Posts Tagged ‘home winemaking’

Well, I hope she’s right! When I posted the Potato Wine recipe, I quoted Judith Irwin: “The maturation period is important, as this wine improves greatly with keeping.” And yes, this wine is only about six weeks. When I racked it off sediment today, I had a very small taste – and it was mostly a flavor of demerara sugar. The specific gravity today was 1.002 – I was expecting that as when I started it was high at 1.128 based on Irwin’s recipe.

It has cleared quite nicely on it’s own but there remains much trapped gas. I’ll spend some time tomorrow degassing it and then I’ll probably rack in another month, have a taste, probably add potassium sorbate because of the remaining sugar and then let it bulk age for awhile before bottling.

And that’s about all there is to report on the potato wine for now.

I did manage to get out fly fishing today. The afternoon looked as if it was going to turn out fairly decent – partly cloudy. When my “wee man” and I arrived at the small lake we were going to fish, we sat down and had a bite to eat first and then got into fishing. About half an hour, it began to rain. A few minutes later, I had a nice rainbow trout on the end of my line. As soon as that rainbow hit, the rain started to come down in a torrent. Bravely, the wee man stood by with the net while we got soaked. After the fish was netted, David decided he was heading to the car to get out of the rain. I was not long after him but left my gear in the hopes the rain would break and we’d return. It did stop after about half an hour – and I was able to give Colleen a call to let her know I’d caught a fish, knowing she’d be pleased!

We walked back to the water, had a few more casts when the rain started up again. And this time, thunder and lightning not far off. I decided to call it a day, but at least after a long winter, I did hook and land a fish the first time out. The fish will be breakfast.

Are you one of the many people who enjoy drinking red wine but find that you get headaches after drinking it? You don’t get them after drinking white wine but those reds really seem to bring the ache on. Have you like others blamed it on sulfite? If you have, consider that the majority of wines, both red and white, contain sulfite. Sulfites (usually the potassium metabisulfite form) are found in many grocery foods as it is a common preservative that inhibits bacteria growth.

So, it’s probably not this common food preservative that is causing those headaches. What else could it be?

Many red wines are subject to a “malolactic fermentation” (MLF). Lactic acid bacteria are introduced either along side the first yeast fermentation or after the yeast have completed their job of turning the sugars into alcohol. These bacteria break down the harsher tasting malic acid that can be found in higher quantities in some wines and turn it into lactic acid. The process helps to soften the taste of those wines that have high levels of malic acid. Malolactic fermentation is generally not carried out with most white wines.

MLF introduces other chemicals into the wine as a side effect of this fermentation, including histamine. Histamine of course can have severe effects on those individuals who are susceptible and can cause mild to severe headaches and other unpleasant symptoms. So if you enjoy the flavors and aromas of red wine and it’s intoxicating effects, what can you do to avoid the unpleasant effects?

Why not make your own red wine? The easiest way to do this is to purchase one of the many kits that are available. These kits can result in superb wines that will rival many of the store bought bottles. Kit wines should never undergo a malolactic fermentation as the producers of those kits have already balanced the juices and juice concentrates that go into them. No malolactic fermentation means no chemical bi-products that include histamine.

Learning how to make wine is not that difficult, and the kits that are available make it very easy and simple to bottle wines you will be proud to serve your guests.

First, I’ve had suspicions for some time that winemaking kit instructions are a bit off when it comes to degassing wine. Most kit instructions advise, after adding Potassium Metabisulfite (and please please make sure you add the sulfite BEFORE you attempt to degas!!), to stir vigorously a few times for at least a day or two before adding the fining agents. The most recent set of instructions advise that it is vital that the wine be degassed or it will not clear adequately.

Here’s my problem with these instructions: I have yet to be able to stir a wine vigorously for five minutes, three times a day for a couple of days, and have it anywhere near to being fully degassed within those two days. I’ve had a Zinfandel sitting in a carboy for the past week, and today, it continues to give off lots of CO2 when it is vigorously stirred, with lots of tiny CO2 bubbles rising. I am not introducing that much air to it while I’m stirring because most of the action is way down below the surface of the wine.

Here’s another reason why in my opinion, even a kit wine will profit from bulk aging before it is bottled. Much of the CO2 will have time to dissipate on its own. Whenever I let a batch of wine, kit or not, bulk age, (which is most of the time), I have little CO2 problems. However, I have seen others who follow the instructions of a kit wine to the day, and their wine can have excess foam when poured. I once had a bottle with a man who was very proud of his wine he had just made and wanted to share a bottle with me. He poured his into his glass, gave it a swirl, and the foam on top was nothing like I’d ever seen before. To say that he had made the wine is a bit misleading – he sprinkled the yeast on it in a “ferment on the premises” shop. Obviously the shop staff did not do much degassing, if any.

