Rosehip Wine (4L)

Rosehip Wine (4L) - Oct 11, 2014

2L rosehips
2kg sugar
Water
Champagne Yeast

Pick and wash rose hips gently.  Remove blossom ends.  Add dissolved sugar and water.  Top with water.  Add yeast.  Fit air lock.

Jan 2, 2015 - Racked.  Taste tested.  Awful flavour.  Very sour.  7% alcohol.  Topped with sugar water (1kg).  Reset air lock.

March 15, 2015 - Racked.

March 20, 2015 - Racked.  Taste tested.  Tastes like strong, stale beer.  13% alcohol.  Bottled.

Pin Cherry Wine (4L) 2

Pin Cherry Wine (August 28, 2014)

2 Cups pin cherry juice (from 1L of pincherries)
1kg sugar
Water to fill jug
champagne yeast

Boil pin cherries in just enough water to make them bob.  Mash with potato masher.  Hang in juice bag over night to collect juice.
Pour juice into carboy.  Add sugar and water and mix.  Let rest 24 hours.  Add yeast.

Jan 2, 2015 - Racked.  Taste tested.  Strong cherry flavour.  Slightly sour.  13% alcohol.  Topped with water.  Reset air lock.

July 2015 - Racked, taste tested, bottled.  Strong cherry flavour.  13% alcohol.

Based on Jack Keller's Choke Cherry Wine

Peach Wine 2 (4L)

Peach Wine

Peach Wine (4L)

2 cans peaches with syrop, pulverized
2 kg sugar, dissolved in boiling water
water to top carboy

Day 1 - Jan 2, 2014

Combined ingredients in clean carboy.  Set airlock.

Chokecherry Wine (4L)

Chokecherry Wine (4L) - August 30, 2014

2 Cups chokecherry juice (from 1L chokecherries)
1 kg sugar
Water to fill jug
champagne yeast

Boil chokecherries with just enough water to cover.  Mash.  Hang and drain over night.

Pour juice into 4L carboy.  Add sugar.  Mix well.  Top with water.  Add 1 packet champagne yeast.  Fit airlock.

Jan 2, 2015 - Racked.  Taste tested.  Sweet, mild, cherry flavour.    8% alcohol.  Topped with water.  Reset air lock.

Based on Jack Keller’s Choke Cherry Wine

WILD CHOKECHERRY WINE (1)

• 2-1/2 lbs fresh wild chokecherries
• 2-1/2 lbs finely granulated sugar
• 1 tsp acid blend
• 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1/4 tsp grape tannin
• 7 pints water
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1 crushed Campden tablet

• Champagne or Sauterne wine yeast

Pick only ripe berries. Destem and destone berries, put in blender with one cup of the water and chop. Pour into nylon straining bag, tie and put in primary with half the sugar and the remianing water, acid blend, tannin and crushed Campden tablet. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover primary and let stand 12 hours. Add pectic enzyme and let stand another 12 hours. Add yeast, stir and cover again. Gently squeeze bag twice daily to extract juice. After seven days, drain bag and squeeze well to extract as much juice as you can. Add remaining sugar and stir well to dissolve, then pour into secondary and fit airlock. Use dark fermenter or wrap brown paper around secondary to preserve color. Ferment 30 days, rack, rack again in two months and again after additional two months. If you are going to sweeten, add stabilizer, wait 10 days, then add no more than 1/4 cup sugar dissolved in 1/8 cup water. Bottle in dark glass or store in dark place. May taste in six months, but best aged a year. [Adapted from Dorothy Alatorre's Home Wines of North America]

Watermelon Wine (4L)

Watermelon Wine (August 29, 2014)

Watermelon
Water to fill jug
1kg sugar
champagne yeast

Cut watermelon off rind.  Remove seeds.  Chop into small pieces.  Drop into carboy.  (The more watermelon, the better the wine should be).  Add sugar water.  Fit air lock.

Oct 27 - Racked.  Taste tested.  Yuck.

Jan 4, 2014 - Racked.  Taste Tested.  Slightly sour.  Little flavour.  11% alcohol content.

