wines to add:





Apple (from concentrate)
and
Purple Basil (fresh frozen, from my sister's farm)





Nothing else is new, just waiting for everything to drop more sediment or clear.

Lilac has been bottled, as well as blueberry. Life has been getting quite hectic around here, so haven't had much time for the wine.

Unfortunately. I have been diligently picking mums, and I'm up to about 7 gallons now. I feel quite empty, since this is the first year I'm not making marigold wine. I will probably pick some Catawba up this week from a local vineyard. I guess 2005 is the year of the grape at QuiToBee Cellars.

Daylily is starting to clear, as is Rosemary-Nutmeg. The latter will be quite brilliant if it keeps on clearing as it is.


I have a lot of squash. I wonder if squash wine is something worth making?!?!?

 

[Waldo]

Hey Martina what does the Rosemary-Nutmeg taste like?


I can't imagine squash wine but you never know, it may turn out to be a kick b..tt wine.

 

[MedPretzel]

It's hard to say what it tastes like at the beginning stage. All I can say, it smells like winter!!!

Makes you think of being curled up on the couch with a good book and the fireplace glowing.





I will keep you posted, though!

 

[MedPretzel]

Racked Niagara

And the concord. Don't worry, I've topped up (before I get reprimanded again).

 

[MedPretzel]

Update: GYM wine. It's in the fermentor...

 

[MedPretzel]

Update on the Niagara

Basil:

Passionflower:

Looks like i need to rack pretty soon.....





And Rose-Hip:

See? I remembered the camera today.

 

[peterCooper]

I'd say the passionflower is about to dump a whole lot of lees soon.
Nice colors.

Edited by: peterCooper

 

[Waldo]

Very Nice Martina

 

[MedPretzel]

thanks pC and Waldo!





Yes, actually all of them are about ready to be racked. But I have to admit, it looks a lot "worse" on the pics than in real life. There's not so much goo at the bottom, it seems. When I looked at the pics on my PC, I was surprised and made the trek to the basement to check.

Again, thanks for the comments. Always nice to hear!

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

Martina, Your photos are as inspiring as always. You make so many
different types of non-fruit recipes that I can't help wondering whether
you are concerned about and do anything regarding acid levels - they
must vary up and down with the different base ingredients. I know you
have talked about needing to be better acquainted with the topic in other
threads. Have you gotten a leg up on it yet, and anything to share?

 

[MedPretzel]

Thanks bilbo!

It's people like you all who inspire me.


You are correct in that I know nothing about pH.

Unfortunately, my computer-program I use(d) to document the wine process shut down and never restarted for me. All my notes up until recently are down the tubes. Luckily, I try to (when I remember) write stuff down as I go along, but sometimes I forget or neglect to do so. DOH!


This is the way I do my acid levels. I by no means want to suggest that this is a good way, but it is the way I do it. My wines turned out well for me, but in the local fair, the main problem with them (why they didn't place higher) was said that it was a too-low acid content. I'm trying some things differently this year, but we will see.


I usually add 1-2 tsp acid blend per gallon as a general rule (FOR ME), depending on what I am making. In other words, I wing it. If I think a wine could be acidic by nature of the things I am using, I adjust more or less downward: For example, my gut feeling about mint wine is that it's a little on the acidic side. I used 1 tsp per gallon. My gut feeling about rosemary-nutmeg? I was unsure, so since I made 1 gallon of it, I put in 1.5 tsp. The same with passionflower. The basil turned out well the last time (placed 2nd at the local fair, AND "real" people liked it) and I used 1 tsp per gallon.


My daylily wine, for example, I used 2 tsp per gallon. It was recommended to use on Jack Keller's website. I tweaked that recipe just a bit (used more Daylilies than he did). Added apple juice instead of grape. The pH of it was on 9/17 (after about 2 weeks of fermentation) was 3.59.... So far, this means not a whole lot to me.

My peach wine, which was bottled at the end of August had 8 tsp of acid blend per 5 gallons: Glenvall's peach recipe. The pH was 4.04... I hate the taste, but I think it doesn't have to do with the pH, but rather that it just needs aging. I don't know for sure, though.


I've read somewhere (sorry, don't know the source) the magical pH is 3.55.....

But you have to balance this out with many other factors, I have read, but am no expert on.


You know what? You've gotten my attention to this pH thing: Let me go downstairs and check out the pH of all of them, and I'll let you know.

Be right back!





M.

 

[MedPretzel]

Thanks for asking me this:


I went down and did some testing....


Here are the pH's of my wines:
<UL>
<LI>First, the Cab Franc (kit wine from George) 3.71
<LI>Rosemary-Nutmeg: 3.81 - I added a teaspoon of acid, then the pH went down to 3.41!!!
<LI>Apple: 3.97
<LI>GYM (currently fermenting with the must) 3.23
<LI>Niagara: 3.63
<LI>Mint: 4.01
<LI>Rosehip: 3.82
<LI>Passionflower: 4.39
<LI>Basil: 3.46
<LI>Concord: 2.81
<LI>Daylily: 3.81</LI>[/list]


So, all in all, I think my theory is WRONG, if 3.55 is the pH one should strive for.

My gut feelings were combined with previous recipes I have seen (Jack Keller's).


I added acid blend to the following wines:


2.5 tsp to the mint wine, 3 tsp to the rosehip and 4 to the passionflower. I did not test again becausealmost alloverflowed.

A little disheartened,





M.Edited by: MedPretzel

 

[jobe05]

Martina, I'm like you. I don't mind taking readings to put in my notes and I think I'm pleased when they fall within an acceptable range for the wine Im making, but when they don't, for me, Im stuck. How does acid blend take down the PH? I'm not asking to see if you know, I just don't know and anyone can answer, I just haven't read that much on PH and Acid adjustments yet. Most of my scratch wines have either been somewhat drinkable, or they go down the drain and I start over (only once). If you add acid blend to adjust PH, does that now throw the acid level off?


All interesting stuff, but something I need to know alot more about......