Notes of my Journey into Winemaking

It has been longer than I had wished before checking in with the wine. A busy schedule makes it more tuff. Today was my last day where I might have an hour or so free before the weekend due to work schedule. 

Mixing the wine, it had a nice fizz, and was very rich in color. Specific gravity read at 1.006, meaning a PA of <1%. I am guessing around 0.75%. Ideally, shoulda racked this a couple of days ago.

Removed the straining bag of cranberries. Emptying it, I noted a disappointing number of intact berries. Luckily cranberry is a pretty potent flavor and I have hopefully not lost any notable flavor.

The wine was then siphoned into a 1 gallon carboy. I had more wine than carboy this time, and hopefully managed to avoid transferring much lees. Of course I didn't quit siphoning quite in time and ended up with wine on the floor. Again. That's me- where there's a liquid, there's a spill. My husband barely lets me carry water. Fitted the carboy with a bung, and attached the airlock. Piece of cake.

Of course I had to take a wee taste of the project, and was very pleased. There is a definite cranberry tang, and the tartness left in your mouth is definitely more citrus like. Not an identifiable citrus, just citrus-esque. This is what I had hoped for in choosing my acids. I have not done any acid testing at this point. I noted a little bit of a drier feel to it, typical of the red wines. But, its good. If things continue as they are, I will just be clearing the wine over the next couple of months, and may not have to do anything with acidity and sweetness.

I am feeling good about this one.

At any rate, now I have an empty primary fermentor. Will have to figure out what concoction to mix up next. I am anxious to try onion wine, and tomato. The tomato will have to wait until summer when I can pick them fresh from my garden.

Over the past few days, I have not bothered my wine. I could see in the airlock that I had not killed the yeast by adding it a bit prematurely- it was bubbling away. Some sources recommend checking the SG/PA daily. I have opted against it this tiime, since I know it would probably need to sit in the primary fermentor for at least a week from starting, and every time you play with it is another chance for contamination with bacteria or outside undesireable yeasts. I have stirred the must down a couple of times, but definitely not daily!

Today has been just under a week since starting.  At this point, especially since I was going to have a bit of time on my hands, I opted to get measurements to check progress. The wine is a bit fizzy, the color has become a deeper red than before. SG read at ~1.056, with PA of 6-7%. Still have a bit to go before racking to the secondary fermentor.

I did taste the wine. It was pretty good! You can taste the wine-esque flavor, a bit bolder like a red wine, but it has an awesome tang as well from the berries. Still is sweet, but there is still fermentation left to go.

So far, I would say, so good. 

Today the pectic enzyme was added (1/2 tsp). The next step then is for the yeast to be added. 

In my fridge I had two yeast options. One was Lalvin ICV-D47, the other a Pasteur Champagne. In the end I went with the Lalvin, for the simple reason that the expiration date on the yeast had already passed, while the Pasteur had some time left.

Characteristics of the Lalvin ICV-D47 include quick fermentation with compact lees. If left on the lees, it may add a touch of tropical spice. It is recommended that this yeast be used for white or rose wines; cranberry is pretty red. Alcohol ceiling of 14%.

As mentioned previously, another decision regarding yeast had to be made. This was whether or not to 'start' the yeast prior to addition. Previously, I had merely sprinkled the yeast into the must, and let it go. I got lucky and fermentation occured. I found a method of starting that did not require too much wierd stuff- just water and I could use the must for juice. This method is from Jack Keller's writings (see under links). In the end, I modified the starting protocol for time, but did do some starting to make sure my slightly expired yeast would do the trick.

Step 1 was to take tap water, about 100 degrees, and mix in the yeast. This was to sit 20-30 minutes to rehydrate the yeast. I was then supposed to check to be sure the yeast was viable. Only problem is, with nothing to ferment, how was I supposed to know what 'viable' looked like? After making sure the rehydrated yeast is viable, Keller recommends allowing it to soak another 3.5 hours. In another source (I do not recall which), it was noted to not have the yeast soak in water longer than 30 minutes. I opted to move foward at the 30 minute soak mark and add 1/4 cup of my must. This was then to sit for four hours. Luckily, with this, there was clear evidence that the yeast was viable.

