Tart cherry wine recipe

[VitruvianMan]

I got it done, its definitely tart and potent, some like it and some dont. I do and thats what counts

 

[spunk]

@turock i'm hopefully of a good cherry harvest. Do you have a
Recipe that you have done in past?

 

[Arne]

I got it done, its definitely tart and potent, some like it and some dont. I do and thats what counts

Glad your wine came out where you like it. The cherry tree has some blossoms on it, hope it gets more. Crabapple is all bloomed out, should be a great crop of them as usual. Last batch of cherry I started I used honey instead of sugar, it is still young, but what a difference. Smoothed the cherry juice out and really brought the cherry flavor forward. Honey is expensive, but sure made a nice melenol out of it. Arne.

 

[Turock]

spunk---Well, as you probably know, we don't use recipes. What we do with our cherry is do the ferment with no water. To figure out the chemical additions, we consider 10 pounds per gallon, then trim that back a tad so you're not over-dosing on sulphite, etc. We like Montrachet yeast on the wine. We set the PH around 3.4

 

[spunk]

Wow i bet its good fruit only the sugar does being out the juice with cherries. Does the skin have much tannins? I made one gal of cherry wine. Very early not much notes so I dont remember what I did. tasted really good though. I may dry some cheeries try something like that too for a qintwr brew. Or maybe throw some rubarb in it to.

 

[Turock]

Tannin is always a good idea as it aides in clearing and helps stabilize color.

 

[spunk]

Ok thanks going get down in the 30's wed and rest of week.

 

[spunk]

Picked and pitted a little over a gal of cherries. Hope the rain stops soon I want to pic morethe rain

 

[spunk]

I now have a steam juicer has anyone made wine or mead with sour cherries with a steam juicer deciding if i want to steam them or just do in on the pulp. I have about 8 lbs of cherries

 

[Arne]

Havn't used a steam juicer, but if I did, think I would juice them, see how much juice you get and either make a gal. or 2 gal. out of it. Don't have my notes handy, but think I use 10 lb. per gal. usually. Made some mead with the pie cherries and that stuff is really good. Arne.

 

[Turock]

I tend to like the idea of fermenting on the whole cherry because the pulp adds flavor to the wine and the skins add color. But I suppose you could take the remaining skins from the steam juicer, bag them, and toss them into the vat.

 

[spunk]

Well I steamed half of it. Almost 2 quarts. Tasted good weaker than the other half that that is in a pan in frig.i did keep the steamed cherries tasted they still have flavor to them i couldnt just throw away. I was thinking of a mead sounds good. Care to share your recipe. Maybe add cinnamon and or almond extract. Call cherry pie mead.

 

[Turock]

Vanilla is really good on cherry. Tried with some vanilla extract that I had made--not adding beans to the carboy.

 

[spunk]

Vanilla extract sound good.i have that. You put that in primary or secondary. How much you think for a gallon.

 

[spunk]

Started the cherry mead i put all the cherries even the ones that were left over from steam juicing. Plus several cups apple juice Just didnt have enough apple juice. Sg was 1.86 ph 3.43. Also added two cinnamon sticks used montrachet yeast. Have high hopes for this i think it will be good.

 

[spunk]

I just read what I said so im correcting it. I didnt have enough cherry juice so i added apple juice to make up difference for a gallon.

 

[Arne]

Keep your nutrients up when using the montrachet yeast. It has a tendency to give you the rotten egg smell otherwise. Arne.

 

[Tnuscan]

Here is what I used. The cherries were from and old pie cherry tree in our yard. Actually they are what started the winemaking around here, had a bumper crop and wanted something to do with them besides feeding the birds.

20+ lbs. pitted pie cherries
12 lb. sugar
5 tsp. nutrient (half now half after fermenting a couple of days)
2 1/2 tsp pectic enzime
2 1/2 tsp tannin
1 tsp acid blend
starting s.g. approx. 1.090
used Cotes de blanc yeast.

Pitting the cherries makes a big difference in the taste. The taste will mellow out, but no pits makes it happen much sooner. Ihave a small hand pitter, makes the job pretty fast. Doesn't get all the pits, but most of them.
Ferment it down, rack, let it clear. let it sit in the carboy for 6 months or so, stabalize, sweeten and bottle.
Arne.

Found it!!

Knew I had seen it before, Has anything changed since this post??

Thanks!!

 

[user 32114]

I have a question on your recipe Arne
i'm planning on using dehydrated pure honey no cane sugar in it. do I swap pound for pound or use the hydrometer to gain my objective on your recipe
Richard::

Here is what I used. The cherries were from and old pie cherry tree in our yard. Actually they are what started the winemaking around here, had a bumper crop and wanted something to do with them besides feeding the birds.

20+ lbs. pitted pie cherries
12 lb. sugar
5 tsp. nutrient (half now half after fermenting a couple of days)
2 1/2 tsp pectic enzime
2 1/2 tsp tannin
1 tsp acid blend
starting s.g. approx. 1.090
used Cotes de blanc yeast.

Pitting the cherries makes a big difference in the taste. The taste will mellow out, but no pits makes it happen much sooner. Ihave a small hand pitter, makes the job pretty fast. Doesn't get all the pits, but most of them.
Ferment it down, rack, let it clear. let it sit in the carboy for 6 months or so, stabalize, sweeten and bottle.
Arne.

 

[the_rayway]

Hey there,
Always use your hydrometer - sugars in both fruits and honeys changes from year to year, location to location.