The art of a recipe

[BanjoSam]

Whats up ya'll.
Im fairly new here..Been lurking around for a few months. I've always been able to find the answers to my questions or I dont feel experienced enough to help out so i've never had a need to post.
I've been making wine for about a year now but i've watched my parents make it my whole life. They've always used kits or recipies as do I but i'd like to try my hand at an original recipe.
My question is what steps go into writing your own. I have no idea where to begin with the right amount of fruit/sugar. I've seen recipes with/without ingrediets such as pectic enzyme, tannin, acid blend. What circumstances would you leave or add them out. Sorry if this is in the wrong topic.

 

[Wade E]

Welcome to this side of the "Net" I always use pectic enzyme in all my recipes as it has 2 uses. 1 it helsps break down the fruit to extract color and flavor and 2 it helps prevent a pectin haze which without this ingredient is very hard to clear your wine from this haze. Tannin additions a lot of times are either left out as a need or not additive meaning that some fruit have plenty of tannins like Elderberry and CRRANTS AND OTHERS DONET LIKE Peaches. Its also a basis of if you feel it needs ,ore after tasting when fermentation is done. As far as fruit wines go I add some powdered tannin in primary aading more to fruits that conatin very little and less to ones that have a slightly higher level. With grapes I dont add any to whites and a small amount up front to reds and do bench trials post fermentation afterwards to distinguish at what level I will stop adding. Acids and sugars area always an as needed basis as they will change greatly and basically this should never be added just because a recipe calls for it and instead really should be added only after testing. With acids some people go by taste, some use an acid test and some use a ph meter which I feel is the best option and most accurate for the home wine maker. As far as sugar goes this should always be adjusted buy using a hydrometer or refractometer and also be realistic to the type of wine being made and the yeast being used. For the home wine maker you really should adjust the sg with the yeast being able to consume all the available sugar unless you are planning to fortify it with a higher alc product like Brandy or another option is the availablity of a sterile filtration unit to extract all the yeast cells. Basically a good sg for most fruit wines is around 1.085-1.095 so as the fruit flavor can showw through the abv and be present.
Most fruits require a minumum of about 6 lbs per gallon or more and some people dont add any water at all which in my opion is the better way to go but not always an option due to $.

 

[BanjoSam]

Thanks for the info. Got somewhat of an understanding on how it all goes together now. I've been wanting to try a strawberry/kiwi wine. Im probably going to fork out the money and just get enough fruit for a straight juice must like you said.

 

[BobF]

Whats up ya'll.
Im fairly new here..Been lurking around for a few months. I've always been able to find the answers to my questions or I dont feel experienced enough to help out so i've never had a need to post.
I've been making wine for about a year now but i've watched my parents make it my whole life. They've always used kits or recipies as do I but i'd like to try my hand at an original recipe.
My question is what steps go into writing your own. I have no idea where to begin with the right amount of fruit/sugar. I've seen recipes with/without ingrediets such as pectic enzyme, tannin, acid blend. What circumstances would you leave or add them out. Sorry if this is in the wrong topic.

Good reading for making up your own ...
http://www.eckraus.com/home-wine-making-creating-recipe.html

In fact, quite a few good articles ...
http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-articles.html

 

[Luc]

I develop all my recipes myself.

If you do want to now how, have a look at my web-log and click here:
http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/search/label/Recepten

I describe in all my recipes step by step how I developed them.

In brief:

- Prepare the juice by crushing fruit and adding pectic enzymes, let soak overnight
- Measure acidity with a titration kit.
- Measure sugar level with a hydrometer or refractometer
- Adjust sugar and acid and set the must to work.

My descriptions are written in Dutch and English and the give detailed instructions so they could be easily tweaked to meet your measurements.

Luc