As you can see here, there is much bubbling and foam developing on the top of the mixture.

I let this sit for almost four hours, before adding an addition 1/4 cup of the must. This then sat for 2.5 hours, showed continued yeast activity. Time was running short, and gradually adding 1/4 cup of must at four hour intervals was becoming increasingly impractical.

I checked the starting SG of my must, which read at 1.100; potential alcohol of 13.6%. Perfect for this yeast.

Then, I cheated the clock and mixed the started yeast into my must. Hopefully in the next day or so we will see some activity in the airlock to indicate fermentation, or foam on top of the must at the daily stir during primary fermentation.

Here is my must:

Can see the floating nylon straining bag containing the cranberries.

A better picture:

Isn't the color pretty? Hopefully it sticks around. 

This wine has been a pending project since October of last year. The cranberries have been sitting in the freezer, just waiting for me to stop daydreaming about making more wine, and actually do it.

Meanwhile, the Gooseberries and Currant bushes in the garden appear to be doing well, and hopefully this summer will yield enough berries to play with.

My challenge to myself with this wine recipe is to taylor it more, based on being more conscious of nuances like tannin, and acid blends. Using cranberries, the main acids will be malic and citric. In the standard acid blend, one finds malic, citric, and tartaric acid. Tartaric acid is the principle acid from grape, and is mainly found in just grapes. Tartaric is also of the strongest acids having the most effect on pH. Deficiency may cause problems, but it is also said that the strong flavor of the tartaric acid can interfere with the 'softer' acid flavors of non-grape based wines. Since I want this to be a light, fresh wine, I opted to avoid the tartaric acid altogether. This may lead to problems down the road, however with the acid testing kit, hopefully we can play with the acids to reach a functional and tasty solution. My readings suggest that if the fermentation goes well, acid levels are best assessed prior to bottling, but when fermentation is finished. Acid testers are then used to measure acidity, and adjustments can then be made based on readings, and based on flavor. This will be further explored once fermentation is well on its way. 

I explored a number of cranberry wine recipes, each with its own subtle differences, when putting together the plan for this. The base is 3lbs of cranberries. These were purchased fresh, then frozen. The freeze-thaw phenomenon causes cell membranes to rupture as the cells swell with freezing, then thaw leaving the burst cells to release more juice and more pigments. This should help enhance the color of the wine. 1 gallon of water is used, and 3lbs of granulated sugar. Another recipe called for 'invert sugar' which sounded more complicated and time consuming than I cared for. I will stick with granulated, fresh from the bag. All recipes were pretty much even on calling for 1/2 tsp of pectic enzyme, and 1tsp of yeast nutrient. Tannin recommendations varied. One recipe recommended 1/8 tsp, one recommended 1/4 tsp, and another did not call for any tannin. I chose to use 1/4 tsp of the tannin, as though I want this to be a ligher flavored wine, I don't want it to be without body. Acid recommendations also varied. 1 recipe called for 1tbsp of Citric acid, two called for no acid, one called for  1/2tsp of acid blend. In the end, I chose to add 1/2 tsp of malic acid, and 1/2 tsp of citric acid. The hope is that by accentuating the acids principally found in the cranberries, the flavor will be lighter and more pure, but with the addition of acid that we can avoid some of the issues seen if there is inadequate acidity. How successful my choices will be will be revealed in a few months..A long wait for someone who wants to see results NOW! 

To make this wine, I thawed my frozen berries, removed the squashed, partially eaten, less than ideal specimens, and measured out 3lbs. This was added to 8 cups of water (1/2 gallon) and put on the stove to heat up. 3lbs of sugar was also measured, added to a separate pot of 8 cups of water, and brought to a boil. Once the sugar water was boiling, fire was turned off. The berries were heated to just under a boil, then were poured into the straining bag. A sanitized potato masher was used to crush the berries. Because of the depth of the primary fermenter, and volume of berries, I had to mash the berries in a more shallow, broad based pot to obtain effective crushing. I have to admit that the subtle popping felt resulted in the mildest feelings of satisfaction.. The nylon bag was tied off at the top, and the berries, juice, and water were transferred to the primary fermenter. The hot sugar water was also poured into the fermentor, over the berries. Added yeast nutrient, malic and citric acids, and tannin.