One does have to be careful not to overdo it when degassing too. That’s one of the reasons I’m not so keen right now on the Fizz-X tool. That thing can create a whirlpool with a deep vortex at the centre. That’s a lot of surface area that’s coming into contact with air. And I’ve found that even using that tool does not seem to really degas wines all that great. Unless I’m mistaking all those tiny bubbles rising from various depths of the wine and all that foam on top for something else – but beats me what it could be.

No, I think time is the best degasser. Not that some degasing isn’t a good thing to help the process along. But that’s just my opinion and I’m certainly open and welcome other thoughts on this as well.

Another observation after racking the Grenache that I started about two weeks ago to the secondary carboy: I really dislike the original 5 Gallon (6 US Gallon) carboys I purchased. They seem to have more capacity than 5 Imperial gallons, which leaves too much ullage for my liking. Quite a bit too much. I much prefer the “Mexican” 5 gallon carboys.

Yesterday, I wrote about sharing a couple of bottles of Zinfandel that I had made three years ago over a Leonard Cohen concert broadcast on television. A few weeks ago, I was at the local LCBO (for those readers who do not live in Ontario, that would be the Liquor Control Board of Ontario store) where I found a “staff pick” – bottles of Cline Zinfandel. I knew that I would be opening up one of my bottles of Zinfandel (that cost me about $4.00) and wondered how it would stack up against this one that cost $14.00.

Well, the $14.00 bottle definitely was better than mine. The most noticeable difference was that the Cline had more “mouth feel” whereas mine in comparison was flatter. The aromas from the Cline were also stronger, and there were very nice vanilla notes that my Zinfandel did not have, probably due to no oaking. On the other hand, the colour of mine was exactly the same as the Cline Zinfandel, and the anise and blackcherry were a bit stronger.

All in all, I wasn’t disappointed in mine at all. I knew it hadn’t been fermented with the skins, had little exposure to any oaking, and when I was younger, I had drunk far worse stuff that cost me $4.00. I can’t afford to regularly buy $14.00+ bottles of wine, and my Zinfandel had the same gentle intoxicating effect I’m sure, as the $14.00 Cline.

But I think I am going to experiment more with oak in some of my wines that I plan to age awhile.

I was glancing at the headlines of one of the local newspapers and noticed one about saving money on your wedding. I had no idea that the average couple, when they got married, spent almost 25 Thousand dollars on their wedding! That’s ridiculous. Apparently more and more couples are realizing how ridiculous it is to fork out that kind of money when really, it’s all about the celebration with friends, not enormously priced flower arrangements that will wither in less than a week, and all the other accouterments that are mostly just decorative.

Another way you can save money on your wedding costs is to consider making your own wine for the event. Depending on how many people will be attending, this could be a huge savings for you, and it’s likely you can make wine that will be comparable to that which would be served if you purchased it from the liquor or wine store. And how much can you save? Well consider that many venues and halls mark up the retail cost of a bottle of wine by double or more, making a ten dollar bottle of wine cost you twenty or more dollars and multiply that by 2 bottles (one red, one white) per table. Then consider that you could make 30 bottles of either red or white wine for around three dollars a bottle. If you have twenty tables at your wedding, that’s a savings of $680.00. I can think of a lot of things I could do with an extra $680.00.

You will of course need to do a little bit of planning. You’ll probably want to start your winemaking well in advance of the big day. If you decide to go with a more expensive ultra-premium wine kit for the red wine, think at least a year in advance to give that wine a chance to develop some maturity and character (if you don’t have a year, you can still use the wine – it just won’t be as great as it has potential for). You will also need to think about where you are going to store the bottles of wine you have made. This may also have a bearing on the type of closure you choose for your wedding wine bottles: Bottles that are sealed with real cork should be stored with the bottles laying down so that the cork does not dry out. The newer synthetic cork closures do not require this way of storage.

You could think about spending some of the extra money you’ve saved on unique bottles for your wine, and even your own custom labels. So not only might you save money on wedding by choosing to make your own wine, you can make the event even more personal by supplying your guests with something you’ve made yourself.

Many of the stores and shops that provide winemaking supplies and a facility for making wine on their premises also offer Wedding Wine Packages and can help you plan ahead and choose the right wine for your wedding day. They will have more information on any legal requirements that you might need to meet in order to provide your own wine at your wedding, and will know more about the venues in your local area that will co-operate with you should you decide to serve your own wine at your wedding.

I grew up in a tradition that some may know or understand, where on the 1st day of the week, bread and wine had much significance. I find it interesting that some that grew up in similar traditions used grape juice instead of wine and have such an intolerance toward anything with alcohol. Some years ago, I even heard a preacher rail against alcoholic beverages, claiming that “alcohol” was the excrement of yeast. Funny – he didn’t seem to mind eating bread with his grape juice on Sunday mornings – bread that had been risen with the use of yeast. And of course, one wonders how the disciples and apostles back in the day were able to preserve grape juice and keep it from turning into wine in the first place.

