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 [...]
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 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
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.
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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
Posted in tasting, winemaking on Nov 13th, 2007
Check up on your wine, rack when needed, measure, and take notes.