Roasted Almond Wine.. It's your goy's fault!

[StimVino]

BigDaveK, I would pay good money to do a tasing at your house. Very interesting stuff. Cant wait to hear how some of these turn out. Down the road, maybe you could rank your list for us? BigDave’s top 10… Also, just as interested to know what not to try. Vinny, thanks for the pics and explanation of your process.

 

[BigDaveK]

How do you do it? 60 jugs, or are you bottle aging a lot of them?

Just so there's no confusion, that's 63 wines and not 63 gallons. I must be out of my mind...but so what.
My earliest wines have been bottled and some are gone already. I'll have a few ready to bottle each month and I'll probably do it just to get the jug. Six month bulk minimum. I have 30+ gallon jugs and 14 3-gallon carboys. I have 5-gallon carboys but to tell you the truth I'd rather not have 25 bottles of one wine. And they're heavy.
I haven't touched my raspberries, ground cherries, mulberries, or blackberries. Still have 5 pepper wines planned, at least 3 grain wines, and a few "crazy insane" wines. Also have butternut and hubbard squash - very curious if there's a difference between baked and simmered so 2 side by side batches each.
I'm trying real hard to avoid buying more jugs and carboys.
I've also upped my imbibing from 1 glass a day to 2 glasses just to empty bottles faster.
And Sweet Baby Jesus I haven't even started down the mead road yet!!
My biggest regret is that my earliest wines, the first 2-3 months, have terrible notes. Basic, boring, and vanilla - and almost worthless. Now my notes have notes and they get more detailed with each wine.

I think this is funny - I never get tipsy relaxing in the evening with 2 glasses of wine. I get tipsy when I'm back sweetening or trying to figure out what a mystery flavor is. Taste taste taste and then....taste taste taste some more!

What a great hobby!

 

[BigDaveK]

BigDaveK, I would pay good money to do a tasing at your house. Very interesting stuff. Cant wait to hear how some of these turn out. Down the road, maybe you could rank your list for us? BigDave’s top 10… Also, just as interested to know what not to try. Vinny, thanks for the pics and explanation of your process.

Well, I really like "good money" but Uncle Sam would really REALLY not like that. But thank you!
I'll update the unusual wines when I can. Some are still months away from bottling...and then MORE time to mature.

I've been fortunate so far not to have any failures. Mother Nature does the work, I pretty much do jack...and I have to admit she's made only two that were plain and ordinary.

 

[joeswine]

Use a basic white wine ( your favorite) and add almond extract , should take about a year to found out but it will be awesome

 

[vinny]

I racked this yesterday and It is quite pleasant. It has a nice almond nougat flavor. I am excited to see what time will do.

It is definitely oily, which is strange to contend with in a wine, but I would make it again, and I hope to try hazelnut, too.

 

[BigDaveK]

Fantastic!
I'll do one with my hazelnuts soon. Fat content is similar to almonds. I would expect the fat to be on the surface - is it?

 

[vinny]

Fantastic!
I'll do one with my hazelnuts soon. Fat content is similar to almonds. I would expect the fat to be on the surface - is it?

Yup, floats in primary. I scooped some out but the next day it was double. I tried to avoid picking it up when racking, but there is still some floating around the neck of my jug.

 

[David Violante]

This has been an interesting read! I’m very intrigued to start one of these myself.

If I’ve read correctly it’s 5oz roasted, 2oz chopped, 1 lemon, juice of 1 clementine, white and golden sugar, and a mix of yeasts. Did you simmer/boil the almonds? And how much water did you use for the 7oz you have?

I was wondering if almond powder would work instead of chopped almonds, as the oils are mostly removed.

 

[vinny]

I literally stood up and made this because there were almonds on the counter.

SO... What I had on hand vs a couple of online recipes!

5 oz almonds. Chopped and roasted for 15 minutes? Golden but not charred, skin on.
I added 2 oz of raw after reading that sweet almonds are more mellow than the bitter almonds used in one recipe I found. (mead)
12 oz raisins 50/50 Thompson/Sultana
lemon and rind
1 clementine. Squozed
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1/2 tsp acid blend
5 liters water
1.2 lbs golden sugar brought SG to 1.060 (all I had)
white sugar to 1.100 (roughly 2 cups, but SG was the goal, not the amount)

I boiled the almonds, chop the raisins in a food processor, and added them to the pot. I added the raw almonds in the last 15 minutes and simmered. I strained everything to a nut milk bag. added the citrus and sealed. sugar and acid were added into the liquid and I topped to 1.5 gallons with the solids. Just a lazy measurement I have found gives a gallon with enough to top up after racking.

