Comments for Washington Winemaker

Comment on Bailout Blanc: White wine for hard times by Erroll

Erroll — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:34:32 +0000

Sounds like a winner, Jim!

Comment on Bailout Blanc: White wine for hard times by Jim

Jim — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:35:54 +0000

I too oaked my wine and modified the recipe some. I made mine with 30 lbs dark Thompson seedless and 20 cans Welch’s Niagara concentrate to yield 12 gallons initial must and 10 finished gallons of a nice rose or blush.

ABV: 14.5% with 71B-1122
30 lbs. – Thompson Seedless grapes (table grapes), stemmed
20 cans – Welch’s frozen Niagara White Grape concentrate, thawed
3 TBS – Pectic enzyme
8 TBS – Acid blend
4 TBS – Powdered wine tannin
4 TBS – Yeast nutrient
5 lbs. – Granulated sugar
2 pkgs. – Wine yeast (Lalvin 71B-1122)
Water
½ tsp – Potassium metabisulfite
1 – French medium roast oak spiroll

I use a Rubbermaid Brute 20-gallon trash container (they are food grade!) as my big-batch primarry. Put the grapes directly in must after crush, strained after primary fermentation through a sanitized 5-gallon paint strainer. Settled one day, then into secondaries. Oaked with one French medium dark spiroll, which I left in the 5-gallon carboy for 14 days, then transfered to the other 5-gallon carboy for 14 days. Time it by taste; easy to over-oak this wine. I backsweetened with one cup invert sugar syrup per carboy, which does not make the wine sweet but does add mouthfeel. I have about $2.25 a bottle in it, a 50-bottle yield, and it is a fine light wine that acts as a canvas for the oak’s artwork. It will be an excellent choice for sitting on the porch during the coming Dog Days afternoons!

Comment on Your First Cider by Erroll

Erroll — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:49:18 +0000

My first “cider” was an accident, I had opened a 1 liter can of apple juice…

Great story David! And I think you’re right about starting with something simple.

Erroll

Comment on Lord Rhys Chocolate Mead Recipe by Rifter

Rifter — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:37:52 +0000

So, I have tried a quick, 2 gallon mead start, but this recipe has my interest piqued. I think I will try it in the relatively near future. Thanks to Erroll for answering all the questions, and Patrick for asking all the “noob” questions that I am trying to understand.

Comment on Chocolate Wine: How to make it by Tom

Tom — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 02:56:54 +0000

Just curious, Chris, how’d it turn out with the chocolate nibs? Was there just a subtle chocolate flavor? That’d what I’d like to accomplish.

Comment on Your First Cider by David C

David C — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 22:58:22 +0000

My first “cider” was an accident, I had opened a 1 liter can of apple juice, and put it back in the fridge, after taking out a little to make some watered down apple juice for one of the kids when they were toddlers; well, the can got shoved to the back and didn’t see the light of day for maybe a month; not being sealed (used the little wedge shaped thingy to put two holes in it) it got some wild yeast and fermented my first foray into making alcohol as an adult; can’t tell you about my misspent youth, that might lead impressionable minds to imitate LOL
being here in Canada, we have Lavelin yeasts, and EC-1118, a Champagne yeast, which will ferment out to 18% ABV, is recommended; I have used it with Empire apples ground in a food presser, and also with the canned juice; works well either way and gets a bit bubbly; more a wine than a cider, as I add extra sugar to bring it up to a 10% finish, with a 2 – 3% sweetness, and pectic enzyme to clear it;
so not for your first timer; but when I began making wine, I didn’t know any better, and it was what I started with; but if you keep it simple, and just add the yeast to the juice, and don’t worry about the other stuff, you’ll find that in a couple of months you will have yourself an alcoholic beverage of 5-7% ABV, that when chilled, is a great drink on a hot summer evening; the rest is lots of reading, recipes and experimentation.

Comment on More Bees, More Honey, and Higher Prices by Juanse Barros

Juanse Barros — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 05:50:41 +0000

Honey production in USA for 2011 was 16% lower and total number of colonies 7% lower than in 2010, therefore we went almost down to 2009. Average production per colony down to 27 kg from 31 in 2010.

what about your price research?

Comment on White Wine From Cherries? by Cherry Wine Recipe | Washington Winemaker

Cherry Wine Recipe | Washington Winemaker — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 21:13:24 +0000

[...] made the case for white wine from cherries a while back, but when I made cherry wine yesterday it was a red. I bought 43 or so pounds of Bing [...]

Comment on Rhubarb Wine by Rhubarb Wine Recipe | Washington Winemaker

Rhubarb Wine Recipe | Washington Winemaker — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 20:58:20 +0000

[...] been anticipating this since May, and now it’s finally time to make Rhubarb Wine. I grow the rhubarb in my garden, harvest several times (freezing each harvest), and make a gallon [...]

Comment on Fleshing Out A Beer-Like Mead Recipe by Erroll

Erroll — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 20:43:39 +0000

Hello Matt,

Fermenting honey and malt does indeed get you a braggot, but what I’m trying to do here is make an all-honey mead that is more reminiscent of beer than wine.

Some people, like me, come to mead from a winemaking background. We naturally apply what we know (taste and technique) to mead and make a mead that is a bit “wine like.” So I started to wonder, what would a ‘beer like’ mead be like? That’s the question I’m trying to answer in this post.

Erroll