March 20, 2015 -  Racked.  Taste Tested.  Slightly sour.  Little flavour.  11% alcohol content. Bottled.

Pin Cherry Wine (4L)

Pin Cherry Wine (August 28, 2014)

2 Cups pin cherry juice (from 1L of pincherries)
1kg sugar
Water to fill jug
champagne yeast

Boil pin cherries in just enough water to make them bob.  Mash with potato masher.  Hang in juice bag over night to collect juice.
Pour juice into carboy.  Add sugar and water and mix.  Let rest 24 hours.  Add yeast.

Sept 15, 2014 - Racked.  Taste tested.  Sour.  Strong Cherry flavour.  Topped with water.  Reset air lock.

Jan 2, 2015 - Racked.  Taste tested.  Nice cherry flavour.  Slightly sour.  4.5% alcohol.  Topped with water.  Reset air lock.

Based on Jack Keller's Choke Cherry Wine

WILD CHOKECHERRY WINE (1)

• 2-1/2 lbs fresh wild chokecherries
• 2-1/2 lbs finely granulated sugar
• 1 tsp acid blend
• 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1/4 tsp grape tannin
• 7 pints water
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1 crushed Campden tablet

• Champagne or Sauterne wine yeast

Pick only ripe berries. Destem and destone berries, put in blender with one cup of the water and chop. Pour into nylon straining bag, tie and put in primary with half the sugar and the remianing water, acid blend, tannin and crushed Campden tablet. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover primary and let stand 12 hours. Add pectic enzyme and let stand another 12 hours. Add yeast, stir and cover again. Gently squeeze bag twice daily to extract juice. After seven days, drain bag and squeeze well to extract as much juice as you can. Add remaining sugar and stir well to dissolve, then pour into secondary and fit airlock. Use dark fermenter or wrap brown paper around secondary to preserve color. Ferment 30 days, rack, rack again in two months and again after additional two months. If you are going to sweeten, add stabilizer, wait 10 days, then add no more than 1/4 cup sugar dissolved in 1/8 cup water. Bottle in dark glass or store in dark place. May taste in six months, but best aged a year. [Adapted from Dorothy Alatorre's Home Wines of North America]

Crab Apple Wine (4L)

Crab Apple Wine (4L) - Sept 7, 2014

Pick, wash, destem crab apples.    Boil in a stock pot with just enough water to cover apples.  Boil and mash.  Hang to drip.  Collect juice.

Pour juice into carboy.  Add 1kg sugar.  Mix well.  Let rest over night.

Mix again.  Add yeast.  Fit air lock.

Jan 2, 2015 - Racked.  Taste tested.  Nice apple flavour.  Slightly sour.  10% alcohol.  Topped with water.  Reset air lock.

Lime Wine (4L)

Lime Wine (4L) - Sept 7, 2014

Wash 10-15 limes.   Boil limes in a pot of water to loosen pulp (5-10 minutes).  Reserve boiling water.  Let cool slightly before juicing.  Juice limes through strainer to catch seeds.  Pour pulp back in once seeds removed.  Add boiling water.  Add 1 kg sugar.  Mix well.  Top up with water.  Let cool.

Add champagne yeast.  Fit airlock.

Jan 2, 2015 - Racked.  Taste tested.  Nice lime flavour.  Slightly bitter.  Pulpy.  7% alcohol.  Topped with water.  Reset air lock.

Lemon and Lime

• 8-12 lemons or limes (as a combination or on their own)
• 2 kg sugar
• 1.5 kg raisins
• pectic enzyme
• 4 litres of water
• yeast and nutrient

Method:
Grate the zest from the lemons and limes and add them and the chopped raisins to a large pan. Add the sugar and pour the boiling water over and wait for the sugar to dissolve. Now add the lemon and lime juice. When the mixture has cooled to room temperature add the pectic enzyme, yeast and nutrient. Cover and store for about a week, stirring occasionally.  After a week strain into a demijohn and fit the fermentation trap. When the wine begins to clear it is ready to be racked.