Currently the mix is cooling. Once cool, one crushed campden tablet will be added. Twelve hours after that (tomorrow morning) the pectic enzyme will be added and the starting PA level will be measured. The following morning, the yeast is to be added.

I am as of yet undecided on what yeast is to be used, and whether I will 'activate' the yeast. But, hey, I have a whole ~36 hours to make this decision. 

So-

Finished up the Spearmint/Lemon (Folsom Prison Water). It was bottled back on October 1st of 2008. The good news is that now we are into 6-2009 and I have recently cracked open a bottle, sipping as I sat in the tub. It is not bad at all!! Perhaps a bit sweet, but it is mellowing nicely.

On 07-18-08 I checked in on this wine to finalize things before bottling. The specific gravity reading was 1.010, with a %PA of 1.0.

To this I added 1 Campden tablet, 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient to aid with any last fermentation, and topped off with boiled water. I topped off with boiled water only, since it seemed that this wine was coming up too sweet.

Once bottled, I had 4.75 bottles of this recipe.

 Due to the color and having recently watched 'Walk the Line' it gained its name of Folsom Prison Water. My husband took a look at it and said that that was what its color suggested to him. 

Life has been a bit crazy, so blogging has not been top on my list of stuff to do. My wine was let go for a bit, too, but luckily was in a position to cruise for a bit anyway.

I know some people were actually reading this, and may even want to know how things turned out. Since the blog was moved (yeah, I know, that was MONTHS ago) I hadn't popped on long enough to figure out how to use the new software. Hopefully I can play with it enough to get things updated. That would be great, as then I could get rid of all the post-its with notes jotted down.

The good news is that the wine is bottled. I have the information on what was left of the process. I have the % alcohol on this wine, and it got a name.

The bad news is that I am waaaay too tired to post it now, but I will hopefully get it up here soon.

Now I have three empty carboys. Whatever shall I do???? (No worries, there are cranberries in the freezer).

Today is  bottling day!!!

After putting the carboys up in a cupboard almost three months ago, it became quite easy to forget them. That actually is not all bad, as it is recommended to forget them for a couple of months to let things age and clear. But, it is usually recommended that you at least check the airlock to be sure that is doing ok...

I started by checking the wine, tapping it to see if any bubbles rose. Nope. Good. A sample was then taken, and just for fun checked the SG. Read at 0.990 again, but today it is far from hot. No adjustment to be made for temperature. I will have to make due with the totally not-understood negative potential alcohol.

A taste of the wine was quite pleasant. There was a smooth consistency, but with the tang/bite of wine. The aftertaste faded to a lingering strawberry essence, bringing to mind for me a summer evening on a porch eating sun warmed-fresh from the garden berries.

Bottling was interesting. Somehow, the number of ways suggested to go about it and the preparations is equal to the number of sources consulted. In the end, I find it best to do a combination of the sources, focusing on the commonalities, then adjust based on what seems to work for me. Some sources say boil the corks, some say soak in cold water and santizier, some say if you boil they will turn to mush. Some say soak overnight, some say soak 20 minutes.  In the end, i put a small pot of water on to boil, and when boiling was achieved, in went the corks. Those little buggers float quite well! I guess that is where all the floating-cork references come from. I used a pan lid smaller than the pot to put over the corks for submersion, thenI let them boil while I prepped the bottles.

