wine

[gird123]

I'm very new to all of this. I have complete 6 gallons of Edworts apfelwein from homebrewtalk in july. Now i have 38 gallons going of different wines. Mainly apple wine.


Tomato wine from our garden 8/28/10
8 lbs of fresh then quickly frozen tomatoes.
2 sugar
1 tsp acid blend
1 tsp citric acid
and 71b1122

I froze the tomatoes for 2 days in 1 gallon bags. I let them thaw on the counter then ran through a strainer added 1 campden tablet waited 24 hrs then added the yeast. I sort of followed Jack Keller's recipe. The only thing I did different was i did not add any water it was all tomato juice.

before yeast.


during the action.


today 9/11/10

Left is apple raisin right is the tomato.

We sampled it last night and my mom thought it was banana wine. tart, dry, and fruity. Not great but has potential(very young) no tomato taste.

Ok so i did have a question about the raisin apple wine.
RAISIN WINE
3.7 lbs raisins
1 lb sugar
1 gallon apple
1 crushed Campden tablet
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 pkt wine yeast ec 1118

I did not take an SG. Any guesses at the ABV? It is still semi sweet. I think it has a high ABV I figure about 18%. Started 8/7/10

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Are all 38 gallons being made in 1 gallon jars? If so, you'll save yourself a lot of work by getting larger equipment. It takes almost the same effort to make 1 gallon and 5 gallons. Another suggestion would be to start your wines in a vessel with a larger opening (e.g. a bucket) and then transfer it to the bottles after it is well on it's way to becoming wine. Dealing with fruit chunks and clean up is much easier in a bucket.

 

[gird123]

Only 3 of them are in 1 gal. I have a large freezer with a temp controller in the garage.

 

[pwrose]

Have to stand back when opening the freezer door, the C02 looks like it would mkae a room pass out. I know just lifting the lid on a primary during the first few days is rough if you have your head too close to it, I would imagine opening the door with several carboys giving it off C02 would be gas mask worthy.
That is a great idea by the way, and one that I just might try to do so I can move all the secondary fermenters out to the shed. How do you temp control the freezer so that it doesn't get too cold? I am assuming you have altered the original temp controler of the freezer.

 

[countrygirl]

welcome to the forum! i like this idea too...more info please!

 

[djrockinsteve]

If I were only this organized. Welcome here. Making wine at 18% ABV Are you sure?

 

[gird123]

It taste just like a port wine.

I used a single stage temp controller from chi company. $40 for the controller and $40 for the frig. When it is hot out i plug in the frig and when its cold i have a heating pad i plug in. The temp is staying right at 70 deg F.

The temp controller can be changed from heating to cooling, but you have to remove a wire. I did not like that so I wired a switch for heating or cooling



http://www.chicompany.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17_151&products_id=933

link to the controller

 

[Wade E]

PWR, Both of the places that advertise here sell those controllers. I use the more expensive one to control my brewing system for beer making. Heres a pic below the links.
http://finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=FE600
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=temperature+digital

 

[sly22guy]

Humm, i have a section under my bar that i could enclose with a roll out drawer, just need to add a heating & cooling setup Then it could all be concealed from Nosy friends, pets & future Children!!! 70-75 is avg temp for fermenting? and bout 50-55 for storing/aging?