Blueberry Wine (68L)

Blueberry Wine (68L) - Sept 2013


16L blueberries
4kg sugar
Lalvin Sparkling wine yeast

Day 1-  Put blueberries into carboy without washing to preserve the natural yeast.  Boiled sugar in water.  Added to carboy.  Topped up with water (68L total).

Day 8- Added yeast starter.

Nov 29- Removed airlock.  Stirred wine vigorously.  Topped up with water.  Refit airlock.

Nov 30- Blueberries floated back up over water level, causing wine to bubble up through airlock.

Jan 4- Stirred, topped up, refit airlock.  Still have solid blueberries floating on top.

Apr 5- Stirred, topped up, refit airlock.  Still have solid blueberries floating on top.

June 2014- Stirred vigorously.  Yeast has come out of dormancy.  Still have solid blueberries, but air lock is bubbling vigorously again.

Aug 2014 - Stirred vigorously. Thin layer of solid blueberries, air lock still bubbling.

Jan 2, 2015 - Racked into 2 22L carboys.  Taste tested.  Mild blueberry flavour.  Sour.  No alcohol reading.  Topped with Sugar water- 2kg.  Set air locks.

July 7, 2015 - Racked one 22L carboy.  Taste tested.  Tastes like wine, no blueberry flavour.  Set air lock.

Blueberry and Strawberry Wine

Summertime Blueberry Wine
Makes 5 gallons (19 L)
15 lbs. (6.8 kg) blueberries  
9 lbs. (4 kg) sugar
2–3 cups grape concentrate 
 (optional — this will add to the
  wine’s fruitiness)
2.5 tsp. acid blend
2.5 tsp. pectic enzyme
3 tsp. yeast nutrient
0.18 oz. (5 g) potassium metabisulfite
  (approximately 150 ppm SO2)
2 tsp. potassium sorbate
1 tsp. tannin
Yeast (Lalvin EC1118 or
  Lalvin 71B-1122)
 
1. Crush the blueberries.
2. Add the water-sugar mixture and enough water to make 5 gallons (19 L). Add potassium metabisulfite. Cover and let sit for two days.
3. Add sugar, if necessary, to reach specific gravity of 1.090.
4. Add the tannin, acid blend, pectic enzyme and yeast nutrient. Stir everything to blend.
5. Maintain a constant fermentation temperature range between 70–75 °F (21–24 °C).
6. Add yeast to the must.
7. Stir the floating cap of fruit pulp into the fermenting must twice a day during fermentation.
8. Fermentation will continue for approximately 14 to 21 days. Take notice if the bubbles in the airlock have gotten very slow — that is a good sign that the fermentation is coming to an end. Use your hydrometer to monitor and make sure that the fermentation has stopped.
9. Use a mesh bag to extract the juice from the blueberries in the must. Rack the remaining juice to a carboy, leaving the sediment (lees) behind. If possible, move the wine to a cooler place, like a basement, to clear. Rack the wine at least two more times before even thinking about bottling it. Add another Campden tablet to the wine after each racking. The wine should age at least three months.

Rhubarb Mint Wine (22L)

After looking at several recipes online, I decided to try something of my own.  This may or may not work out, so any reader might want to avoid trying this.  Based loosely on this and this.

Rhubarb With Mint Wine

12.50 lb Rhubarb (cubed) (I picked all that I had, but it's probably only about 7 pounds)

12 Cups Mint tea (fresh mint from the garden, steeped 20 minutes.

5.00 gallons of water

4 kg White granulated sugar

    1.25 ts Grape tannin (optional)

    5.00 tsp Yeast nutrient

1pk  wine yeast

 Starting specific gravity should be 1.090-1.095, Acid .60%.

 Day 1- July 11

Pick, wash, cube rhubarb.  Put in primary fermenter.  Pour dry sugar over fruit (2kg) to extract juice.  Cover.  Steep mint leaves 20 minutes, allow to cool overnight.  Pour over fruit next morning.  Stir primary.  Cover.

Day 3- July13

I pulverized the rhubarb in the magic bullet, then poured it back into the primary.  Stirred vigorously.