Everything went into a big sanitizer bath. This included the siphoning tubing, auto-siphon, and the hands-free bottle filler doohickey. I have brand new 750ml bottles to use, so bottle prep was quite easy. Given that during the bottling, you are trying to make sure your siphon does not touch bottom and stir up any remaining lees, you are trying to fill the bottle not too high and not too low (without tipping it over), and juggle tubing, other bottles, etc., the hands free bottle filler thingy is wonderful. There is a small valve with pin at the bottom- when the tube is resting on the bottle bottom the pin pushes up and the wine flows. When it is lifted, the pin drops and the valve closes. Very simple, but very nice. I filled 4.5 bottles.

Corking took me a minute, and hopefully next time 'round will go better. There is a very important yet very limited level for filling appropriate, and it varies with cork. Too low fluid level and you have oxidation from too much air, to high and the air pressure pushes the cork back out. I found that you do need a little less wine than you think to get the cork to stay. Alternatively, I read in one reference, that you could use a piece of string or wire and put this in the bottle neck along side the cork. Once the cork was in place, this would be pulled out and the air pressure would follow. This would re-seal as the cork expanded.  I had to use a straightened, sanitized paperclip, try to wedge this between the cork and the neck and release some air. That did help, but was a pain. Next time, I know what I will do differently!!

One of the hardest parts of this, for me, was making a label! One would think that it would be easy. I have Microsoft Office 2003, with the Avery Wizard plug-in. Knowing how easy it is to import data lists from other Office software, I made the label I wanted in Word, then figured I could import it. Well, not so much. My goal was a graphic in the background, more faded like a printed watermark, with the details on that. Apparently this does not import. I finally, after crashing the software about five times, figured out how to re-do the design in the Avery Wizard, and am actually pleased with the outcome.

I do have photos, and I do intend to post them. But, it is 1:26am, I still have to input the data on the other wine, and I have been up since 5am. Me-is-tired!!

Today was supposed to be a quick racking. Only problem was, I noted that the wine had started bubbling again. Not a lot, but there was definitely something fermenting. The color is still a very pretty fuschia.

A check of the specific gravity put things at 0.990 (meaning PA is -1.3%??)...the thermometer in the room does read at 86 degrees F, so just in case it turns out to matter later, I adjusted the SG by +4, putting it at 1.003, with a PA of 0.5%. Of course, given that I have no idea where the SG started, this means nothing in regards to what the final product will be alcohol content-wise.

A quick taste assured me that the wine was still tasting like wine, and hadn't been going to vinnegar with its latest bubbling stunt.

So, I racked the wine to a clean carboy, then added 1 campden tablet, 1/2 tsp stabilizer to boiling water, then topped off the carboy with that, pupped in the bung and airlock, and tucked the wine away. I cleared some space in a cupboard in the kitchen. The stuff will store there nicely, out of the way and in the dark.

Hopefully our next encounter will be the bottling.

Start date:         Bottle date:       Type/Content:                    Titled:

04-27-08          10-01-08          Blackberry/Strawberry       Virgin Berry

05-21-08          10-01-08          Spearmint/Lemon              Folsom Prison Water      

I live in West Michigan with my husband and a house full of fur and feather kids.  We have been working on adding the human type for some time, but something's not working quite right.

My husband is a network adminstrator (interpret: computer geek) for a small company. Luckily, he is the only IT guy, and thus has job security.

I am a veterinarian. I primarily work emergency and critical care, but occasionally fill in here and there for other practices as well. It is fun work. Though, a recent study found that veterinarians have a fourfold higher suicide rate than the general population, and twice the suicide rate of other health professionals. After eight years of grueling studies, $120,000 in student loans that the government insists on being paid for, one would wonder what the draw is.. I guess I have some job security as well.

For some reason, working an unpredictable schedule of round the clock shifts isn't enough for me. I insist on taking on more hobbies. I garden, and hope to grow my own fodder for wine making. My goal is to learn canning this summer as well, provided the garden does well. The garden has to be cleared and planted first though.. I have also decided that remodeling my bathroom single-handedly is also a good idea, and bought all the stuff.  With food, taking on more than you can eat is classified as "eyes being bigger than your stomach".  What if you take on too many projects?  I guess that is easily classified as "chaos".