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

[Terryfirma]

My coffee wine finished at 1.020 which it had a 1.130 of O.S.G. It turned out great: You can feel the sweet intense taste of the coffee.

Ooh?. I’m intrigued- I’d like to try this.
Any recipe or suggestions that might help me.. ?

 

[Brent]

Marquette, from my own backyard vines. Just harvested them this weekend. Brix at about 28-29. My 12 vines yielded about 190 lbs on the stem. Now the fun process of destemming and crushing begins.

 

[Kivanc]

Ooh?. I’m intrigued- I’d like to try this.
Any recipe or suggestions that might help me.. ?

I tried the following recipe:
COFFEE WINE

• ½ lb freshly ground coffee
• 2½ lbs dark brown sugar
• 1½ tsp citric acid
• ¼ tsp tannin
• 7½ pts water
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• Sauterne wine yeast

Pour water in pot and put on to boil. Stir in sugar until dissolved. When sugar is completely dissolved, stir coffee into water and wait until it boils. Remove from heat, cover and allow to cool. To a sanitized secondary, combine citric acid, tannin and yeast nutrient. Strain coffee through double layer of muslin into secondary, discarding the grounds. Add activated yeast and cover mouth of secondary with napkin held in place with rubber band. When fermentation is vigorous, fit airlock. Rack three times, 60 days apart, topping up and refitting airlock each time. If desired dry, rack into bottles. If desired sweet or semi-sweet, stabilize, sweeten to taste, wait 10 days, and rack into bottles. [Recipe adapted from Leo Zanelli's Home Winemaking from A to Z]

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Here’s my 2 latest “Frankenwines”. When I make a 3 gallon batch of mango and another fruit wines I usually have a nice batch of must left over. That plus some of the gross lees go into a 1 gallon batch with some fresh fruit of the same or simalar fruit with enough sugar to fire off at about 1.085 to 1.090.

They finish fast and have not disappointed.

 

[Terryfirma]

I tried the following recipe:
COFFEE WINE

• ½ lb freshly ground coffee
• 2½ lbs dark brown sugar
• 1½ tsp citric acid
• ¼ tsp tannin
• 7½ pts water
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• Sauterne wine yeast

Pour water in pot and put on to boil. Stir in sugar until dissolved. When sugar is completely dissolved, stir coffee into water and wait until it boils. Remove from heat, cover and allow to cool. To a sanitized secondary, combine citric acid, tannin and yeast nutrient. Strain coffee through double layer of muslin into secondary, discarding the grounds. Add activated yeast and cover mouth of secondary with napkin held in place with rubber band. When fermentation is vigorous, fit airlock. Rack three times, 60 days apart, topping up and refitting airlock each time. If desired dry, rack into bottles. If desired sweet or semi-sweet, stabilize, sweeten to taste, wait 10 days, and rack into bottles. [Recipe adapted from Leo Zanelli's Home Winemaking from A to Z]

I tried the following recipe:
COFFEE WINE

• ½ lb freshly ground coffee
• 2½ lbs dark brown sugar
• 1½ tsp citric acid
• ¼ tsp tannin
• 7½ pts water
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• Sauterne wine yeast

Pour water in pot and put on to boil. Stir in sugar until dissolved. When sugar is completely dissolved, stir coffee into water and wait until it boils. Remove from heat, cover and allow to cool. To a sanitized secondary, combine citric acid, tannin and yeast nutrient. Strain coffee through double layer of muslin into secondary, discarding the grounds. Add activated yeast and cover mouth of secondary with napkin held in place with rubber band. When fermentation is vigorous, fit airlock. Rack three times, 60 days apart, topping up and refitting airlock each time. If desired dry, rack into bottles. If desired sweet or semi-sweet, stabilize, sweeten to taste, wait 10 days, and rack into bottles. [Recipe adapted from Leo Zanelli's Home Winemaking from A to Z]

Thank you for sharing this! I can’t wait to try it!! I need to get more carbouys or wait til I have one available?!

 

[Kivanc]

Thank you for sharing this! I can’t wait to try it!! I need to get more carbouys or wait til I have one available?!

You may not stay strict to the recipe as I did. For instance, you can use different brand of wine yeast or you can use a lemon juice instead of citric acid. Good luck

 

[Terryfirma]

You may not stay strict to the recipe as I did. For instance, you can use different brand of wine yeast or you can use a lemon juice instead of citric acid. Good luck

Thank you!
I’ve never followed a recipe in my entire life! I use them as guidelines..
I’m kind of an intuitive cook. Sometimes with good results, sometimes not.. but rarely the same!
That doesn’t always work with chemistry. But, Wine seems to be more forgiving than baking?!

 

[vezePilot]

Another batch of Watermelon fruit wine. I guess I will not be making any Moscato ... this fruit wine is tasty. And now to start another batch of Pinot Noir.



.

