Good thing about a Steam Juicer

I had a bad year this year when it comes to picking. Bad year for Apples, Blackberries, and Grapes. Good thing is I have some steamed juices from last year so I’ll be able to finally get around to them. I’ve been wanting to start another Elderberry so I think that will be the first one. I’ve found this one takes about 2 years of aging to get good.

Blackberry (high sugar method)

I’ve been watching online where a guy made some Concord Grape Wine using Welch’s Grape Concentrate with a lot of sugar and a lower alcohol yeast.  I figured I’d try this with some blackberry wine.  What I used:

• 1 1/2 gallon of steamed blackberry juice
• 10 lbs of frozen blackberry (in mesh paint strainer bag)
• 8 lbs sugar (will need additional sugar for later)
• 2 gallons water
• 2.0 grams FT Blanc Soft
• 1/4 tsp K-meta
• 3 tsp pectic enzyme
• 2 tsp DAP Yeast Nutrient
• Fermax Yeast Nutrient (for later)
• 1 tsp Yeast Energizer
• Hungarian Oak Cubes (for later)

And how I did it:

January 21st – Mixed the juice, blackberries, sugar, water, FT Blanc Soft and K-meta.  Allowed to warm to room temp and added pectic enzyme.  After 12 hours added Yeast Nutrient and Yeast Energizer and Lalvin 71B-1122 Yeast.

January 25th – Specific Gravity 1.048 – removed mesh bag with blackberries, squeezed out juice and added 2 tsp Fermax Yeast Nutrient

January 27th – added 4 lbs of sugar and 1 tsp Fermax Yeast Nutrient

January 3oth – Specific Gravity at 1.010 added sugar to 1.032 racked to 6 gal carboy

February 5th Specific Gravity at 1.025 for 3 days – racked to 5 gal carboy added 1/4 tsp K-meta and 10 Hungarian Oak cubes. Clearing nicely.

So far so good, has good flavor, not to sweet and can taste the alcohol.  I plan on using egg whites to reduce the astringent/bitterness normal in Blackberry Wine (or at least mine) and then aging about a year before doing anything else to it.

UPDATE: Didn’t need the egg whites, racked off the oak cubes on the 10th of April and this wine is good already and it’s only a little over 3 month old.

Been a Busy Summer –

– Been having a good summer when it come to collecting fruit. I stared the summer picking black cap raspberries. I used half (5 pounds) to make a Raspberry Lime summer time wine, the other half is still in the freezer. This is the first summer I was able to pick peaches off the peach tree across the road. I got enough to make 3 gallons of steamed juice. I’ll do something with the juice during the slow winter months. The only downfall to this was the tree split and most likely will have to be cut down. I finally got blackberries off my plants I planted 3 years ago. I got enough to make 3 gallons of steamed juice which I used to start a blackberry port style wine I’ll post the recipe someday if it comes out good. I also have 4 one gallon bags of blackberries in the freezer waiting for time to steam juice. Last year I got the concord grape vines under control and got 23 pounds of grapes stored away in the freeze. I’m looking at using these with a 96 oz can of Vintner’s Harvest Cranberry to make a Concord Cranberry. I also got blueberries off my brother and juiced them, I’ll be making my Niagara Blueberry during the winter. I’ve been eyeing the apple tree and see it’s loaded. It looks like I’ll be pressing apple cider in the next week or two. Now all I need is some time to bottle last years wine, and empty out some carboys, so I have some to start new batches. That is why it’s nice to have the steam juicer. The juice goes into canning jars and is stored until I have time to work with it. On a side note; while making steam juice I make some pint jars and I found if I add a pint of juice to vanilla ice cream when making homemade ice cream it comes out great. Made raspberry, blackberry, and peach so far. I also use the pint jars to make flavor packs for my wine. One pint of juice to two cups of sugar heat to dissolve and add to taste.

Black Cap Raspberries

Black cap raspberries are coming on in the back yard. My plans for this year is a Niagara Raspberry wine sort of in line with the fruit kits one can buy. I’m thinking a 3 gallon batch with 6 cans of white grape concentrate and 3 pounds of raspberries. Then once it’s done I’ll use steamed raspberry juice and sugar to make a syrup to sweeten to taste. Every wine I’ve ever made with these berries has come out with a cough syrup strong taste, so this year I’m going light up front with the berries and will try for the right balance in the end.

