Ahh, good to know someone else out there likes wine too! I do use a hydrometer, acidity test, and yeast nutrient too, but wanted to keep this simple for people getting started. Wine is like everything else in the world, the more you learn about it you realize you could spend a lifetime getting better at it. My first batch was from welches grape juice and sugar. It turned out to be a drinkable, good tasting drink, even though I probably wouldn't make it now. However it motivated me with the initial success to try making some more. That was about 5 yrs ago. Since I've made champaigns , and lots of assorted fruit wines. I also planted a small vineyard in the yard with about 75 vines. I have several varieties of muscadines and one of them produces a grape almost as large as a 50 cent piece. I'm looking fowards to fermenting a batch of it this year. I started with several fancy types of wine grapes, which were not suited to this area. I still manage to keep them alive, but they struggle in their unnatural environment. I got some muscadine varieties about a year and a half ago, and they are like weeds! Not only did they survive planting,but have grown at an amazing rate. I will take cuttings from the strongest and best producing ones this fall to propagate them. As a matter of fact I'll probably pluck some of the under producing vines next spring and replace with the native muscadines. Funny, lots of people say they aren't good grapes, but I think the flavor is the best of all that I've tried so far. I'm glad you pointed out about sterilizing your equipment (buckets and such). I didn't really stress cleanliness. For others reading this, the potassium metabisulfate mixed with water is a good sanitizer that leaves no aftertaste or residue, unlike bleach. Just make sure you clean everything that comes in contact with the wine. By the way, I had never heard the term mazer before. It's always good to have feedback, and good luck on this years batch.A few notes on this because I'm a mazer and a vintner. The yeast you have listed is an 1118 which produces an 18% alcohol and a bone dry wine and since you only added 5 lbs of sugar you're going to have a low Specific Gravity and the yeast is going to eat that amount of sugar up in no time. The only way to get it any sweeter is to kill off the yeasts and add sugar or honey to it afterwards but that could also re-start fermentation so you have to take precautions. You should also have a hydrometer so you will know the SG and Final Gravity and keep daily records of changes and lag phases. Everything should be sterilized with a sanitizer as well. Lallemand http://www.lallemandwine.com/spip.php?rubrique33&id_mot=19&lang=en has a list of yeasts that will give much better color, taste and clarity as well as adding some undertones. I don't use Lalvin or Red Star yeasts because if they -the must-aren't kept at AT LEAST 70* or COOLER they are known for throwing off fusels which give it a burnt plastic taste and a very hot product which takes YEARS to get rid of IF it ever does mellow out.
Yeasts eat sugar and produce CO2 and need O2 for the best reproduction and the must should be aerated several times a day with a paint stirrer and whipped for a good 5 mins each time. If you add Go-Ferm @ 2 g daily, also known as 'step feeding', the yeasts will get daily doses of food and reproduce better. The third lag phase should be achieved by 5-7 days and ready to be racked off into the secondary. I always add more fruit to the secondary as well for flavor and color.
Agree that you should rack off every 30 days as the lees-sediment-dead yeast- will ruin the flavor of the product, although some yeasts like the D-21, letting it sit will add a buttery tone to the wine. I did a mango-peach melomel a few years back and I had to rack that one 5 times. It's just one of those variables.
I actually saw a recipe for asparagus wine once, yuk! But hey, saki is pretty gross too and people seem to love it. Who would have thought to ferment rice??? I like sweet fruity flavored wine, so I'll stick to the Concorde and muscadine wines thanks.aww. . . you had me kinda worried with that last picture with the okra next to the grapes. You never know who is going to have a health kick while making his wine!
Thankfully most of my hobbies have been things that produce something. I tried making beer a couple times, but wasn't happy with the results, so tried wine and it is easy to make a good tasting batch. Actually I liked beer most of my life, but when the blood pressure started going up my dr. said to switch to red wine. I don't think he meant for me to make 50 gallons at a time though!Thanks for sharing. Im really looking forward to read more from your winery and congratulate you to your sucsess. I have a very deep connection to wine. beeing born at the german Mosel river and growing up in wineyards and cellars helped a lot lol.
Im gonna plant a couple of vines as a hobby next year as well.
Thanks again for sharing!
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