Summer 2016 WOTM Club

[mennyg19]

Took a gravity reading. The thing didn't sink!!!
1.122

 

[Jericurl]

Whew, that's a pretty good amount to ferment.

If you get it down to 1.01, that will give you 14.70% ABV, not bad at all.
How's your fermentation looking?

 

[mennyg19]

How's your fermentation looking?

Looking pretty slow. Airlock not bubbling a lot, but I do see fizz coming up through the must

 

[mennyg19]

Ferment still pretty slow, airlock bubbling about 5 times a minute. I still see fizz coming up though. Looks like an opened bottle of pepsi... (Not as much fizz as coke). I hope its working. Im not measuring until it quiets down entirely

 

[mennyg19]

Snapped a pic last night. My dates turned white!

 

[Jericurl]

Here we are, Herbal Mead on the left.
So far, so good. I did end up adding some random things here and there. My original primary amount was larger than I anticipated so I had to ferment in two 1.5 gallon containers. I tinkered with it adding a little more water and a little more honey. SG for both containers was @ 1.08. Then I probably had a half gallon less than 3 gallons when I racked to secondary. So I made a second tea with the same herbs and added about a pound, pound and a half of honey and added that to my carboy. I had three roses bloom so I pulled those off and added them to the carboy, as well as a basil bloom.

 

[mennyg19]

Racked my date mead tonight. Gorgeous dark color. Sugar and alcohol levels are a bit high for me so I will top off with water to cool it down... its small so I didnt purposely taste, but I got a splash while racking (I'm still new to racking). I so far love it, so I hope it just keeps getting better

 

[hounddawg]

when you make a wine from flowers do you use the entire bloom
Dawg

Tiger Lily White Grape/Peach Wine

So finally going to try this! I'm new to making wine but completely fascinated by the process and what you can use!

Tiger Lily Wine
(day lily, ditch lily)
*one Gallon batch*

2.5-3 quarts of Tiger Lily Petals
2 of 11.5 oz cans of Welch’s 100% white grape/peach frozen concentrate
5.78 pints of water (92.5 oz)
3 cups of sugar (withhold a bit and add if needed for desired SG)
1/8 tsp powdered grape tannin
1 tsp of yeast nutrient
2 tsp acid blend
Lalvin EC-1118 Yeast

 

[mennyg19]

Question: my ferment stopped. I think its cuz the alcohol level is too high. I added water so the alcohol percentage should now be lower. Will my fermentation restart or was my yeast killed off by the high alcohol and I now have to add more yeast?

 

[Jericurl]

when you make a wine from flowers do you use the entire bloom
Dawg

I pinch off any leaves/green parts, but other than that, I pitch the whole flower in.

 

[Jericurl]

Question: my ferment stopped. I think its cuz the alcohol level is too high. I added water so the alcohol percentage should now be lower. Will my fermentation restart or was my yeast killed off by the high alcohol and I now have to add more yeast?

Without having SG measurements, it's really hard to know. And even then, would likely only be speculation. If your yeast was the Redstar Pasteur Champagne yeast, then I believe it usually goes 13-15%, so you can probably get 16% easily, but I don't know how much of your sugar has already been converted and how much is left. It could all be gone and adding water only dilutes all of it. It could have a bit more to go and restart. But being that it has been fermenting this long, I doubt it would restart. If you made a starter and got a really healthy colony going and added some kind of nutrients/energizer you might be able to get a bit more out of it, but ...it's hard to tell.

eta: You have a beginning SG amount...what are you at now?

 

[hounddawg]

thank you.
i really did not know,
i have as of yet never tried flower wine,
but from reading post it sounds if nothing else interesting,
DAWG

I pinch off any leaves/green parts, but other than that, I pitch the whole flower in.

 

[SteveH]

when you make a wine from flowers do you use the entire bloom
Dawg

Jericurl has waaaaaay more experience than me, so.... what she says! On my tigerlilly batches though I followed the recipe i had at hand and used the petals only snapping them off near the base.

 

[Jericurl]

Jericurl has waaaaaay more experience than me, so.... what she says! On my tigerlilly batches though I followed the recipe i had at hand and used the petals only snapping them off near the base.

And that's absolutely fine as well. But the stamens, etc, have a lot of pollen and nectar in them and that is where a lot of the aroma and flavor comes from so I always include it.

 

[SteveH]

And that's absolutely fine as well. But the stamens, etc, have a lot of pollen and nectar in them and that is where a lot of the aroma and flavor comes from so I always include it.

And that is what I will do next year! Makes good sense.

 

[mennyg19]

Without having SG measurements, it's really hard to know. And even then, would likely only be speculation. If your yeast was the Redstar Pasteur Champagne yeast, then I believe it usually goes 13-15%, so you can probably get 16% easily, but I don't know how much of your sugar has already been converted and how much is left. It could all be gone and adding water only dilutes all of it. It could have a bit more to go and restart. But being that it has been fermenting this long, I doubt it would restart. If you made a starter and got a really healthy colony going and added some kind of nutrients/energizer you might be able to get a bit more out of it, but ...it's hard to tell.

eta: You have a beginning SG amount...what are you at now?

I measured and its 1.006 (started at 1.122), that is after I added .8 of a liter of water. I started with 4.2 and topped off after fermentation stopped. I tasted it and its a bit honey harsh. Not as smooth as the one I tasted before I started, but that was aged for a year. I hope that it will smoothen out over the next few months.

 

[Jericurl]

I measured and its 1.006 (started at 1.122), that is after I added .8 of a liter of water. I started with 4.2 and topped off after fermentation stopped. I tasted it and its a bit honey harsh. Not as smooth as the one I tasted before I started, but that was aged for a year. I hope that it will smoothen out over the next few months.

That's really good then!

It makes sense that it wouldn't be as smooth. It will need time to age out, but I'd put money on it being spectacular by this time next year.

 

[mennyg19]

That's really good then!



It makes sense that it wouldn't be as smooth. It will need time to age out, but I'd put money on it being spectacular by this time next year.

Bottle age or bulk age... that is the question...

 

[Jericurl]

Bottle age or bulk age... that is the question...

I try to bulk age no less than 9 months before bottling. I just bottled three batches that are just about a year old.

 

[mennyg19]

So I ran out of patience. I bottled on Friday. Had it over the weekend and it is out of this world. My taste buds aren't so nitpicky, so I wouldn't be able to tell you if the dates come through, but a friend who was raving about it said he tasted it.
At two months old, this mead is a winner. I'm planning another 10L because this aint gonna last too long.
Here's a pic:


I also love the bottles I bottled in. They came in a case of 17 and were about $1.19 each. They're 500ml