Everything but the Kitchen Sink Wine

[Rajun Gardener]

It all started when I found 2 bags of fruit marked down to $2 each Sunday morning shopping, I saw them and thought HMMM, wine?





I cleaned off the fruit and got started. All of the bad parts of the fruit was discarded. The plums were de-stoned and chopped then warmed on the stove to breakdown. I heated 1 gallon of water and dissolved 4lbs of sugar and dumped that in the bucket while I cleaned, de-cored and chopped the apples. Finally I juiced the limes and oranges.



I also added a cup of raisins, left over pineapple I had in the fridge and 1/2 a large cinnamon stick. This stuff smelled good enough to eat!!



After researching apple wine and reading that it's light on flavor unless you use all juice I decided to add other juice instead of water so I added 1 gallon of pear juice and 1 gallon of persimmon juice from the freezer. It's ugly but I'm thinking of adding more cinnamon, cloves and maybe star anise to the secondary fermentation/aging and make this an early drinker Christmas wine. Something like a pumpkin spice flavor.


I added the yeast yesterday and it's bubbling fine this morning. The starting Specific Gravity(SG) is 1.090 which should convert the sugar to almost 12% alcohol. The starting PH is 3.4 and that should make it a smooth wine.
Here's the recipe
Ingredient Quantity
sugar 4lb
pectic enzyme 10 drops, used to break down the natural pectin in fruits
mixed apples 14
plums 10
pineapple 4 slices
raisins 1 cup
cinnamon stick 1/2 stick
water 1 gal to melt sugar
pear juice 1 gal
persimmon juice 1 gal
orange juice 1 cup
lime juice 1 1/2 cups
CT 4 tablets 10 hours after PE
yeast nutrient 1/2 tsp
Fermax 1 tsp
Wine tannin 1/2tsp, adds both bitterness and astringency, as well as complexity
acid blend 3/4tsp, adds liveliness to the wine and helps to bring out its fruity flavors.
KI-V1116 yeast, The natural fresh fruit aromas are retained longer than with other standard yeast strains.

It's up to the wine Gods now!!!

[mikemansker]

We will want a report on this if you are still able to type after your analysis.

[rxkeith]

i know a retired pharmacist. she and her husband make many kinds of wine. they have
a note book in which they keep meticulous notes of what goes into each batch of wine.
they have it down to a science. my wife and i spent a pleasant summer afternoon at their house on rice lake one year sampling several different types of wine including apple wine, and blue berry wine. after we had a fire in our belly the husband said lets go out on the boat. after cruising around a bit, he asked if i wanted to drive the boat. i replied
that it prolly wouldn't be a good idea in my present condition.

i will also be interested to see how your wine turns out.



keith

[Rajun Gardener]

I'll keep Ya'll updated, I've made a few batches of wine last year that turned out really good. I still have a few gallons waiting for me to sample that's been aging since last November. I have a pure blackberry wine started that's almost done fermenting. The flavor should be awesome considering there's no water in it at all. I used 4 gallons of blackberry juice from the freezer and 2 2 gallon ziplock bags of fresh frozen berries.
Day 1

Day 2, after this pic I squeezed all the juice from the berries.

12 hours of fermenting

2 days later after I stirred it.

[Worth1]

Progress report please.

[Rajun Gardener]

Both batches are done fermenting and just hanging around aging at this point. I racked off the dead yeast and into the 3 gallon containers. The mixed fruit has a weird color but it should clear more as time goes on.


The blackberry was easier to see the dead yeast sediment but it's clearing naturally pretty good.






Here it is today

[Worth1]

Looks good.
A friend of mine used paint filters.
The stuff gave me a screaming headache.

[Rajun Gardener]

I use the 5 gallon paint strainers for the fruit bags, it's cheaper and I don't have to wash it out when it's done fermenting. It's the same ones I use in the Dutch bucket hydro system to hold the perlite.

[imp]

Both wines to be look really good, rajun. I'll bet the mixed fruit wine come off tasting better than you think it might after enough time, and the blackberry should be awe some.

[Rajun Gardener]

I hope so. I'm on a wine making forum and they said the same thing and told me to record the recipe. One change at a certain point can make all the difference in wine making. I have a spreadsheet made that I record everything I do for a reference later.

[Rajun Gardener]

What a difference 3 weeks make.
You can see the sediment on the bottom, this jug has a big dimple in the middle so you can stack the jugs.


The blackberry is jet black almost.




But I'm not done yet, I want to finish the mixed fruit wine for Christmas so I'm rushing the settling time. I racked it(siphoning it into a different container to remove the sediment) then degassed it which is removing the CO2 from the fermentation process by stirring it like crazy, added chemicals to make it NOT ferment(kill any existing yeast) again after i sweeten it and protect it from getting any ugly molds. Next I back-sweetened it, all wines are dry when finished so if you like sweet wines you have to add a sweetener to your liking, all wine companies do this. I used 1.5 cups of sugar and 2/3rd cup of honey to 3 gallons of wine. It's ugly today after working it but wait till tomorrow, it'll be as clear or better after I add the clearing agents. SuperKleer is like magic.

The taste test is a winner, it's smooth but has a little kick of alcohol on the back end, I can tell it's a fruit wine but can detect any specific flavor.

[Rajun Gardener]

I bottled the wine last night and had a few glasses, I had to test it for safety's sake!

I made an extract with cinnamon and vodka, it sat 3 weeks in a mason jar. I added 2 tbs to the batch and that was the perfect amount. It gives a hint of cinnamon and blends well with the honey I used as a sweetener.

This came out really good and clear as can be.

[imp]

That color is lovely, almost like a deep honey. How did the taste test taste?

[GoDawgs]

Those are gorgeous bottles, Rajun! What Imp said.... taste report, please.

Outrajunous wine!

[Rajun Gardener]

There's no distinctive fruit flavor, it taste like wine with a hint of cinnamon and honey. Everyone loved it so far, a few said it has a kick of alcohol on the first few sips then it mellows out. It should be perfect for the holidays.

I was shooting for a pumpkin spice type flavor and it's close but missing the cloves and nutmeg. I may try to make an extract with PS seasoning and test it out on a glass.