What are you making and what have you made ???

[Nebbiolo020]

I am making 2.11 gallons of coffee wine with 18% tolerant yeast. It’s in secondary now. Approximately in a week the fermentation will finish. I’ve started to ferment it on the first day of May.

I have made cherry, orange, cinnamon tea, apricot, red grape wine.

Okay coffee wine sounds nasty just saying, I wouldn’t drink it.

 

[ChuckD]

Okay coffee wine sounds nasty just saying, I wouldn’t drink it.

Never say never!
I have thought that of many wines… beet, dandelion . But both can be excellent.

 

[Cosyden]

In primary:
- Dried Bilberry first run
- spruce tip

In secondary
- Gooseberry
- Rhubarb
- Mixed Berry (black currant, blackberry, raspberry, strawberry and cherry - frozen 4 berry medley with a bag of cherries chucked in)
- Beech leaf

Non in bottles as I’ve only been at this 5 weeks.

 

[Nebbiolo020]

Never say never!
I have thought that of many wines… beet, dandelion . But both can be excellent.

People ask on Reddit all the time about making wine from bizzare stuff I’ve seen people ferment soda, make wine with weed and all kinds of just wacky stuff. It surprises me what people try.

 

[winemaker81]

We bottled, racked, and topped barrels yesterday -- my son asked me what I had in production. It's a bigger list than I realized:

6 gallons Sauvignon Blanc
6 gallons Pinot Noir
3 gallons Chocolate Raspberry Port
6.6 gallons Elderberry
18 gallons Super Tuscan
18 gallons Rhone Blend

 

[vinny]

We bottled, racked, and topped barrels yesterday -- my son asked me what I had in production. It's a bigger list than I realized:

6 gallons Sauvignon Blanc
6 gallons Pinot Noir
3 gallons Chocolate Raspberry Port
6.6 gallons Elderberry
18 gallons Super Tuscan
18 gallons Rhone Blend

Are the Super Tuscan and Rhone your batches that are in barrels and the others carboys?

 

[winemaker81]

Are the Super Tuscan and Rhone your batches that are in barrels and the others carboys?

Yes, both barrels are triple FWK Forte kits.

The SB and Pinot Noir are FWK Tavola kits, the Chocolate Raspberry Port is a Global Vintners Apres kit, and the Elderberry is Vintners Best concentrate.

 

[Mekpdue]

3 gallons Chocolate Raspberry Port

Bryan, this morning I put the Apres Choc/Rasp Port into fermentation for the Holidays. I am curious, will you bottle your 3 gallons into 750ml bottles or use 375ml bottles. I like the idea of bottling into the 375ml bottles due to the high alcohol and 'heaviness' of the wine, but I don't like the idea of going out and buying them. Any experience with using full bottles with this blend?

BTW, impressive production run!

 

[winemaker81]

I like the idea of bottling into the 375ml bottles due to the high alcohol and 'heaviness' of the wine

I bottle ports/dessert wines and liqueurs (e.g., limoncello) is 375 bottles. Part of that is high ABV, part of it is that it extends the batch when you have 30 bottles (regardless of size) instead of 15.

Many moons ago a winery that I (young & single) frequented had cases of expended 375's in the barn -- I picked up 6 cases. Since then I rabidly save all 375's, and got a case from @mainshipfred a while back when he got a bunch of freebies that he passed along to others. My stock builds up, then I bottle dessert wine and/or liqueurs, and it drops back to zero. I suggest springing for a case, then rabidly seeking & hoarding them.

If you do winery tours, ask for empties. Some wineries are very happy to give empties away, others not so much.

Regarding my production, while I'm primarily a dry red drinker, my interests are varied, and I don't want to drink the same wine every day. I like having a couple of whites on hand, and make a mix of quick drinking and longer aging reds. I'm thinking I'll do a Country wine every year for additional variety -- I started Elderberry as my d-in-l and her mom liked my last one so much. I call it "in-laws relationship building and maintenance".

I plan out my barrel aged reds in advance (although plans often shift at the last moment), but tend to wing everything else, e.g., LabelPeelers had a 10% off sale so I purchased the Sauvignon Blanc.

