Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
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
8 tsp (40 g) tartaric […]
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 yield […]
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, ingredients, winemaking on Dec 12th, 2007
With Thanksgiving not far behind and Christmas fast approaching, I began thinking about cranberry wine. I’ve never made cranberry wine before, so I think the best way to start is by taking a closer look at what’s in cranberries.
What are cranberries like?
One cup (240 ml) of whole cranberries weigh about 3.5 oz (100 grams). Chop […]
Posted in enology, mead, winemaking on Dec 3rd, 2007
Making mead from cherries
I’ve often thought about making “second wine” using honey instead of sugar. Also called “false wine,” it’s made from the pomace of newly fermented wine by adding water, sugar and acid. I like honey, water, and acid (mead) all by itself, so using honey instead of sugar should be an improvement. That’s […]
Posted in cherry wine, enology, mead, winemaking on Nov 30th, 2007
Making red wine from cherries
I made cherry wine, in June 2006 and 2007, like a red wine from grapes. I crushed the fruit, adjusted the sugar and acid, and pitched the yeast. The sugar and acid profile of cherries is very different from that of grapes, so “adjusting the sugar and acid” is a much […]
Posted in winemaking on Nov 20th, 2007
I’ve had about six gallons (23 liters) of Chardonnay fermenting in two 5-gallon (19 liter) carboys since 10/17/07. That’s when I took delivery of my purchased grapes, 100 lb of Chardonnay and 100 lb of Merlot. I pressed the Merlot on 10/22/07, and racked the Chardonnay a few days ago.
Up to this point, I’ve kept […]
Posted in apple wine, enology, winemaking on Nov 19th, 2007
I racked my apple wine on 11/15/07. It analyzed out as:
Specific Gravity (SG): 0.996, pH: 3.56, Titratable Acidity (TA): 7 g/L
So it had fermented out in less than ten days, but the thing that surprised me was the TA. It rose from 5.5 to 7 g/L when I was expecting it to drop. The wine […]
Posted in apple wine, herb wine, rhubarb wine, tasting, winemaking on Nov 13th, 2007
Maybe getting caught short, when I racked my mead the other day, was a blessing in disguise. Having half a gallon of mead in a 1-gallon jug, with all that head space threatening to oxidize it, motivated me to rack four other 1-gallon batches. Some of these had been sitting on lees longer than I […]