Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
Posted in tomato wine, winemaking on Dec 31st, 2007
Ten days after pitching the yeast, I siphoned the translucent, yellow, tomato wine into two 1-gallon jugs and a 1.5L magnum bottle. So 18 lb (8.2 kg) of tomatoes, 4.8 lb (2.2 kg) sugar, and 2.5 quarts (2.4 liters) water turned into about 9 liters (a little under 2.5 gallons) of wine. I still don’t [...]
Posted in enology, tomato wine, winemaking on Dec 27th, 2007
It looked like fermentation was winding down, so I drew a sample for testing. The sample had some dissolved CO2 in it, and that can skew my tests in two ways. It can give rise to carbonic acid, which will push the titratable acidity (TA) higher. It can also make it look like there is [...]
Posted in Recipes, tomato wine, winemaking on Dec 22nd, 2007
I sowed seeds that sprouted into seedlings. I transplanted the seedlings to beds. I fussed over the tomato plants. I planned. I harvested. Now, at last, I’m finally making tomato wine! Ingredients Juice from 18 lb (8.2 kg) tomatoes – about 1.67 gallons (6.3 liters) 4.84 lb (2.2 kg) sugar 2.5 quarts (2.4 liters) water [...]
Posted in tomato wine on Dec 21st, 2007
I started with about 18 lb (8.2 kg) of frozen cherry tomatoes that came up to the 4-gallon (15 liter) mark of the bucket. After they thawed, I lightly crushed them with a long spoon. That left me with about 2.25 gallons of must, which I loaded into my three-bucket press. A few hours later, [...]
Posted in tomato wine on Dec 19th, 2007
I finally pulled the 18 lb (8+ kg) of tomatoes out of the freezer. I’ll be making a white wine from them, so once they defrost I’ll press them into juice. Then I can see what I’ve got in terms of sugar and acid, make adjustments, and start fermenting! I say this every season, but [...]
Posted in equipment, winemaking on Dec 18th, 2007
I made good use of my new 3-gallon (11 liter) carboys this weekend. Three 1-gallon (3.785 liter) jugs, plus one wine bottle, of cherry wine fit perfectly into the carboy. Eight gallons (30 liters) of Merlot filled a 5-gallon (19 liter) and a 3-gallon carboy with a little left over in a wine bottle. Higher [...]
Posted in misc on Dec 17th, 2007
I’ve been trying show my wine and mead in a better light. The above photo shows two of my meads and one of my wines. Wildflower mead, from A Simple Mead Recipe, stands in the center with raspberry mead in the 1-gallon jug on the left. Those meads almost glow, while my raspberry wine is [...]
Posted in commercial wine, cranberry wine, winemaking on Dec 14th, 2007
I just found out that a commercial winery in Washington made a cranberry wine. They were faced with the same high acidity that I discussed a few days ago, and we both used a similar approach to deal with it. They blended with Chardonnay (20% cranberry and 80% Chardonnay), while I “blended” with water (25% [...]
Posted in cranberry wine on Dec 13th, 2007
I noticed some cranberry juice concentrate on sale the other day, and since I’m thinking about making cranberry wine I bought some. Can you make wine from cranberry juice concentrate? Yes, but “cranberry wine” might not be the best way to describe it. Most cranberry juice products are cocktails that contain cranberry juice. This frozen [...]
Posted in cranberry wine, ingredients, winemaking on Dec 12th, 2007
Cranberries are high in acid and pectin, but low in sugar. Why cranberries are difficult to make wine from and what you can do about it.