The bottle is RJS Rockin Raspberry I made last year. The fermenter is Winexpert LE21 Marselan I just mixed up. Will add yeast tomorrow once it has had a chance to warm up (basement is currently 61F and I have it upstairs where temp is currently 72F)
Bulk aging:
3 gal peach from peach nectar (no water added): will backsweeten and bottle late summer
6 gal FWK Tavola Cab Sav (to be bottled late summer/early fall)
To be started:
1 gal lingonberry from syrup
6 gal dragonblood (berry blend from Costco)
3 gal RJS Cru Specialty Vidal Icewine
2x3 gal RJS Cru Specialty Toasted Caramel dessert wine (fermented as a double batch)
3 gal RJS Cru Specialty Gingerbread Cookie dessert wine
6 gal Twisted Mist Pina Colada wine cooler kit (may tweak to 5 gallons, add sugar to raise abv, etc.)
6 gal Chilean Barbera juice bucket (pre-ordered, early May arrival)
3 gal RJS Cru Specialty Chocolate Orange dessert wine (pre-ordered, delivery this summer)
Probably another 6 gal batch or two of skeeter pee
As you might guess, the RJS dessert wines have become a huge favorite of ours. I grabbed some of the leftover 2022 batches because the prices for the 2023 versions are going up significantly. I haven't done the icewine kit yet, and the chocolate orange is new in 2023 (or at least hasn't been around since I started my wine making adventures in 2020).
Wow, I had better get started!!
I'm picking 2 wild cherry trees now. They are a pain in the *** to pit because they are small and the pits are large but they have a stunning, intense flavour and smell unlike commercial black cherries which are much larger, less tangy, not as dark and softer (less tannic)
I put on rubber gloves, sit in a lawn chair outside with a plastic apron and squeeze the pits out between thumb and finger and then freeze them pitted in large freezer bags. I can pick about 7 lbs in 2 hours. Today was cherry synchronicity day. I was thinking about what would be really neat i.e. find another wild cherry tree. I'm picking the first one which has a bumper crop in perfect condition and then will move 1/2 mile north to a second one and then 1/2 mile east to a third one. Barbara, who I have never met walked under the tree I was picking near my home and said I can pick all of hers!!!! What a blessing. If I can keep up with all of the work before they shrivel up like raisins I may get 36 lbs which is the largest crop I've ever seen. I'm spending all of my spare time on this right now and can't imagine doing anything else until I pick late season raspberries and then wild blackberries. Good luck to all of you with your 2023 wines.I love sour cherries too - sadly my Montmorency cherry tree just bit the dust but I still have (Carmine Jewel) bush cherries.
I have one of these cherry pitters - it works pretty well with my sour cherries (though I should note that it was not as successful last year when we had a drought and the fruits were smaller). You still have to remove the odd clingy stone by hand, but I think overall it makes the job easier than using the single stone pitter.
Do you flavor in primary or after fermentation? I made a mead, and when I tasted it, I thought why does anyone make this? Honey is more expensive than sugar, and it is BORING. You warned me it would be insipid... And here we are! Bryan is right again...I recently started a Metheglin, mead spiced with cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and a bit of nutmeg. The plan is to backsweeten with frozen apple juice concentrate.
I add flavoring prior to fermentation, this time ground cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and a bit of nutmeg. My regular notes are here, and I'm also doing an In Detail blog. Neither are not up-to-date; that should be fixed this evening.Do you flavor in primary or after fermentation? I made a mead, and when I tasted it, I thought why does anyone make this? Honey is more expensive than sugar, and it is BORING. You warned me it would be insipid... And here we are! Bryan is right again...
Now I need to fix it.
I found the answer to my question -EC1118 is a dominant yeast which will or maybe will kill 71B or RC212, so once added water to my berry-sugar blends and weigh them with water from a hydraulic lift (motorcycle lift) I'll split the fruit ports (EC1118) from the table wines. I'll use RC 21 or 71B on the table wines. Please comment on blending the 2 table wine yeasts.I have 19 lbs raspberries 23 lbs wild cherries and 38 lb wild blackberries thawing in 3 primary fermenters with cane sugar. I'd like to mix EC 1118 yeast (so I can make 1, 2 or 3 fruit ports plus 3 table wines. Has anyone tried mixing Lalvin EC-1118 yeast with Lalvin 71B or RC 212 yeast to good effect? I want the EC1118 for high alcohol and one or the other of 71B or RC212 for fragrance and spiciness. I'll add 1 lb dried elderberries to the blackberry ferment. I could split the Port and table wine musts after adding water and pectic enzyme to the cane sugar soaked and thawing fruit after 48 hours, but if any of you can convince me to blend the yeasts I'll do it. I'm using 6 lb fruit per 3 lbs cane sugar per 1 Imperial gallon of water excluding the elderberries. I'll use medium toast American oak cubes at 30 per 5 Imperial gallons for 120 days on the wines containing wild cherries or blackberries. Has anyone mixed 71B with RC212 to good effect?
Great answer! Thank you. Makes perfect sense to me as long as the EC1118 is really vigorous. I'll add an EC1118 starter from small batches of each wine eg. 1 US gallon 5 bottle batches of each fruit.I understand your intents. I wonder if you could use your yeast of choice based on flavor, then at SG of 1.020, toss in the EC1118 to all that you want to be high alcohol. I’ve heard that the flavor profile is pretty much set by SG of 1.030. So the new addition of the 1118 would keep the flavor profile but bump the alcohol.
I would not try mixing yeasts in the same primary. Many, if not all, of the last few years of winemaking, I’ve used split yeast batches, one yeast in 3g and another yeast in a separate 3g, combing at SG of 1.020, at which time I would start MLF as well.
Great answer! Thank you. Makes perfect sense to me as long as the EC1118 is really vigorous.
I'll ferment each separate fruit in 1 US gallon batches from pulp free must to get super vigorous EC 1118 starter on each must at high alcohol to spike the non EC118 wines. I press fruit wines after 6 day vigorous ferment, usually SG 1.040-1.050 (~5 % alcohol) to get the fruit seeds away from the alcohol in my bladder press with stainless steel seed screen. I'll ferment the press wine to ~SG 1.020 and then split the SG 1.020 musts as table wines without EC-1118 starter and the ports with EC-1118 starter.No, thank you for the kind words. I’m just repeating knowledge I gained from this site.
Since the SG will be at 1.020, it will be a hostile environment for yeast, even 1118. I suggest you use a starter so the yeast colony is super robust. I would expect the balance of the ferment would be very quick.
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