Starting Sour Cherry wine

[Ericphotoart]

My concentrates from Colomafrozen are arriving tomorrow. I've ordered 2 gallons of Montmorency tart cherry concentrate with Brix68. This will give me enough "power" to dilute it and start around 6 gallons of must at a reasonable SG. I'm very excited. Sour cherries were always one of my favorite fruits. I come from Poland where they were quite popular when I was a kid. Not very popular in the US at least in the Eastern states, I found them in stores a few times but they were very expensive and not a good quality. I think they are more popular in Midwest. I want to create the taste I remember from my childhood, sour/sweet/mouthful. I'm not sure what pH of the concentrate is but I will need to adjust to around 3.2 - 3.3.

 

[Ivywoods]

Tart cherry is one of my favorites, too. I was considering ordering some just today. I believe they have a bit of a discount on the cherry right now but I noticed the price had really gone up since I ordered it several years ago. Perhaps I will go ahead and order soon.

 

[Rice_Guy]

I will be interested to follow your cherry wine since you are using concentrate. ,,,
I have been lucky enough to pick a neighbors tree to the tune of three five gallon pails. This translates into using 100% juice and not pitting the cherries used in the primary. With my process the wine does first place at club contest or silver at Winemaker Mag BUT develops an off flavor/ light bitter a year in the bottle.
I am curious how yours with clean juice ages.

 

[Ericphotoart]

So I pitched the yeasts last night and it started to ferment when I woke up. Here is my recipe which is the combination of different recipes I found and it is also based on two of my sweet cherry wines I made previously.
2 gallons of Montmorency tart cherry concentrate
water to around 6.3 gallons level
3 tsp pectic enzyme
3 tsp yeast nutrients
1 tsp yeast energizer
1 tsp tannin
SG - 1.100
pH - 3.4 (after adding 5tbs of acid blend and 8 oz of Real Lemon)
Yeast - K1-V1116
Temperature - 68F

 

[Ivywoods]

Ericphotoart-Did you add sugar to get to that SG?

 

[Ericphotoart]

No additional sugar.

 

[Ericphotoart]

After 3 days, gravity dropped to 1.074. Last night all foam disappeared but fermentation is going well.

 

[hounddawg]

sounds great, i too love sour cherry,
Dawg

 

[Ericphotoart]

It's still in primary. Yesterday was 1.030 so the fermentation is going very well. I noticed there is very little lees so I should not loose a lot of volume. This is a good thing about making wine using only juice. in my previous wine using Vintner's Best and 2 quarts of Passion Fruit concentrate lees volume was quite significant but passion fruit is totally different.

 

[Ericphotoart]

Strange thing happened. After a very good fermentation, all the foam disappeared as in previous post and fermentation stuck at 1.030. There is no activity. I made a yeast starter with EC-1118 and I added it just now. It is tart cherry so it's difficult to say if there is any sugar by taste. Even though it is 1.030 at this moment it tastes tarty like dry wine at 0.990. I'm not sure if I should add sugar or not. PH is 3.7 although I started with 3.4. Normal? I'm leaving for work soon so I wonder if I see any activity in the evening. I don't have any experience with stuck fermentation.

 

[winemaker81]

I made a yeast starter with EC-1118 and I added it just now.

pH is in a good range. Give it a stir tomorrow morning, and after that stir twice a day (before & after work?).

 

[Ericphotoart]

Today just a few tiny bubbles but no foam. I added 1 tsp of yeast nutrients. I run out of yeast energizer that might help. At this moment the wine is only 9% ABV so hopefully it will restart. If not maybe adding more sugar would be a good idea?

 

[BigDaveK]

There's still a good deal of sugar so I don't think that's the issue.
I would give it a good stir - maybe there's too much CO2. And what's the temperature? Maybe warming it would help?
And if the 1118 that you added is viable it should show signs of activity within 24 hours. Fingers are crossed for you!

 

[winemaker81]

If not maybe adding more sugar would be a good idea?

Nope, it's got plenty of sugar, adding more will just compound the problem.

Check the SG after work today. If it's less than 1.030, the wine is fermenting. Wine can ferment with very little visible evidence.

Patience, Grasshopper!

I recall one wine that just wouldn't ferment. After 5 or 6 weeks I got frustrated so I put the jug in the corner (1 gallon batch). I found the jug 9 months later and was going to dump it. Checked it, it had fermented out and tasted great.