 

[Mekpdue]

I bottle ports/dessert wines and liqueurs (e.g., limoncello) is 375 bottles

Thanks for the response, Bryan. 375's it is. It surprises me when you 'know' you should be doing something, but try to talk yourself out of it and into doing something else, and then someone suggests the first way of doing it is best and that light clicks on. "Why was I debating?" As I have a few months until bottling, I'll be on the lookout for 375ml's.

Getting wine bottles from a winery is a great idea. What wine bottles I do need (after saving and scavenging) I buy from my local winery, as they are less expensive than my LHBS and are punted. In addition, it helps them buy a larger quantity when needed and saves them money on shipping.

As the saying goes, "variety is the spice of life" and having a nice selection of 'varietals' (ha couldn't resist that) sure makes the days go by better.

 

[winemaker81]

It surprises me when you 'know' you should be doing something, but try to talk yourself out of it and into doing something else, and then someone suggests the first way of doing it is best and that light clicks on. "Why was I debating?"

This is why good leaders have diverse advisors.

I've had wineries refuse to give empties away, for reasons unknown. At least one state requires empties to be destroyed, and some wineries have switched to screwcaps. Fortunately, the winery closest to me loves to give away bottles. they are puntless, but I have many cases of identical bottles (color varies, 2 shades of green + blue), but I can live with that.

Looking at my LHBS and common online ones, I see the price of 375's is high. Good luck finding them at a reasonable price!

 

[vezePilot]

I have 6 gallons of Vintner's Best Watermelon Fruit siphoned to a Carboy and with Sorbate, K-meta and Kieselsol stirred in ... smells really great.
And 6 gallons of WinExpert Reserve Pinot Noir in primary.
Today I'll be preparing everything to start a 5 gallon batch of Light Ale (Briess Golden Light CBW), as well.

 

[Jusatele]

I have 3 gallons for blueberry/white grape going
3 gallons of skeeter pee to be bottled Saturday
3 gallons of Zinfandel aging nicely
and am thinking of doing a pineapple wine next week as I will have a carboy empty after the skeeter pee is bottled

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

1/2 of my dragon pee is now in bottles. Waiting for corks to bottle the rest

 

[vezePilot]

Got the Ale started. I had the last of a 33 lb growler of the Briess Golden Light malt extract sitting around for several months.
I needed to try to use all of it, if possible. My ale is usually about 4-1/2 % alcohol.
I used to say that if I want something stronger, I just drink The Glen Livet. (Now I just drink wine).

From experience I have found that the ABV can be calculated as (pounds of fermentables minus two) ... my 6-1/2 lbs Malt recipe results in 4.5 ABV.
The growler had about 9 lbs of malt in it. So this will be the strongest beer I've ever made, probably 7 % ABV. Oh well ... clumsy me.

In the pic, from front to back:
Five gallons Light Ale, Six gallons Watermelon Fruit, and Six gallons Pinot Noir.


edit: almost forgot ... I also increased the Hops for that beer. With about 50% increase in Malt, I figure a 50% increase in hops is appropriate. So I used 2 oz Centennial and 1 oz Cascade for Bittering, and then 2 oz Citra and 1 oz Cascade for Aroma. That oughta do it.

and even more: these containers are all sitting on, or above, Electric Germination Heater Mats. These are 17 watt, 120VAC heaters which keep items on them at temps about 20 degrees above ambient. I use them for beer making, wine making and bread making.

 

[vezePilot]

The Watermelon fruit wine came out great. Could be a little sweeter, I'll be sure to use the entire container of Conditioner/Sweetener next time.

Bottled the Ale today, total of 51 twelve-oz bottles (repurposed Moosehead & Dos Equis green bottles). This is the darkest beer I've ever made. It smells really great. Got a little busy with other things, beer was in the fermenter a whole three weeks. Ale batch Number 69, IIRC ... since 2012.

 

[vinny]

The Watermelon fruit wine came out great. Could be a little sweeter, I'll be sure to use the entire container of Conditioner/Sweetener next time.

Bottled the Ale today, total of 51 twelve-oz bottles (repurposed Moosehead & Dos Equis green bottles). This is the darkest beer I've ever made. It smells really great. Got a little busy with other things, beer was in the fermenter a whole three weeks. Ale batch Number 69, IIRC ... since 2012.

I'm curious if you have ever made kit beer and what you thought. I was looking at the kits last time I was in the local shop. I can't get the types of beer I like locally. I am more of a single strong beer than one who will sit down to to 6.