I used a big ugly orange in my dandelion and it was/is very prominent. This is very balanced. I can not tell orange from lemon or acid blend. It is just pleasant.

I can't say how to adjust this, but at this point I would think more almond would be a good start. Maybe a more flavorful nut like hazelnut? Maybe just more time?

It might come out just right in a few months, but there is a good nougat flavor that is nice, just not rich and thick.. Maybe I am just forgetting that this is a wine, not a liqueur?

Looking forward to feedback.

 

[David Violante]

Dave, thank you tons ~ I'm going to give this a go. My thoughts are to increase the amount of almonds, or maybe even a mix with pecans and/or walnuts. I'll have to do a tasting first to see if they would work together. I'm also interested in trying out one of the pecan meals to see how that may compare. Thank you for the ratios....

 

[BigDaveK]

One tip I read was to let the boiled nuts cool and then refrigerate. Supposedly the oils will solidify, float, making removal easy before fermenting. But I wonder if the oil plays any part in added flavor?

 

[David Violante]

Hmmm… that’s a good question. I would think that they would at first be insoluble in the more water based solution at the beginning of fermentation, but then impart something in the more alcohol based part towards the end of fermentation. Someone way smarter than me with a bunch more experience is going to have to answer this one.

 

[winemaker81]

One tip I read was to let the boiled nuts cool and then refrigerate. Supposedly the oils will solidify, float, making removal easy before fermenting. But I wonder if the oil plays any part in added flavor?

The tip makes sense. When my dad made head cheese, he'd refrigerate it and the fat, which was significant, would float and solidify. My parents would cut a piece from the pan, then scrape the fat off, as the fat formed a protective layer on the head cheese.

As to whether the fat would flavor the wine? Given that the fat will float as soon as the mixture cools, my (hopefully) educated guess is that it won't. Besides, the fat is a location where unwanted microbial life will thrive, so even if it does impart flavor, it's a significant risk factor for spoilage.

 

[Raptor99]

Hmmm… that’s a good question. I would think that they would at first be insoluble in the more water based solution at the beginning of fermentation, but then impart something in the more alcohol based part towards the end of fermentation. Someone way smarter than me with a bunch more experience is going to have to answer this one.

I am not an expert, but that is my guess as well. Some flavor molecules are soluble in water, some in alcohol, some in oil. I wonder if we can get some of the oil soluble flavors into the alcohol. I also wonder if some of the oil will be dissolved into the wine rather than floating to the top because of the alcohol. Maybe one of the chemistry experts will comment on this.

With my chocolate wine, I had oils floating to the top in my primary, much less in the secondary, and none at all after the next racking. The oils ended up on the bucket/carboy and racking tubing. So I think that by the time I am bulk aging there is very little oil left. Of course it depends on how much oil is present to start with.

 

[Addsae36]

I racked this yesterday and It is quite pleasant. It has a nice almond nougat flavor. I am excited to see what time will do.

It is definitely oily, which is strange to contend with in a wine, but I would make it again, and I hope to try hazelnut, too.

You could use DualFine which says it drops out oil among other solids.

 

[Addsae36]

One tip I read was to let the boiled nuts cool and then refrigerate. Supposedly the oils will solidify, float, making removal easy before fermenting. But I wonder if the oil plays any part in added flavor?

I started an almond wine and tried this but the oil never solidified. I ended up just skimming as much as I could with a spoon which got most of it out. Let it sit in the fridge for a whole day but it never did.

 

[vinny]

My thoughts were just to overflow the jug a little in the sink. Unfortunately, I ended up with a perfect imperial gallon. I would have to dilute it and I want to taste it as is before adding anything. After 2 rackings there is very little oil left.

 

[BigDaveK]

I started an almond wine and tried this but the oil never solidified. I ended up just skimming as much as I could with a spoon which got most of it out. Let it sit in the fridge for a whole day but it never did.

Huh. Interesting.
Thanks for the input. I'm disappointed because it made sense and I thought it would work.

 

[Addsae36]

Huh. Interesting.
Thanks for the input. I'm disappointed because it made sense and I thought it would work.

It may still, it may have not worked because my fermentation was going and alcohol was present. Idk know if that matters but that’s what I think happened. I looked up what temp almond oil solidifies and it’s below 50° I think. It has to be something unique to my batch I’m sure.

 

[vinny]

HMmmmm.. Olive oil stays liquefied in a salad dressing for a day or 3, then solidifies. Maybe it was just time. It seems once it has solidified it takes less time when you put it back in the fridge, maybe it undergoes a bit of a transformation that takes some time the first time around?

IDK.. just thinking out loud.