Update: Haven’t gotten around to the above, but did start a batch with Lime Juice and Raspberries along the line of the skeeter pee, dragons blood recipes. So far so good, letting it age a little before I finish sweetening.

I do have enough berries for the above recipe in the freezer, but that will have to wait until this winter. Deep into picking Blackberries, Peaches and Concord Grapes, seems they are all on the same time this year. Then it will be on to Apples and pressing cider for making hard cider.

Sarsaparilla Brew

Well it’s the middle of winter, a slow time for me, so I’m experimenting again.  I’ll call this a brew because it’s somewhere between a beer and a wine.  I started with 3+ gallons of tap water and added 4+ pounds of sugar to a specific gravity of 1.055.  I then added Fermax Yeast Nutrient.  To get to a pH of 3.4 I added 4 1/2 tsp of Acid Blend.  Next I added the flavor, Homebrew Sarsaparilla Extract, hoping for a 7% alcoholic Sarsaparilla summer time drink.  I sprinkled Lalvin EC-1118 yeast on top and covered with the lid.

I plan on back sweetening this with lactose non-ferment-able sugar, and carbonating with Cooper’s Carbonation Drops.

It should be interesting, I’ll let you know how it came out sometime this summer.

Update: Didn’t work, bad taste, over carbonation.  Couldn’t get it to sweeten up.  Had to dump before bottles exploded.  I’ll have to think about this one for awhile. 

Hard Cider

I’ve ventured out of my safe zone once again. I’ve been planning on making a few batches of hard cider this year, however the apple trees didn’t cooperate. So I went to the near by orchard and bought 4 gallons of fresh pressed apple cider. I had to twist a few people’s arms to drink beer from bottles that can be recapped. After collecting and cleaning 30 some bottles I was ready to go. I poured the apple cider into the primary and added yeast nutrient and pectic enzyme, and a day later added Cider House Select Premium Cider Yeast. I put it off to the side and other then giving it a stir at night I left it alone for a week and then snapped the lid on and placed a airlock on the ferment-er. Left it alone for another week and then racked to a 3 gallon carboy. I ordered some Xyla all Natural Sweetener and watched the cider clear while waiting. I also headed out the my local home brew store for some priming sugar. Read where it makes the small bubbles.

After collecting everything I racked to my bottling bucket. I added 1/3 cup of priming sugar and 1 cup of Xyla sweetener (won’t ferment) to a pan and heated to dissolve. I then added to the bucket and mixed it in real good. I then bottled and capped 32 bottles of what I hope turns out to be a slightly sweet carbonated hard apple cider. I’ll know in about 6 weeks.

Pear tree is loaded this year, if this comes out okay, I’ll try my hand at making a pear hard cider.

Berry picking time again…

Black Cap Raspberries are the first berries picked this year. I ended with a lot lower total this year, the field behind my house was sold and the new owner mowed all the Black Caps down. I did get 10 pounds out of the patch in my back yard. I’ve started picking Blueberries today and already have 5 pounds. I’m not trying for as many berries this year, I plan on making my berry wines in the mist kit style. I plan on using white grape concentrate (2 cans per gallon) along with about 3 pounds of berries per gallon. I’m hoping to be able to keep the acid in check by doing it this way. I made a Niagara Blue last year this way and it was well liked.

A quick update on my summer kits. The Cornucopia White Coconut Frascati is going to be a very good wine. The half with the chocolate added is already a very good desert wine. I’d label this one as a can’t go wrong with this kit if you like coconut and want something you don’t see everyday. The Cornucopia Black Cherry Merlot was done the same way, however I like the half without the chocolate better at this time. This one is going to have to age some before I know if I’d recommend it or not. I Just started the Orchard Breezin’ Green Apple Delight, this one was a big hit the last time I made it, and it is my first repeat kit. This is another one of those kits you can’t go wrong with, a lot of people will like it.

Trying out some Kits until Berry picking time.

