Wine: Wild Grape Wine

Hiking near my house in Bellefonte, PA, I always see wild grapes hanging in the trees.  I pulled a bunch and tasted them.  The tannins are so strong that they made my mouth pucker and dry out instantly; however, they were also sweet so I decided to make some wine.

Once again, Jack Keller was my guru in this process.  Here is his recipe:


13 to 15 lbs ripe fall grapes
1/3 to 1/2 lb finely granulated sugar
1 crushed Campden tablet
3/4 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 pkg Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast

Destem and crush the grapes and place in nylon straining bag. Tie bag closed and place in primary. Squeeze bag to extract enough juice to float a hydrometer in its test jar. Calculate sugar required to raise specific gravity to 1.088. Add sugar and stir well to dissolve it completely. Add finely crushed Campden tablet and stir in well. Cover primary with sanitized muslin and set aside 10 hours. Add pectic enzyme and stir well. Recover primary and set aside additional 10 hours. Add activated yeast, recover primary, and squeeze bag twice daily until active fermentation dies down (5-7 days). Remove nylon straining bag and drain, then press to extract all juice. Transfer juice to secondary, top up if required and fit airlock. Ferment 30 days, rack into clean secondary, top up, and refit airlock. Rack again after additional 30 days and stabilize wine. Sweeten to taste if desired and set aside 30 days, or forego sweetening, set aside 10-14 days, and rack into bottles. Age three to six months.

The only change I had to make was that I did not find 13 pounds of grapes so I had to added more sugar to bring the specific gravity up to 1.080.

Update (September 2012)
I racked a second time into a gallon jug and a growler.  It had a nice pink color and was mostly clear.  I added 4 oak chips to the growler and having tasted both, I would definitely oak in the future.

Added campden tablet + potassium sorbate to both.

Update (10/28/12)

Bottling day

Oaked
Pleasant, thin taste.  Nice blush color.

Unoaked

Thin, lighter, not as good, but no off flavors

Update (April 2013)
I just took a bottle to Andy's house for a party.  A guest I didn't know mentioned she really enjoyed it and didn't know I made it.  I'll take that as high complement.  I would definitely oak this wine in the future and I would add more if I can find them (where there is a will...).

Wine: Raspberry Wine

In addition to making raspberry mead, I tried my hand at a raspberry wine following Jack Keller's recipe (he's an excellent resource).  Here's his recipe:


BLACK RASPBERRY WINE

3-4 lbs fresh black raspberries (6 total when doubled)
2-1/4 lbs finely granulated sugar
1/2 tsp acid blend
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1/8 tsp grape tannin
7 pints water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 crushed Campden tablet
Lalvin RC-212 wine yeast

Pick only dark, ripe berries. Combine water and sugar and put on to boil, stirring occasionally until sugar is completely dissolved. Wash and destem berries. Put in nylon straining bag, tie, put in botton of primary, and crush berries in bag. Pour boiling sugar-water over berries to set the color and extract the flavorful juice. Add acid blend, tannin and yeast nutrient. Allow to cool to 70 degrees F. and add one crushed Campden tablet. Cover primary with plastic wrap secured with a large rubber band. Twelve hours later add pectic enzyme and after an additional 12 hours add activated wine yeast. Recover the primary. Stir daily for a week, replacing plastic wrap if it looks like it needs it. Remove nylon bag and allow to drip drain about an hour, keeping primary covered as before. Do not squeeze bag. Return drippings to primary and discard pulp (or use to make a "second" wine). Transfer to secondary and fit airlock. Use a dark secondary or wrap with brown paper (from paper bag) to preserve color. Rack into clean secondary after two months. Refit airlock and rack again after additional 2 months. Wait another month, stabilize, wait additional month, Rack and sweeten if desired. Wait two weeks to ensure refermentation does not begin and bottle into dark glass. Drink after six months. This is an excellent wine, but don't rush it! You must ferment the full 6 months and age another six.

I doubled his recipe because I had enough raspberries.  I also froze the berries before use.  I have heard that the berries burst when frozen and this helps get the color and sugar out of the berries.  Seemed to help.

Update (July 13th, 2012)

Stirred almost daily.  Set muslin bags over to drip out for the next hour. 

Racked to 2 four-liter glass jugs.
I forgot to get a hydrometer reading throughout this process.

(September, 2012)
Racked.  There were a lot of lees and there is a bit of a rubber smell.  There is full body and the flavor is pleasant, but I don't think I could identify it as raspberry.  

(October, 2012).

I oaked with 1oz of oak chips.  There seems to be more raspberry flavor.

Ph: 4.0.  Need to add acid before bottling

Added 1 campden and ½ teaspoon of potassium sorbate in each to stabilize and protect.

I also tried an experiment by adding chocolate shavings to one gallon.  

(October 14th, 2012)

Bottling day

Oaked Chocolate 

Ph. 3.6 or higher (hard to read)

SO2=35 (I got a tester to check)

Add 7 tablespoons of sugar (still low sugar)

Oaked Raspberry without Chocolate

18 tablespoons sugar for 2 gallons

SO2= 38

Update (April 2013)
I haven't touched this wine since November, 2012.  I tried a bottle without chocolate then and it was ok.

That said, opening a bottle now...wow.  This is proof that wine changes and can improve over time.  It's stunningly good, if I do say so myself and I just did.  Also, the raspberry flavor is so much more powerful and present.  I don't think you could mistake this for anything else now.  Jack (I've used so many of his recipes I feel like I know him) ends his recipe by saying, "This is an excellent wine, but don't rush it! You must ferment the full 6 months and age another six."  He is absolutely right.  It is a very different and very much better wine for the waiting.  The only place I disagree with Jack, respectfully, is that this should be served chilled.  I serve it like I serve reds, cellar temperature (55 degrees).

Wyczer: Wine, Cider, Mead

Post In process:

4/15/12

Welch wine/cider/mead

Boiled 2 cans of Great value apple juice

2 cans Welch grape juice

with water in brewing kettle

24 oz of honey

Separate pot

Add 1 pom juice

3 lbs raisin water (blender)

3.5 teaspoons nutrient

½ teaspoon pectic enzyme

Total juices

6 apple juice

7 welch grape

96 oz of pom juice

og: 1.076 at 88 degrees

4/22/12

sp:  66 degrees = .998

Ideas to try?:

If the wine is sour, it could mean that all the available sugar has been fermented into alcohol. The next step is to stabilize the wine by adding campden tablets (1 tablet per gallon) AND potassium sorbate (1/2 teaspoon per gallon)- this combination will stop any further fermentation from occurring. 

5/1/12

SP: .998

Ph: 3.6

Added 5 campden tablets and 2.5 teaspoons potassium sorbate to a glass of wine, stirred and readded.  Transferred to new carboy.  Lots of sediment (lees)

Currently:

Pink and slightly cloudy

Very fruity bouquet.  Some depth in the scent below the powerful fruit smell.

Slight sting to the taste.   Some body.  Pretty acidity, despite low acid.  And pretty thin. 

6/7/12

racked onto 1 tsp potassium Sorbate in water solution

Bottled

Mold in the air lock…use vodka in future long term storage.

Thin, light taste. Not sweet.  Pink hue, a bit cloudy.

Pleasant when chilled.