Tomato Wine

[Charlietuna]

I stopped by my local winery the other day to buy his used bottles & we started talking. He said tomato wine is amazing for cooking. So I thought I'd give it a try. I used a 2 gallon fermenter & added 4 qts of 1 yr old tomato juice that I personally canned( an inch of clear on top & the thick stuff on bottom), I shook it up & dumped it in.

I ended up with ~ 3.5 cups of sugar to get the 1.8-1.9 sg I wanted. Also, added 1/4 tsp tannin, 1 cup raisens, 1 campden crushed, 2.5 tsp acid blend, 1 tsp of nutrient.

Going to broadcast the yeast tomrrow afternoon.

If anyone has any advice or knowledge on the subject, please let me know.

Thanks,

Brian

 

[Daisy317]

The only thing that comes to mind initially (after working all day) is the high acidity of tomatoes. Let me know how it goes.

 

[Shirley_Rocks]

Very interesting. I hope you update this thread with details on how it goes and how it tastes. I am going to have a ton of tomatoes pretty soon, and while I have plans for canning them, this could be a very interesting use. I'd be curious about it as vinegar, too.

 

[Charlietuna]

Pitched yeast today. Only used 1/2 a pack. 8 hrs later, it's fermenting. It'll be interesting to watch. The tomato juice is thick & settles leaving a yellowish clear layer on top. The fermentation seems to be happening at the lower tomato juice level & floating up through the top clearer layer. I think I'll stir it well in the morning.

Edit: I stirred it just now. I'll post on what it looks like in the morning.

Brian

 

[Charlietuna]

tomato wine fermentation



I have tried to attach a pic of the tomato wine beginning to ferment. Hope it comes through.

 

[Charlietuna]

all the little white dots are what started happening about 5 hrs after pitching the yeast

 

[Shirley_Rocks]

View attachment 2708

I have tried to attach a pic of the tomato wine beginning to ferment. Hope it comes through.

Working link to pic, and looks pretty bloomy, not that I am an expert or even experienced with wine, but I have baked a few and a half loaves of bread, and know bloomy yeast when I see it

 

[Midwest Vintner]

I've made it. Green tomato wine is best, IMO.

 

[Charlietuna]

I was thinking about green tomatos after this one is in secondary. I've got a recipe for it too.

We have a 30 x 90 greenhouse on the family farm that tomatoes are falling off the plants right now so we are all thinking of creative ways to use them ( like the shrimp in Forest Gump). I've helped juice 86 quarts in the last two weeks with a squeezo hand crank juicer.

There's a thick froth today that you can hear bubbling from across the room.

Should I stir or leave it alone?

Brian

 

[FTC Wines]

I made/canned 14 qts. of salsa from the garden yesterday. Had 12 lbs. of tomatoes & pure juice left so I made a 2 gal. batch of tomato wine, will pitch yeast tonight. Last year made a Hot Pepper wine & thinking about blending the 2 for a "Bloody Mary Wine" early next year. We will see, Roy ps I'd stir 2X a day

 

[FTC Wines]

72 hrs. & it's dry. Mon. night Aug. 1 sg was 1.095, higher than I wanted, cut recipe sugar down & 1st measurement was 1.095 so I went with it. 3 days later it's .998, temps were 77-78* Fastest fermentation I have ever had! Smells acidy & tomatoie, if thats a word. Time will tell. Roy

 

[Redtrk]

I made/canned 14 qts. of salsa from the garden yesterday. Had 12 lbs. of tomatoes & pure juice left so I made a 2 gal. batch of tomato wine, will pitch yeast tonight. Last year made a Hot Pepper wine & thinking about blending the 2 for a "Bloody Mary Wine" early next year. We will see, Roy ps I'd stir 2X a day

Bloody Mary wine? Now you're talking! My wife's eyes just lit up when I told her this. Maybe I'll do a small batch first and see how it turns out. If we like it then next year we'll make more.

 

[Charlietuna]

I ended up with a lot of solide in the bottom. I'll probably only get 3/4 gallon out of 4 full quarts of juice I started with. I squeezed out the solids through a brewers sock & put it in a quart jar(full) & a partial pint. after it settles, I'll pull the liquid off each of those & add to the rest. Then It's time to cook some steak in it. Brian

 

[Runningwolf]

Bloody Mary wine? Now you're talking! My wife's eyes just lit up when I told her this. Maybe I'll do a small batch first and see how it turns out. If we like it then next year we'll make more.

with a blend of some hot pepper and garlic wine...keep talking, you got my attention

 

[Redtrk]

with a blend of some hot pepper and garlic wine...keep talking, you got my attention

That does sound good. Dan we might have to work on this.

 

[Flem]

Hey Rick, I know this is off-topic, but weren't you guys supposed to leave today for a bike trip to Kansas? I hope your "scare" last weekend didn't make you have to reschedule your trip!

 

[Redtrk]

Hey Rick, I know this is off-topic, but weren't you guys supposed to leave today for a bike trip to Kansas? I hope your "scare" last weekend didn't make you have to reschedule your trip!

Actually yes but not a reschedule, This was going to be a bike trip for us and i'm not sure that I mentioned it here yet but one of our DIL's asked if she and her two girls could ride with us to Kansaa to see her dad. We will be in Hesston and she is going to El Dorado which are both pretty close to each other.
Her dad was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer back in January with less than a year to live. She' made three trips out there so far since finding out and would like the opportunity to have this coming week with him too since we're going.
There will be many more bike trips for us but she can only get this coming week once with him.
So we'll be leaving tonight about 10:00 PM driving our Honda Insight. It gets better mileage than the bike pulling it's trailer anyway.

 

[Flem]

Good for you. Have a safe trip.