Day 9 - July 20

Strained rhubarb juice through pillow case several hours.  Poured into carboy.  Started yeast with water and sugar in measuring cup.  Boiled sugar until dissolved.  Let cool.  Added to carboy.  Added yeast.  Topped up with water to neck of carboy.

  Nov 29- Day ...?

Racked wine.  Taste tested.  Beautiful.  Vinometer at 6% alcohol.  Very sweet with definite rhubarb and mint flavouring.  Discarded lees.  Topped up with cold water.

Rack again in 3 months. When wine is clear and stable, bottle. Wine may be sweetened to taste at time of bottling with sugar syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water). Add 2 stabilizer tablets per gallon (or follow directions on package if using powder) to prevent renewed fermentation. To preserve colour and flavour add 1 antioxidant tablet per gallon. Age at least 6 months.

Apr 5- (9 months later)

Racked and bottled.  25 bottles.  Vinometer at 6% alcohol.  Very sweet with hint of mint.

Dandelion Rhubarb Wine (22L)

Dandelion Rhubarb Wine

• 10L dandelion flowers
• 2L Rhubarb Juice
• 6 kg granulated sugar
• 1 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1/4 tsp tannin
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• wine yeast

June 8 2012 - Picked and washed dandelion flowers.  Removed all greenery from flower petals. 


Boil water.  Put flowers in primary.  Pour boiling water over top.
Added sugar.  Stir well until sugar dissolved.  Cover and let stand overnight.

Stir in remaining ingredients except yeast, recover and wait 10 hours.


June 10- Strain. Transfer to secondary, top up if required.  Add yeast. Attach airlock.

Nov. 29-
Racked wine.  Discarded lees.  Vinometer at 14% alcohol.  Taste tested.  Sweet and bitter.  Like bitter sugar water.  Strong alcohol.  Topped up with cold water.

 Jan 4- Racked and bottled.  28 bottles.  Broke vinometer, but guessing it's at least 12%.  Sweet wine with sour rhubarb bite.


Allow to age in bottles 6 months to one year.

Dandelion Wine (22L)

Dandelion Wine (23)

• 10L dandelion flowers
• 6 kg granulated sugar
• 3 tsp acid blend
• 2 tsp yeast energizer
• 5 gal water
• wine yeast

June 9 2014
Picked and washed dandelion flowers.  Removed all greenery from flower petals. 

Boil water.  Put flowers in primary.  Pour boiling water over top.
Added sugar, acid blend, yeast energizer.  Stir well until sugar dissolved.  Cover and let stand overnight.

 Drain, strain and lightly press pulp. Discard pulp and pour into carboy. Added yeast, Lalvin Sparkling Wines.

Nov. 29-  Racked wine.  Discarded lees.  Vinometer at 5% alcohol.  Taste tested.  Sweet, like soda pop.  Very mild flavour.  Slightly fizzy.

Jan 4- Racked and bottled.  27 bottles.  Vinometer at 5% alcohol.  Sweet with mild flavour.  Definitely needs to be repeated.

Spring 2014- Lost several bottles to popping corks.  Still tastes delicious, but obviously wasn't quite done.

Jan 2015 - Finished the last bottle.  Still my favourite wine.  Must repeat.

  This wine improves with age for about 2 years. [Adapted recipe from Julius H. Fessler's Guidelines to Practical Winemaking]

Elderberry Wine

Elderberry Wine

Day 1 - January 4th
4L defrosted, destemmed elderberries
Boiling Water to cover
Put berries in large bucket with several inches left over at the top for foam. Pour enough boiling water over the berries to barely cover them. Cover let steep for a day or so.

Day 3 - January 6th
Strain the wine into a carboy or another container that will take an airlock. Make sure to squeeze all the juice out of the berries.
5 Cups sugar [Measure out 3 pounds of sugar for every gallon of elderberries had.  (1.36 kg per 3.78L)]
Put the sugar in a pot with about a cup of water per pound of sugar. Heat until the sugar is entirely melted into a syrup. Cool the syrup and add it to the berries.
Hydrometer 12%, 1.190 @ 82°F.

