It sounds like your procedures are good; I just don’t know what that milky substance could be. I’d keep going with this one, as long as it didn’t smell or taste off, and see how it turns out. Then let me know – you’ve got me curious!

Erroll

What I had done differently was change the yeast.

To be honest with you the concoction smells of yeast. I don’t smell cherry, I just smell yeast and sulfate. This yeast is highly active; with froth at the top, bubbling at the vent, and fussing when you remove the cork. The first batch behaved the same but with the correct colour.

Do I throw it away, and call it a contamination? Or do I wait to see what it taste like in a couple of days when I extract the ‘wine’ ?

Cath

So there’s something white in your wine that has a smell you can’t describe? That’s not enough for me to pin it down, but the best approach is to assume it’s an infection and act accordingly. That means physically separating the foreign substance form the rest of your wine and adding sulfite. If this stuff is forming a layer, floating on the top or settling on the bottom, then you should be able to rack the wine off of it. The next step is to add sulfite. Did you sulfite at the beginning? If so, use a normal dose (1 campden tablet or equivalent per gallon). If not, use twice the normal dose.

If it’s well mixed with your wine, then you may have to rely of sulfite alone. That’s less likely to work, but worth a try.

I don’t know what your procedures are like, but anytime you have an infection you should look at improving your sanitation. Once this batch is finished, clean your equipment thoroughly. Sanitize *all* equipment that might come into contact with your wine/must before starting your next batch. Use sulfite. Wash your hands – I often use rubbing alcohol on my hands after I’ve washed them and wait for them to dry (it doesn’t take long) before going to work.

I hope this helps – good luck!

Erroll

I have four cherry trees in pots, and my harvest is tiny. I would love to get 50 lb/year from my own trees!

Glad you stopped by,

Erroll

I’ve been reluctant to try malo lactic fermentation in wines where malic is the dominant acid. What I’m worried about is all that malic acid getting converted and leaving the wine with an excess of lactic acid. Did you find any sourness, a hint of yogurt, in your cherry wine?

Erroll

One thing you have to be careful of is the proteins in the cherries, which can cause the wine to go bad relatively quickly (18 months?). The guy at the local wine shop recommended using bentonite to precipitate out the proteins after the 1st racking.

Another thing I tried is malo-lactic bacteria, which convert the malic acid which is dominant in cherries to the softer, rounder lactic acid. This also helps stabilize the wine, and is often used in red grape wines. There are various types of MLB, but I always use Lallemand 31 or 41.

I produced a very nice cherry wine 3 years ago from local California bings, but unfortunately left it on the oak chips way too long, which ruined it. I also used this stuff called “Optired” which contains enzymes which break down the skins. Normally, it is used for grape wine, but I tried it with cherries, and it worked there too. It made for a heavier body than the typical cherry wine, which is usually pretty light, as more flavor was extracted from the skins.

Maybe I’ll try again next summer and leave the oaking part out.

I have made my first batch of cherry wine and find that it does not have a strong cherry flavour. I would also like to sweeten it some. I am thinking about getting some organic cherry juice, adding some sugar and then adding that to the batch. Thoughts??

I also have some frozen bing cherries and was wondering if anyone had made cherry/crab apple wine? Not sure how many cherries vs the tart crab apples to use.

Cheers, Dianne