YOU are not charge. Mother Nature and Dionysus are. Pour a glass of wine, accept that fact, and relax.

Not all fermentations go like gangbusters to completion. Yeast do their own thing, and we are just along for the ride.

 

[Ericphotoart]

Thanks. The temperature is 68. I will use a degassing device I have to introduce some more oxygen but later in the evening. I still have a few years to retirement so I need to waste my time at work instead of making more wine

 

[Ericphotoart]

Wine can ferment with very little visible evidence.


I recall one wine that just wouldn't ferment. After 5 or 6 weeks I got frustrated so I put the jug in the corner (1 gallon batch). I found the jug 9 months later and was going to dump it. Checked it, it had fermented out and tasted great.

I transferred the wine to 5 +1 gallon carboys and 2 smaller bottles for top offs, Unfortunately no activity. SG still 1.030. It's difficult to check amount of sugar by taste since it is sour cherry. With a different wine 1.030 would be quite sweet. This one is very tarty/sour as tart cherries are. I think I will just leave it as you suggest and hope for the best. I'm not sure if not adding sugar at all might be the problem? I wanted to try aronia (chokeberry) wine using concentrates from Colomafrozen (Brix 65) but now I'm not sure if I can have the same issue that I have now. The wine is now 9%ABV so to fortify it to around 14.5% I would need around 1.5 liter of 96% alcohol. Is there anything else I can do at this moment? The wine tastes great! but....

 

[winemaker81]

Eric, stop worrying. Your wine is fine. It may not progress the way you expected, but evidence is that it is fine.

Patience, Grasshopper.

Ignore the wine for 4 weeks, then check the SG. Don't touch the wine, don't even look at it. Give it time.

1. Wine appears to be healthy.

2. Wine tastes great.

3. ABV is low, but is easily corrected.

The wine is not progressing as YOU (or me) want it to, but it's in good shape.

Did I mention patience?

 

[hounddawg]

I transferred the wine to 5 +1 gallon carboys and 2 smaller bottles for top offs, Unfortunately no activity. SG still 1.030. It's difficult to check amount of sugar by taste since it is sour cherry. With a different wine 1.030 would be quite sweet. This one is very tarty/sour as tart cherries are. I think I will just leave it as you suggest and hope for the best. I'm not sure if not adding sugar at all might be the problem? I wanted to try aronia (chokeberry) wine using concentrates from Colomafrozen (Brix 65) but now I'm not sure if I can have the same issue that I have now. The wine is now 9%ABV so to fortify it to around 14.5% I would need around 1.5 liter of 96% alcohol. Is there anything else I can do at this moment? The wine tastes great! but....

patience is your greatest ingredient,,,
listen to @winemaker81 ,, or send wine to me, i am as trustworthy as those in power. you know little white house on 1600 penn ave,,, lol,, not political, just real estate,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Dawg

 

[mikewatkins727]

I transferred the wine to 5 +1 gallon carboys and 2 smaller bottles for top offs, Unfortunately no activity. SG still 1.030. It's difficult to check amount of sugar by taste since it is sour cherry. With a different wine 1.030 would be quite sweet. This one is very tarty/sour as tart cherries are. I think I will just leave it as you suggest and hope for the best. I'm not sure if not adding sugar at all might be the problem? I wanted to try aronia (chokeberry) wine using concentrates from Colomafrozen (Brix 65) but now I'm not sure if I can have the same issue that I have now. The wine is now 9%ABV so to fortify it to around 14.5% I would need around 1.5 liter of 96% alcohol. Is there anything else I can do at this moment? The wine tastes great! but....

@Ericphotoart: I have started chokecherry (aronia) concentrate from Coloma Frozen and it has stalled at S.G. 1.030. Twice have tried to restart fermentation. Go figure.

 

[Shurt1073]

Eric, stop worrying. Your wine is fine. It may not progress the way you expected, but evidence is that it is fine.

Patience, Grasshopper.

Ignore the wine for 4 weeks, then check the SG. Don't touch the wine, don't even look at it. Give it time.

1. Wine appears to be healthy.

2. Wine tastes great.

3. ABV is low, but is easily corrected.

The wine is not progressing as YOU (or me) want it to, but it's in good shape.

Did I mention patience?

Eric, I've heard these words before while in your situation (sorta) and they are true! Tough to hear but true. Keep us posted.