LONG night of winemaking!

[Waldo]

Martina, what size bung do you use on those Carlo Rossi jugs?

 

[MedPretzel]

If I remember correctly, it's a #6 Bung.

 

[Steve]

I believe that is what I have for mine.

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

A 6 1/2 also works

The Jug-O-Bentonite has cleared up nicely! Can't remember if that was cold
stabilized.

 

[MedPretzel]

No, it wasn't cold-stabilized. Just plain old cellar (basement) temps: 63ish....

 

[MedPretzel]

Update:


Basil:

Gym - gallon o bentonite:

Edited by: MedPretzel

 

[MedPretzel]

Oh yes, and the rose-hip (not a good pic, but oh well)

 

[garyd]

Yikes!! Martina- how do you know what all these things taste like before you make them? Are they any good? Strawberry sounded good; raspberry, cherry, blueberry- sure- but rose hips and basil???

Edited by: garyd

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

Do they all have oak, or just gal-o-bentonite? It is beautiful, and I assume
you already filtered it!

 

[pkcook]

I love the 1.5L (?) jug Martina. Never seen one like that. What a beautiful honey-like color the wine has!

 

[MedPretzel]

GaryD, Rosehips are wonderful. They are so good, and make one of the best fruit wines I've ever had.

It even got a 3rd place at the Geauga County Fair last year and it was said that it would have scored higher with a higher sugar level. (It was too dry for category)Basil gets mixed reviews, but.. I got a 2nd place at the fair last year for my green (normal) basil: "Nice spicey aroma and taste. Slightly bitter." but still got a 2nd....

Of course, there are some I would not recommend making, nor would I make them again.

Bilbo, I recently oaked the gallon-o-bentonite (it's an experiment in heavy, light, and medium toasted american oak). No, it's not filtered, just racked and racked. I will filter soon, I imagine. It still tastes like poopoo, but I think I might sweeten it up a bit. The taste, however, has gotten a lot milder since I made it. Almost tolerable now. It probably won't be the winner that I had hoped it would be, but it's better than what it was. (Doesn't say much, eh?) If you would drink straw or hay, I think this is what it would taste like.


Pat, thank you for the compliment! Actually, I found that jug in the second-hand store, and thought it was perfect if I ever made a mead. Reminds me of a honeycomb! Too bad the wine in there doesn't taste that good!

 

[jcnoren]

Went looking for rose hip recipe and found some at jack kellars web site. 2 years before this wine is good to drink, I don't think I have much patients. Just to start this wine, one would have to wait until the fall when the rose hips are ready for picking...add on 2 years....long time...





JC

 

[MedPretzel]

Well, I will be honest with you. After a month out of the carboy, the wine was great in my opinion. After 6 months in the bottle, the wine is great too. After a year, also great. Was the greatness greater after a year than it was after a month? Maybe, but not like, "hey this is a totally different wine than at the beginning."


I made a hibiscus at the same time, for example. It tasted absolutely to die for right out of the carboy. After 1 year, I'm not that impressed with it as I was at the beginning.


I think JK offers a buffer-zone to his wines. I usually reduce his "must age for" times by 1/2. He says mum wine tastes good only after a year, but I have to say, 6-9 months is pretty good too.

But, tastes are different, and JK has more of a palate, I am sure, than I do, but that's just me.


Rose hip wine is still something definitely to try. If you don't like it after it's out of the carboy, bottle it and make a new one. See what it's like after 2 years. It's extremely good.





BTW, my rosehip that I entered into the fair was only about 9 months old (from the beginning of fermentation) when we had our fair.

Edit: I also made my rose-hip wines out of dried rosehips from www.oldtimeherbs.com. They are very reasonable in pricing and shipping, and they have quite high quality supplies. It's best to buy more than one ingredient, however. My mother recently ordered elderberries from there, and paid just about the same price for shipping for 1 pound of elderberries as she did for 1 pound of dried red clover, 2 pounds of rosehips and 1 pound of hibiscus flowers (which were all shipped together).

Edited by: MedPretzel

 

[jcnoren]

I live in Alberta, our provincal flower is the wild rose, they grow in abundance and most everywhere. I automatically figured the rose hips used would befrom the wild rose.....sitting here it just dawned on me you could also use the rose hips from (planted roses bushes). Curious did you use "wild rose hips or commercially planted rose hips"?//


JC

 

[MedPretzel]

Most definitely you can use them.





I don't know what I used, to be quite honest. I got them at the link listed above, and they were dried. My gramma used fresh ones all the time, though. You can even make some very good tea out of them.

 

[jcnoren]

Wild rose hip tea is exactly how I was first introduced to them. High in Vit C., very strong flavor. Which is why I curious about the "kind" you used. This summer I am going picken.

Now that the concept of rose hip wine was suggested.


JC

 

[MedPretzel]

Wow, long time no update on my long nights of winemaking. Probably becasue there haven't been too many of them lately.

