Skittle Wine

[Redtrk]

I have been offered $20 a bottle for this stuff. It is dang good.

And strong too. Heck it's all sugar!

 

[Runningwolf]

Damn it would you guys knock this off! I told myself I wasn't starting any more wine till Sept. Now you got me thinking (and i don't do that often either).

 

[Redtrk]

Damn it would you guys knock this off! I told myself I wasn't starting any more wine till Sept. Now you got me thinking (and i don't do that often either).

You know you want to! Just one little gallon Dan then it doesn't really count.

 

[Runningwolf]

You know you want to! Just one little gallon Dan then it doesn't really count.

Yeah right, thats sounds like something Clinton would say. Besides you know I don't do anything small, it's just not worth it. It's either 5-6 gallons or not at all.

 

[tjbryner]

Yeah right, thats sounds like something Clinton would say. Besides you know I don't do anything small, it's just not worth it. It's either 5-6 gallons or not at all.

After you taste skittle wine, 5 -6 gallons is a small batch!

 

[Runningwolf]

Ok so I decided to start my skittle today. I made about 6.5 - 7 gallon batch. I basically used the same recipe (posted below) as in the beginning of this thread for a 1 gallon batch.

I used about 5.5 pounds of skittles.
7 frozen Welches white grape concentrate
I had simple syrup mixed up (1/2 gallon) so I added that and brought the sg up to 1.076

I boiled a gallon of water and then added the Skittles instead of pouring the boiling water in the primary. OMG these Skittles ended up in one big goober. The heck with the primary, I dumped it into there and stirred the heck out of it reducing the goober by about 80%. Meanwhile I was boiling another gallon of water to assist in dissolving it. Once the water was boiling I dumped it into the primary also continuing to stir until it was all dissolved. I let the batch cool down while I cleaned the sticky pan and other things up. Once it was only warm Iadded the grape concentrate, water and other chemicals. For some reason the yeast nutrient didn't want to dissolve and just floated. I stirred the heck out of it and still didn't disolve. Added the 1118 yeast and place in laundry sink. Since the bucket was quiet full and not knowing what the fermentation will be like I decided to error on the side of caution and plce it in the sink.


original recipe
3/4 pounds of skittles
2 1/4 pounds of sugar
8.4 oz grape concentrate
1 tsp pectolase
Tannin
Nutrient
1 tsp acid blend or citric acid
Yeast

Pour the Skittles in a jug or bowl, pour over 2 pints of boiling water. Make sure that it boiling as you need to kill off all the preservatives.
Keep stirring, it will go into a gooey stodge but it will dissolve
add the sugar.
When cool to room temperature add the rest of ingredients
Put into a clean demi john.
Top up to shoulders of demi john with cold water. Fit an airlock and leave to ferment. This may take a few days or a couple of weeks depending on the temperature.
During this time you will get a orangey colour scum, this is ok.
When the bubbles stop coming through the airlock, or slow down to about one every 2 minutes.
Siphon off into a clean demi john. You may need to strain the wine to get rid of some bits left over.
Add 1 campden tablet and potassium sorbate.
Leave to clear.
When clear, siphon into a clean demi john or bottle.
Leave it a couple of weeks then add a campden before bottling

 

[Redtrk]

I just racked mine this morning Dan and it smells great. The sample taste was good too. Oh and as a caution...... Don't give any of this to a diabetic.

 

[Mcamnl]

Might have to give this one a try. Sams has 54oz. bags for $6.30.
Gotta be careful though, the wife and kids might eat them before I can get them into primary.

 

[Runningwolf]

I couldn't find anything at Sams except large bags full of smaller bags. I had to go to Walmart at get something like 41 oz bags.

 

[Runningwolf]

The other thing I did that I omitted was since I had the primary bucket in the laundry tray, I also decided to fill the sink up with just hot water (about 128*) about 3/4 the way up the bucket to assist with fermentation.

8 hours later I am in full fermentation.

 

[Affe]

I'm excited to see what you end up with, Dan. Has anyone considered an arduous, but possibly worth while separating of the candy into it's different flavors? For some reason, I feel that purple + red would be quite an awesome wine on its own!

 

[Runningwolf]

Skittle wine update simply put; worst looking and best smelling fermentation to date. AFFe I believe Sarah is getting ready to make some and is splitting out the green and purple and fermenting them separately to try and achieve a better color. I am hoping to capture all the flavors as my predecessors did.

 

[Redtrk]

Dan I added a F-pak about a few weeks ago to add more flavor. It worked great.

 

[tjbryner]

Dan it'll be the best tasting muddy looking drink you ever had.... I hope

Adding the flavor pack is imo the worst part, I ended up with more white scum on top. Also cleaning up your equipment after making it SUCKS, it is a pain in the rear to get that waxy scum removed.

TJ

 

[Runningwolf]

Oh what a morning. Right after my last post I decided my starting sg 1.076 was too low and wanted a 1.086 so I added 2 pounds of sugar to some warmed must. Upon adding it to the rest OMG I saw volcanos in carboys but "primarys". No it didn't shoot straight up like in carboys but I sure had lava flow. Let me tell you this stuff looked sick with all the crusty stuff of top flowing all over. Good thing I work in the basement. Thats enough for me I'm going outside to work.

TJ, thanks for the heads up. I am hoping for an extra 1/2 gallon and I'll use that to make my fpack ahead of time so hopefully I can avoid the mess. I am going to ferment to dry in the primary for easier clean up.

 

[SarahRides]

The Skittles Experiment

So here it is, I've decided to do a side by side comparison........I <3 Science!

I made 2 batches, one with just the red, orange and yellow, and the second with all 5 colors.

 

[Runningwolf]

Thre three color wine is looking nice. Just imagine the other one flowing over the edges, across the table and on to the floor. YUCK!

Sarah, I'm glad you got your's started today so we can compare notes on this thread as we go along.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Not really Skittle wine.... but kinda looks like it. I wonder how Skittles would react if added after fermentation is complete? Would you get color and flavor extraction?

 

[Runningwolf]

Lon, I am not sure about individual colors and how they would come out as I mixed them all.

I would not add Skittles to a finished wine. They make a God awful sticky lumpy cap. I am too early into this to give you any solid advice. If I was to do it I would ferment the colors out seperatly and finish them off before adding. Another idea might be to boil a small amout of water, add you specific color and dissolve. Next simmer to reduce water then pour through cheese cloth. Let cool and set to let any other solids to settle or float.
...just some ideas off the top of my head

 

[Affe]

As I suggested above, I would do each color separately. Provided you have enough equipment, I'd be curious to the results of mixing different colors after fermentation as opposed to fermenting them all at once (and producing that beautiful mud color!)