And I like to cook with a hearty ale as well.

It has been some years since I have come across anything like this, but I remember enjoying this one. 9% ABV

I have made you brew beers in the past but I was not involved in the process. The store did it all and it was not very good, so any input is appreciated.

 

[vezePilot]

My records indicate that in September and early October, 2012, I started with Brewer's Best American Cream Ale kits. By the end of October I had worked up my own recipe.

The kits used some Liquid Malt, but also dry Pilsen and Corn Sugar as the fermentables. And Willamette hops for both Bittering and Aroma. I don't recall how that tasted, but in my first Batch of my own recipe, I used only Liquid Malt Extract, and Brewer's Gold and Cascade hops. After that, I used primarily Cascade hops and Briess liquid malt for more than Sixty Five batches of beer over ten years.

I tried a dozen other hops strains, but always came back to Cascade. When they developed Citra hops, I added the use of that. I also tried Briess Sparkling Amber CBW. Also Nottingham, Coopers and Safbrew T-58 yeast strains ... didn't like those at all.

The taste of my recipe is very distinctive. This was not intentional, due to ignorance. It simply happened.
I have not found any other beer that is at all like it. It is very enjoyable and easy drinking.

Briess Golden Light Concentrated Brewer's Wort (CBW liquid malt)
Cascade hops
US-05 Yeast

Over and over, for years. I have enough hobbies.

edit: In my rather biased and I reckon not so humble opinion, Beer should be Simple. For probably at least 3,000 years it has been simple (Beer was produced in Egypt during the building of the pyramids). The simplicity of my recipe is almost certainly why it has a distinctive taste. And because I believe this is how beer is supposed to taste, I named mine ...

"Standard Reference."

 

[vinny]

My records indicate that in September and early October, 2012, I started with Brewer's Best American Cream Ale kits. By the end of October I had worked up my own recipe.

The kits used some Liquid Malt, but also dry Pilsen and Corn Sugar as the fermentables. And Willamette hops for both Bittering and Aroma. I don't recall how that tasted, but in my first Batch of my own recipe, I used only Liquid Malt Extract, and Brewer's Gold and Cascade hops. After that, I used primarily Cascade hops and Briess liquid malt for more than Sixty Five batches of beer over ten years.

I tried a dozen other hops strains, but always came back to Cascade. When they developed Citra hops, I added the use of that. I also tried Briess Sparkling Amber CBW. Also Nottingham, Coopers and Safbrew T-58 yeast strains ... didn't like those at all.

The taste of my recipe is very distinctive. This was not intentional, due to ignorance. It simply happened.
I have not found any other beer that is at all like it. It is very enjoyable and easy drinking.

Briess Golden Light Concentrated Brewer's Wort (CBW liquid malt)
Cascade hops
US-05 Yeast

Over and over, for years. I have enough hobbies.

edit: In my rather biased and I reckon not so humble opinion, Beer should be Simple. For probably at least 3,000 years it has been simple (Beer was produced in Egypt during the building of the pyramids). The simplicity of my recipe is almost certainly why it has a distinctive taste. And because I believe this is how beer is supposed to taste, I named mine ...

"Standard Reference."

Thanks for the reply. I am not ready to get into anything from scratch. I have a ton going on with wine and all my other hobbies keep me limited on space and in abundance of "stuff". There is always something to move out to fit in the new. I might try a kit to get the hook set and go from there.

 

[winemaker81]

I'm curious if you have ever made kit beer and what you thought.

I've never made beer from grain, only syrups. I've had a lot of both styles and I can't drink a beer and tell you how it's made.

The big advantage of syrup beers is simplicity. Boil water, add syrup and maybe small amounts of specialty grains, and add hops are different points during the boil. Dilute according to the recipe, add yeast, and ferment. Other than needing a really large pot and a crown capper, the equipment you have for wine is sufficient. The lack of variety of syrups is a drawback.

Grain beers give you the ability to really fine tune a recipe, adding varying amounts of very wide variety of grains. The drawback is the process is a lot more involved and special equipment is needed.

I don't drink a lot of beer, so I haven't gone into grain. I suggest you try making syrup beer first, and if you find you want to fine tune and delve into the detail, expand into grains.

I find recipes on the net and purchase the syrup and hops that match. Avoid "sugar beers", where sugar replaces malt as part of the fermentables. Full malt beers are far better.