I am currently making some interesting wines, but all are in the bulk-aging stages.

1. 
   <LI>Apple wine - Started October 05 - not clearing.
   
   </LI>
   <LI>Purple basil - Started October 05 - something terribly wrong.</LI>
   <LI>Juniper- started December 28 - starting to clear --- slowly</LI>
   <LI>Red-Clovertop - started Jan 16 - not clearing</LI>
   <LI>Sage - started Jan 19 - clearing nicely
   
   </LI>
   <LI>Canned Plum - Started 2/19 - murky</LI>
   <LI>Squash-Caraway - Started 2/11 - clearing slowly but surely</LI>
   <LI>Caribbean Port - started 3/30 - smells good!</LI>
   <LI>Basil-Dill - started 4/20 - looks disgusting still</LI>
   <LI>Hibiscus/Clover - started 4/20 - shows promise, but not done yet.</LI>
   <LI>Wine Kit - Valpollicella - started 5/30ish... Never can go wrong!</LI>
   <LI>Some sort of "throw-everything-together" wine with Mums and Elderberries. Should make for an interesting one.</LI>
   <LI>Chickweed - 1 gallon - started some time in May, I think. Looks gross.</LI>
   <LI>Dandelion - 1 gallon - also started some time in May. Looks like murky pee-water, but smells really good.</LI>

So, they are all in the "bulking" phase. All carboys are used up, no more airlocks to say, "well, maybe I could squeeze in another batch" and no signs of clearing. I am toying with the idea of putting sparkelloid in everything, but then I might just wait it out. Mum-season is only 2-3 months away! Plus, I have to get some carboys empty for the fall harvest. I plan to go to the local winery and get some niagara grape juice again. That one is one I would suggest people make over and over again.

Well, just thought I'd keep you updated. Sorry - there's nothing really exciting going on.

 

[grapeman]

Martina,


I see you do a fair number of herb wines. In your vast experience have you ever made or heard of anybody making catnip wine? I've had catnip tea as a remedy a lot when I was young and it really was pretty good. Any ideas how to make wine with it? It grows as a weed aroung here - if I can keep the cats out of it.


Richard

 

[Waldo]

And I would be interested in seeing your Caribbean Port recipe

 

[MedPretzel]

Martina,


I see you do a fair number of herb wines. In your vast experience have you ever made or heard of anybody making catnip wine? I've had catnip tea as a remedy a lot when I was young and it really was pretty good. Any ideas how to make wine with it? It grows as a weed aroung here - if I can keep the cats out of it.


Richard

Well, I have never made it, but................





My general herb recipe (for 1 gallon) would be:
<UL>
<LI>2 quarts of loosely packed fresh catnip leaves</LI>
<LI>2 pounds sugar (so that SG is 1.080 or so)</LI>
<LI>water to 1 gallon</LI>
<LI>2 tsp acid blend</LI>
<LI>1 tsp pectic enzyme</LI>
<LI>1 tsp nutrient</LI>
<LI>1 tsp energizer</LI>
<LI>1 packet of yeast</LI>[/list]


Proceed as normal - i.e. boil the water, pour over leaves. Wait til it cools, add pectic enzyme. Let it sit overnight, add the rest. Transfer to glass at about 1.040. Rack when there's about a half an inch of sediment, after 2 or 3 rackings, add a can of white grape concentrate. Sweeten to taste, don't forget to stabilize and campden and so on.

Oh yes, if it's a winner wine? Send me a bottle!





Now for the caribbean port: It's not done, but here it goes:
<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Name of Wine: [/I]<?amespace prefix = st1 ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficearttags" /><st1lace><st1laceName><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Caribbean[/I]</st1laceName><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> [/I]<st1lace><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Port[/I]</st1lace></st1lace><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />[/I]
ID: 06-06
Started: <st1ate Year="2006" Day="30" Month="3">3/30/2006</st1ate>
Amount: ~ 1 gallon
Starting SG: 1.120
Potential alcohol:
Yeast strain: Lalvin

<UL>
<LI>
<DIV =Msonormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Fruit/concentrate: 1 # frozen blueberries (weighed when frozen), 6 oz. dried hibiscus, 2 cups light Malt</LI>
<LI>
<DIV =Msonormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Sugar: 1 ¾ pounds</LI>
<LI>
<DIV =Msonormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Water to: 3 quarts</LI>
<LI>
<DIV =Msonormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Acid blend: 2 tsp</LI>
<LI>
<DIV =Msonormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Pectic Enzyme: ½ tsp</LI>
<LI>
<DIV =Msonormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Tannin: -/-</LI>
<LI>
<DIV =Msonormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Yeast nutrient: -/-</LI>
<LI>
<DIV =Msonormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Yeast energizer: ½ tsp</LI>[/list]


On this one, I'll add some high-potency stuff, according to Mr. Keller's blueberry port recipe.





If you make it, and make any changes, let me know. This is my first try at port.

M.Edited by: MedPretzel