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I intend to make wine after the fall harvest, but before dropping a decent amount of coin on grapes and renting equipment I want to get familiar with the process. So I'm making an Apfelwein from Whole Foods juice ($1.69/gallon, yo!) with the following enhancements over the Ed Wort prison wine: * Add dextrose to achieve 24.5 Brix * Add malic acid to achieve 0.65-0.70% TA * Add tannin to give a tightness to the end wine. I'm aiming to reproduce an overproof Frankfort-style Apfelwein, which uses Service Tree fruit for astringency. * Do a malolatic fermentation * Use pectin enzyme to clarify (the juice is unfiltered) * Use meta to stabilize I understand that the initial fermentation will not bear any resemblance to that of wine from grapes, but for now I don't want to bother with the expense or difficulty of dealing with fresh fruit. I also like the idea that I don't have to rack if my other carboy has beer in it. Does this seem like a stupid idea, or one worth pursuing? I don't want to do a kit for my first wine, since that seems like learning to bake by buying one of those cookie dough logs in the freezer section. This seemed like the cheapest way to go. BTW, I agree that mason jars are the best decanters. Only difficulty is that they sometimes drip when pouring.
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Dec 28, 2011 09:15
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 00:27 |
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I thought of malic acid since that's what's in apples anyway, but was too dumb to think about the fact that the MLF may cancel out any additions. Tartaric acid it is, then (which also seems to be used most frequently in wine production). I read about the black tea thing after I'd already bought the tannin, so I'll probably stick with what I've got. At the risk of sounding stupid, doesn't black tea impart at least some tea-like flavors? In juicier reds like syrah or zin I imagine it's not noticeable, but I'd think you'd taste or at least smell it in apple wine.
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Dec 28, 2011 09:34
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idiotsavant posted:You can make perfectly drinkable wine without spending much and without all of the technological hoo-hah. Really, all you need are clean grapes and a clean container to ferment them in. Get a few hundred pounds of something, footstomp it and ferment stems and all, and inoculate if you're concerned with that kind of thing (although you don't need to necessarily). I like the sciency stuff, and I enjoy the process of making things. I figure that if I'm going to bother getting and taking care of 100 lbs of grapes I should try to do the best with them I can. I'm fortunate to live near a brew shop that takes orders for grapes before the fall harvest and will do the crush for you, so that's sorted. I'll need to rent a press, but that's not as big of a deal. I have 3 carboys, hydrometer, auto-siphon, bottle filler, etc. from making beer. Renting a bottler is an annoying expense (also those fuckers are both heavy and unwieldy), but there's no way around that, is there? I assume that the $8 plastic corkers and $22 capper-looking corkers are wastes of money, yes?
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Dec 29, 2011 06:58
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I went to the North Coast of California this weekend. What I learned: * No one working at a tasting room or restaurant should wear perfume. * Wine tastes better in a barn. * MLF and oak ruin semillon, I wish that Californians had a different palate  * Single-vinyard Pinot Noirs might sell well, but they're only interesting given the backstory. The blend that's 2/3 the price that actually shows the winemaker's ability, however, is an exceptional wine. Also, I know that 3 different vineyards didn't produce exactly 14.5% ABV. Again, the California palate... * Gewurztraminer LOVES Northern California. * Why no pink wines? You love to make dense pinots, why not drain off a bit at the press? * It's not a competition and everyone has different tastes, but I relearned that I enjoy wine much more than I enjoy beer. Plastic Jesus fucked around with this message at 09:41 on Jan 9, 2012 |
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Jan 9, 2012 09:37
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4liters posted:Because 14.5% alc Rose` doesn't taste very nice. People do it here with grenache drain offs and they taste like full bodied reds not nice, crisp, and refreshing like a good pink wine should be I only saw the absurd 14.5% at one vineyard, and I'm pretty sure that they boosted to get it there, but I hear what you're saying...
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Jan 9, 2012 16:53
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I prefer my roses bone-dry. I really like the ones from Provence, which often have a distinct strawberry element and beg you to eat shellfish while you drink them.
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Jan 9, 2012 18:39
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 00:27 |
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4/20 NEVER FORGET posted:My favorite rose wine: Domaine Tempier Bandol Rose https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1094681 I loving love that wine.
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Jan 10, 2012 07:26
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