Day 4 - January 7th
Add  wine yeast.  Stir well.
Put an airlock on the carboy, and put the whole thing somewhere dark and not too cold. Leave it for a couple of months.

March 31- Racked and taste tested.  Sediment removed.  Tastes like elderberry jelly.  Feels very thick. Refit air lock.
July 7- Racked and taste tested.  Harsh.  Bitter.  Sour.  Bottled.  6 bottles.  15% on vinometer.
6 months-year to mature.

Apple Wine (22L)

Day 1- December 20, 2012

Apple Wine

16L canned apple juice (avoid preservatives)
2kg + 2 Cups sugar, dissolved in apple juice
3 tsp acid blend
2 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp tannin
2 tsp yeast nutrient
1 pkt Champagne wine yeast (Lalvin EC-1118)

I mixed everything but the yeast and stirred it up.  I took a sample and took a hydrometer reading.  I started the yeast starter in the sample juice, in a sterilized jar after ward.
Temp:  74°F
Hydrometer:  1.190 SG or 12%  (This could be a bit low, but I'm not sure if I'm reading the hydrometer correctly, so I am going to leave as is and see how it turns out).

Cover.  Let rest 12 hours.  Add yeast starter.
Stirred daily for 10 days, kept covered.

Day 29- January 19th
Racked and taste tested.  Racking went well, a fair bit of sediment removed.  Taste test was awful- it fizzes on the tongue.  Much lighter beer smell than the peach wine.  Not as cloudy or dark as it appears in the carboy.  Washed and sterilized carboy.  Refit airlock.

March 31- Racked and taste tested.  Some sediment removed.  Tastes bitter.  Refit air lock.

July 7- Racked and taste tested.  Smells like beer.  Bitter.  Doesn't burn.  Over 25% on the vinometer.  Bottled.  21 bottles + the dregs.
Mature 1 year.

Jan 2015 - Still bitter and alcohol content too high.  This one is lingering in the cold room.

Peach Wine (22L)

Peach Wine- Day 1-2 (Dec 4, 2012)

6 1/2 cans peaches, pureed, syrop reserved

4kg sugar, dissolved

11.3L water (including reserved peach syrop)

1/4 tsp Potassium Metabisulfate

Heat sugar slowly in some of the water to dissolve.  Let cool to room temperature.  Strain and puree peaches.  Combine ingredients in carboy.  Shake well.  Let rest 12 hours.

Add 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme.  Let rest 12 hours.

Stir in 1 tsp yeast energizer.  Sprinkle wine yeast on top of must.  (Lalvin EC-1118 - Champagne)

Install air lock.

Day 17-

Still bubbling away.  It started separating after the first couple of days, and now has a clear section through the center.

The thick peach section at the bottom actually has a concave hole in the center.

Half of me wants to give it a stir.  I will refrain.

Stopped bubbling January 5th.

Day 35- January 8th

My first attempt at racking.  Too much peach pulp residue.  Decided to strain it through a towel instead.  Squeezed the juice out of the pulp.  Back into the carboy with airlock.

First taste test- smells like beer.  Tastes like cheap wine.  A little dry.  Strong alcohol level.  Burns a little.  Plenty sweet.  Filled one bottle for the fridge.

Day 46- January 19th

Second attempt at racking (much better), second taste test.

Still smells like beer to me.  Not as dry as last time.  Still a bit cloudy.

Washed and sterilized carboy.  Added 1/2tsp potassium sorbate.  Reset air lock.

Day 59- February 1st

Racked and bottled.  It cleared up really well.  Still tastes heavy on the alcohol and light on the peach.  We need more practice with corking, but I think they'll stay sealed.  Four bottles  wrapped with plastic caps to be opened in the distant future- 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years.  A few stored as is to see if capping makes much difference.  The majority I sealed with cheese wax- because that and candle wax is what I had on hand.  I had to do some rearranging in the cold room to store them on my canning shelves.  No wine rack has appeared as yet...