But that’s a matter for another blog of a different topic. Maybe I’ll start one day on Theology. This evening, I baked bread, racked wine and took specific gravity readings. It was time to add the sulphite and sorbate to the Old Vines Zinfandel that I racked back on March 6 from the primary. As I expected, there was no change in the specific gravity of this wine: 0.996.

I really like the Mexican 6 US gallon carboys. They are stouter than the other carboys I have, and seem to take about a half cup or so less in quantity so there is rarely a need to ever top up after racking from the other type of carboy. Such was the case this evening.

The Zinfandel does contain a lot of Carbon Dioxide. Part of the routine of stirring in the sorbate and sulfite includes lots of vigorous stirring. I cannot completely fill the Mexican carboy when I do this – I need to remove a good cup of wine in order to have lots of space for the inevitable foaming. I will add the fining agents that the kit came with, but not until I’ve done lots of degassing and promote the release of the CO2.

While all this was going on, I was baking the No Knead Bread. The kitchen is filled with the wonderful smells of bread baking! Perhaps tomorrow I will break bread and drink some wine. I’d have a slice tonight, but the loaf is still crackling as it cools.

Prior to all of this, the “wee man” and I recorded some specific gravity readings on a piece of paper, which I then promptly re-recorded in my log book. It will be nice to save the “wee man’s” printing and numbers though and I’ve kept copies inside my log book.

But for anyone interested in following along:

Cru Select Old Vines Grenache:

March 23/09 – Starting SG: 1.106
March 26/09: 1.054
March 27/09: 1.031

California Connoisseur Liebfraumilch:

March 25/09 – Starting SG: 1.080
March 26/09: 1.072
March 27/09: 1.060

Mystery Wine:

(Ahh.. this one is screwed up because of the stuck fermentation which I unstuck),

March 11/09 – Starting SG: 1.104
March 13/09: 1.092
March 19/09: 1.054
March 20/09: 1.046
March 21/09: 1.042
March 23/09: 1.030
March 25/09: 1.028
March 26: 1.021
March 27/09: 1.019

One of these days, I’ll start plotting these values. Might be interesting to see this graphed out.

So how was your home winemaking day?

Finally, the “Mystery Wine” fermentation has become “unstuck.” Reinoculating it much earlier is probably what I should have done in the first place. At the first sign of sluggishness, opening a one dollar pack of yeast would have been the best thing. But I also wanted to see what would happen with this wine and the yeast I had initially inoculated it with.

I’m curious as to how it will turn out in the end – perhaps like other things in life, that which has challenges can end up being the very best with some tender loving care. Something I have to remind myself – time is often the best way to overcome issues, with just a little bit of a catalyst, and then some patience.

I realized the other day that although I had several red wines on the go, I had no whites! And summer is coming, and on a warm day, it’s nice to sit back and sip on chilled white wine. I also like Liebfraumilch. I haven’t made one in awhile. When I was at the local shop I frequent (too often), they had a Liebfraumilch available in a “California Connoisseur” series by Vineco. So I decided to pick it up and at least have some white wine on hand from my home winemaking activities for the summer. I’ll probably have to make more if I really want enough to last the summer though!

I’m not all that impressed with Vineco calling this a “Premium Wine Kit,” but it will make a decent wine. Anyhow, my review of the wine kit is here.

Ever had one of those days where things went really well, you were very productive, and not only that, some hard work over the past several weeks was starting to pay off? Those who own their own businesses will probably know what I mean – sometimes, you can work very hard at a project or an idea, and nothing much comes of it – other times, it can be very exciting to see that an idea and then implementing that idea shows a heck of a lot of promise!

That was my day today, and another reason why we should always be optimists no matter what. Examine what things don’t work, change them, adapt, and try again when you believe in something. Sort of like home winemaking!

A couple of things – I took another specific gravity reading today of the “Mystery” Berry wine that seemed to have a very sluggish fermentation. Two days ago it was at 1.042, today it is 1.030. It’s probably a bit lower in reality as there is still bits and pieces of the berries in the juice, which will affect the reading. I had a thought – not sure if it was a good thought or not – but I decided to make up a bentonite slurry – just under a 1/4 cup of boiling hot water and 3 teaspoons of bentonite stirred in, and added that. Perhaps it will help some of the pulpy bits to settle over the next few days, when I hope to rack it.

The other thing I did was start the second part of the “Special Wine” that I wrote of previously. As I mentioned, I’m planning on blending a KenRidge GSM with a Cru Select Australian Bush Vine Grenache.

This evening, I started the Grenache kit. Interesting kit – lots and lots of oak! A little bit different than the KenRidge GSM – and here’s my review of the Cru Select Premium Australian Bush Vine Grenache.

You’ll note there are a couple of minor issues with the instructions that come with the kit, but overall, a good kit – and at $110.00 retail, here’s hoping it will turn out superb!

Happy Home Winemaking to you!

I just came across this very basic recipe by John Gorman. Mr. Gorman says that maple wine tastes like “ambrosia.”

Thought I’d post this here for future reference. My bookmarks folder is quite disorganized and I likely wouldn’t find the link again.