 

[Jovimaple]

Updated list:
All "current sitch" wines bottled, and lots given away!
Orchard Breezin' watermelon kit - bottled
Orchard Breezin' peach kit - bottled

In primary:
3 gallon RJS Cru Specialty Toasted Caramel dessert wine (we loved the first one so much that Hubby wanted me to make it again since I gave away most of what we didn't drink from the first batch)
6 gallon FWK Kiwi

On the horizon:
6 gallon FWK strawberry, as soon as the toasted caramel gets racked so I can use the fermenting bucket - this one will be split to 5 gallons with chocolate extract (cacao nibs in vodka for a few months) and 1 gallon left plain

Frozen raspberries
Frozen peaches
Pineapple to be backsweetened with pina colada mix
Tomato

Maybe another FWK
Maybe another toasted caramel later this fall
Probably another Skeeter Pee batch

Update:

Bottled the RJS Cru Specialty Toasted Caramel last night.
Plan to bottle the FWK Strawberry this week. I added homemade chocolate extract (cacao nibs in vodka for a few months) to half of it.
FWK Cab Sav (Tavola) is aging and will be for a year before bottling. Probably will rack it off the oak cubes in a month or so.

Hubby got me a Midwest Supplies gift card for my birthday last month, and that immediately went toward another RJS Cru Specialty dessert wine. This one is Gingerbread. I started that last night.

Still on the horizon:
Frozen raspberries
Frozen peaches
Pineapple juice/pina colada mix
Skeeter Pee

Dragonblood (Kirkland 3 berry mix) - wasn't impressed with this last year - just some flavor or something that wasn't my favorite. Hubby loved it. I opened a bottle of it this year and it really smoothed out and I love it! So I plan to make another batch after all.

Mayyyyybe tomato, but my tomato plants didn't do much, and I don't think I want to pay for tomatoes for that. I plan to hit the farmers market this week to see if they even have tomatoes left because I want to make salsa. Last year I got some free tomatoes from a friend of a friend. I have a couple of bottles of the tomato wine I made from them that I still need to give to my friend. Maybe after they try the wine they will invite me to pick some more at the end of the season again! (It was October last year, right before a frost.)

Debating on purchasing another Toasted Caramel. This is absolutely my favorite and I worry it won't be available next year, although it's so delicious I have to think it's going to continue to be popular. But I need to get creative with storage so if I do end up making another one this year, I may end up aging it in a carboy for a few months just to save space. It's soooo good!

Last year I ended up making more than 30 batches of wine, although the first 10 or so were 1 gallon each. This year, I just started batch #10, but they are 3 and 6 gallon batches.

 

[winemaker81]

Our west coast grape purchase is happening! We ordered 8 lugs of Grenache, 8 lugs of Tempranillo, and 1 lug each of Mourvedre, Petite Sirah, and Syrah.

The plan is to ferment the Grenache in 2 batches, one with Avante and one with RC-212, and combine after pressing. The same will be done for the Tempranillo. Both varietals will be barrel aged.

The remaining grapes will be fermented as a single batch with Avante, and will be carboy aged without oak. Next year we will bench test blending the M/PS/S into the main batches.

Also on the agenda is purchasing 2 FWK Tavola Merlot kits, and adding the pomace from the Grenache and Tempranillo, to each respective kit. I'm curious how much difference a different varietal's pomace will make in the Merlot.

If it works out, I intend to reserve a gallon of each of the 5 batches (2 Grenache, 2 Tempranillo, 1 blend) to compare with the final wines a year after bottling.

For the 2020 reds, I bottled a gallon each of Merlot, Zinfandel, Vinifera Blend, unoaked Meritage, and unoaked Meritage Plus so we could compare wines annually for 5 years. We are coming up on the first year post-bottling and the first taste test.

 

[Jovimaple]

Update:

FWK Strawberry (half plain and half chocolate strawberry) bottled

RJS Cru Specialty Toasted Caramel dessert wine bottled

FWK Cab Sav aging

RJS Cru Specialty Gingerbread Cookie dessert wine almost done with primary (day 11, sg bouncing between .994 and .993) - probably will rack Saturday or Sunday

Peach - used about 36 lbs of peaches I froze last year. It went crazy fast, with temp as high as 83° F in a 71° F room! Started on 9/18, pitched yeast starter 9/19, squeezed out the peaches and racked last night (9/22) at 1.010 - it had started high at 1.106 because I added too much sugar while the peaches were thawing, so I added kmeta. Lots of lees so not sure what the final volume will be but I racked close to 4 gallons. Now that one sits for a while to make sure it's done and to clear. Eventually it will be backsweetened.

Sunday I am going to pick free tomatoes again! I guess they must have liked my tomato wine made from what I picked there last year. I want to make salsa, and then if I have enough tomatoes left over, I will make a batch of tomato wine.

Still on the horizon:
Frozen raspberries
Pineapple juice/piña colada mix
Skeeter Pee
Dragonblood (Kirkland 3 berry mix)

Possibilities:
Twisted Mist Piña Colada (hubby thinks I should do this before I try pineapple juice + piña colada mix)

Another RJS Cru Specialty Toasted Caramel just to make sure we have enough to last since it's a favorite

Waiting to see if FWK or (anyone) does a Barbera kit - I would like to do that again

 

[jburtner]

My wine cellar is pretty full along with four carboys from last fall (two Zins, one Petit Syrah, and one Mouvedre). SLowing down on capacity a little this year..

