I just finished transferring my apricot wine from the fermentation tub to glass. I got to wondering if there was anyone else on this site that makes wine. Always like to swap recipes and try new stuff. I make wine from just about anything I can pick when I'm out fishing. I'm no good at it but it's drinkable and mind altering.
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I like to brew mead.
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I have dabbled in it, but mine always comes out a bit to dry for my taist.
are you using a ceramic crock for fermentation or wood barrols?
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For primary fermentation I use 20 gallon Rubbermaid containers that I have added strainers to. This allows me to decant the wine without all the sediment. I rack them to glass carboy bottles for the final clarification. Looks like the apricot wine will take multiple rackings and many months to clarify. Smells good so I hope it turns out.
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If I remember right, when I did mine, I used a 20 gallon ceramic crock, same one we used for making sour crout. we allowed it to ferment untill it crusted.
at that time we the market had gallon glass jugs we could use for the final fermentation process, we used a rubber cork with a mettle spicket conected to a rubber hose that was placed under water in another container.
when all the bubbling stopped the layer of fine sediments were floating I syfened the wine out of the bottom and bottled it.
I didnt make enuff of it to age so thay may have been why it was so dry, or it could have been the wild grapes I found in the woods, or posibly even been a lack of sugar, or the combination of all three.
and it could have vary well have been it was me, I realy never have been real fond of dry wines. my friends liked it, we drank it and no one got sick... so it may be that dry wine is an aquired taist.
I have found that finding a good wine recipe is like trying to dig some one's mother out of the grave... What I mean is these guys will pretty much take these recipies to their grave...
one thing I do know is that yeast wines cook fast and is ready in weeks, on the down side of that is 6 months later yeast wines turn to viniger. Sugar wines take a nearly a month for the first fermentation period if I remember right, the second fermentation, the second fermentation may have been that long or twice that.
I think at the time I used cheese cloth rammed in to a funnel as a filter, It seemed to work ok for the first screening, after the second fermentation period I used several layers of coffee filters "like about 8-10 filters" in a drip coffee top that we used as a funnel.
One thing you want to be sure to do is once you have bottled your product, provided it is not a yeast wine is to place them on thier side to age.
I didnt concider plastic for a fermentation crock, but if ya think about it, we store acid in cirtain grades of plactic.
One thing I dont mind sharing is a bit of trial and error mistake I made dont use a mixer or grinder or anything that will pulp your fruit. It makes the sediments so small that filtering your wine to crystel clairity is nearly imposible, if your using soft fruit like mellons grapes and such you can use a rubber glove and mash them in a stainless steel bowl with your fist. Or you can buy a small fruit press relitivly cheep from a number of seed catalogs. Stay away from the one that has a crank and spinning paddle, it tends to grind seed in to cediment.
If you want to do apple wines, go to an orchard and buy un paturized apple juce. Paturized juice has been cuered in a stainless steal vat. This way you will be one step way ahead in the process..
Yeast wines you can make out of any 100% fruit juce. this includes apple cider, grape, and others including a combination of the juices....
there used to be a home made wine makers table top kit you could buy where all you did was add the juice and yeast and waited a few weeks then serve. It was like a one gallon barrol looking thing I think was made of ceramic and had an athentic looking spout that came out of the bottom of one side.
I would be intrested in hearing a full account of your process. "minus the recipee"
Your welcome to post pictures of your process as well, I would show you my set up, but it has been 30 years and I didnt take pictures or saved my equipment from back then.
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I have played with brewing for a while but have not made anything worth telling. Like avery my batches work but flavor is still fairly harsh for my wife anyway. if i make it i drink it.
My father and grandfather make very nice wines. My father like to use new things in his wine. When i was home for a visit he opened a bottle of corn wine that was very good (in a fun way) it tasted like sweet corn. It had a higher than normal ABV as well.
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