I’m going to try three new kits and repeat one I’ve done before. The repeat will be the Orchard Breezin’ Green Apple Delight. The first one of these I did was a big hit. The only problem was it got gone way to fast. I just bottled the Orchard Breezin’ Peach Perfection, I’m thinking this one will be as big a hit with the sweet fruit wine lovers. I’m figuring I need to give this one three to six months aging.

I’m going to try a different brand for the other two. Going to try the Cornucopia brand out of Canada. I have the Black Cherry Merlot in the primary waiting for the temp to drop, while writing this, so I can pitch the yeast. I may add chocolate to half of this after ferment, still thinking about this. The last one has been ordered and should be here sometime next week. It’s the Cornucopia White Coconut Frascati. My wife and I had a taste of this one at our LHBS and it was very good. I’m also thinking about adding chocolate to half of this one.

On all of these kits I add enough sugar to get the specific gravity around 1.092 at start of ferment.

On a side note, I made a Apple Cranberry wine last fall out of two gallons of fresh pressed apple cider and one can of Vintner’s Harvest Cranberry fruit wine base and it came out great. Made a 5 gallon batch and back sweetened with 1/2 gallon of apple cider and 3 cups of sugar cooked down to a syrup. I think I hit on something with this one. I got the pH up to 3.5 and the acid down to 3.0, it seems that with fruits high in malic acid it’s good to get the acid lower then wines made with fruit that has tartaric acid. I’m thinking this is what has caused some of the bitter problems I’ve had in the past.

What’s going on this winter…

It’s been awhile sense I’ve done any updates, so I figured it’s about time. My newest adventure is Peach Perfection a Orchard Breezin’ Mist kit from RJS. I’ve found kits are a easy way to have wine on hand while working on my from scratch wines.

I’ve been working on the spiced apple (3 gal) and a raspberry apple (5 gal) wine from all the apple juice I pressed this past fall. Both are turning out better than expected with the exception of clearing. I’m to the point where I’m considering using a clearing agent. I’m looking forward to the spiced apple getting some aging on it, the spices I used (cardamom, cinnamon, and peppercorns) seem to be going well together. Right now the pepper is really forward, then the cinnamon and the apple. I hope to bring the apple forward with a little sweetening down the road. I’ll add the recipe once I’m sure of the taste.

I’ve also been working with a 5 gallon pail of Catawba juice from Walkers. I’m trying for something close to a Hazlitt’s Red Cat wine. I blended it with a bit of Lambrusco, didn’t have any Baco Noir. It’s been cold soaking to try and get the acid down a little more. I saved 2 gallons to bottle as Catawba so I have a white grape wine.

On the steamed juice side of the winery (a small room in the corner of my basement) I’ve got a Blackberry/Elderberry mix aging, I think this one has great promise, it was made with 100% steamed juice. I also have a Raspberry made with steamed juice and grape concentrate aging. Still waiting to see how this one turns out. The last one up on the shelf is the Raspberry Chocolate. I’m having a hard time balancing the raspberry and the chocolate. One time there isn’t enough chocolate the next time there is to much. I’m guessing only time will tell on this one.

My next project is going to be a black & Blue made with 100% Blackberry and 100% Blueberry steamed juice. I’m leaning towards making them separate and then blending. The other option I was considering was using a low alcohol tolerance yeast with a high starting specific gravity to get a wine with some residual sugar.

Happy Wine Making

Apple Cider Press

Venturing out of my comfort zone on this one. When my Dad passed away I inherited his apple press. The other day my Sister gave me a wheelbarrow of apples and I figured I’d try the press. It worked great and I ended up with 4 1/2 gallons of apple cider. Wondering where all of this is going? Well I took 2 gallons of the apple cider and added a 96oz can of Vintner’s Harvest Cranberry Fruit Wine Base to try and make 5 gallons of Cran/Apple Wine. We will see how it all goes. The only problem I’ve encountered was with the pH and acid. Both were to low for my liking. I adjusted to get the pH to 3.5 and I’ll work on the acid post ferment. I pitched the yeast yesterday and it seems to be going strong today. If I get it to come out okay, I’ll be sure and post the recipe in the recipe section.

Pressing Apples

Happy Wine Making
Scott Sitler