This year I was able to coordinate 150# Cab Sav, and 50# Barbera - Thinking I'll do a 50/50 CS/B blend in the ferment and a 100% CS. Nutrients, Enzymes, MLB, and enough D254 & BM4x4 in the fridge waiting for grapes. Expecting them in last week of October or first week of November.

Last years wines need one more racking before bottling so will do that as this seasons grapes are processed. Along with the racking will come a testing which I haven't done in quite a while

Cheers!
-johann

 

[GaDawg]

Another batch of Watermelon fruit wine. I guess I will not be making any Moscato ... this fruit wine is tasty. And now to start another batch of Pinot Noir.

I’ve wondered about the 8L Winexpert Pinot Noir. Can you tell us about it…Please? I love Pinot and have wondered about that one.

.

 

[Hazelemere]

Right now I'm settling home grown organic Madeleine Angevine juice foot crushed and and pneumatic water bladder pressed at SG 1.076 and raised to SG 1.085 with cane sugar. Yesterday I started hand destemmed uncrushed homegrown organic Marechal Foch at SG 1.092. The day before I started hand destemmed homegrown uncrushed organic Regent at SG 1.089 both reds with RC 212 yeast. I have homegrown organic Siegerrebe SG 1.084 fermenting with a yeast suggested on this website which I have never used Lalvin 71B. I'm also fermenting blackberry raspberry dried elderberry fruit port with Lalvin Bayanus yeast and will top up one carboy with 2 bottles of French Chambord (black raspberry liqueur) plus 30 medium toast American oak cubes to 75 ppm total sulphite as potassium metabisulphite. Finally, I'm collecting organic homegrown russet apples to grind and press to get SG 1.040-1.050 juice to sweeten with unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey to SG 1.085 to make Cyser probably 30 bottles. Russets make delicious meads IMHO. I'll use Lalvin 71B yeast for this.

 

[Clover]

I'm still new, only making wine for just over a year, but I've had some great success with some I've made.

- Blackberry, my first last year. Very tart but very berry, aging in bottles to see how it finally turns out.
-Rose petal back sweetened with honey. Outstanding, giving a new batch as gifts this holiday season.
- 2 lemon Skeeter Pees - not overly thrilled with the first one, second one Will Not Clear. Needs more work.
- 3 Dragon Blood, all have been hits
-Blackberry Skeeter - wonderful
- 2 Dragon Skeeter (used Dragon Blood slurry) - delicious
- Peach
-Peach Raspberry Skeeter
- Strawberry
-Strawberry skeeter - yum
-Pumpkin, kind of blah
-Sweet Spiced Pumpkin - fantastic
-Honeysuckle
-Day Lily
- Black Tea - won't clear
-Fig - fighting wine flowers
-Raspberry Lime Skeeter - delightful
- Apple Cinnamon - is OK
-Mint - surprisingly great
- Pineapple, my biggest disappointment

Might be forgetting some, but I've been busy having fun!

 

[RevA]

Started 2 gallons of Skeeter Pee, with the idea of adding fruit in secondary

 

[winemaker81]

In the last 3 days I've bottled FWK Sauvignon Blanc, FWK Tavola Pinot Noir, FWK Frutta Strawberry, FWK Frutta Blackberry, and an Elderberry from concentrate. Tonight I'll bottle Chocolate Raspberry Port.

Yesterday we hand unloaded 180 lugs (3+ tons) of west coast grapes -- tomorrow we crush. My part is 8 lugs Grenache, 8 lugs Tempranillo, and 1 lug each Syrah, Petite Sirah, and Mourvedre.

In 4 to 6 weeks, I'll bottle FWK Forte Super Tuscan and FWK Forte Syrah/Petite Sirah/Merlot currently in barrels, and the Grenache and Tempranillo will go into the barrels. The Syrah, Petite Sirah, and Mourvedre will be carboy aged.

 

[winemaker81]

I forgot to mention I have two FWK Tavola Merlot kits in the fridge (no skin packs). As an experiment I will add the pomace from the Grenache and Tempranillo to these kits to see how much difference pomace from different varietals changes the basic wine. I'm considering buying a third Merlot to use with the Syrah/Petite Sirah/Mourvedre.

 

[lisanordmann]

Interesting about adding the pomace to a wine kit. I have a VineCo Syrah that I will be adding Chambourin pumice to. I am just not sure how much to add. I made a Chambourin Rose’ and have the leftover seeds and skins not much pulp.

 

[winemaker81]

Interesting about adding the pomace to a wine kit. I have a VineCo Syrah that I will be adding Chambourin pumice to. I am just not sure how much to add. I made a Chambourin Rose’ and have the leftover seeds and skins not much pulp.

I'm making this up as I go, but using a bit of logic.

8 lugs will produce nearly 20 gallons of wine, so I can use the pomace to produce a bit under 10 gallons of second run wine, e.g., for every 2 gallons of wine I add 1 gallon water + stuff to the pomace. However, I'm going for quality, not quantity, so I'm pushing the ratio from 2:1 to 3:1 (roughly). I'd rather have less of a better wine.