Fruit Wine, Take Two

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The fruit, in a nylon bag, fermenting in a bucket. Every day, the fruit gets punched down, so all of it contacts the fermenting wine over the course of the fermentation.

OK, since the website name is Beer & Wine Journal, I guess I should occasionally post something about wine. Back in 2013, I made a wine I called Cherry Berry Wine because it was made with . . . well, you guess (or see the recipe). Last week, I was shopping at HEB (my local supermarket) and they had the same mix of fruits for fairly low prices, so I got the ingredients for another batch of fruit wine. [Read more…]

Quick Spiced Holiday Mead

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This guest article originated with a listener’s question to Basic Brewing Radio. James asked mead fan Tim Leber to respond to a question involving the desire to make a mead in time for the holidays. Tim’s answer was so thorough that James suggested that Tim flesh it out and let us publish it. So here’s Tim’s suggestion for making a spiced holiday mead in time for the holidays. He recommends de-gassing the mead during fermentation, to keep the yeast working as quickly as possible. And, when primary fermentation is finished, the mead is stabilized with potassium sorbate (which is commonly used in winemaking).

[Read more…]

Cherry Berry Wine

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The fruits I used in my wine. (I also used frozen grape concentrate.) They look tasty, huh?

Walking through my supermarket produce aisle, I frequently think, “I could ferment that” about various fruits and vegetables. This weekend, my supermarket was having a sale on strawberries, cherries and blueberries and I changed my thinking from “I could ferment that” to “I will ferment that.”

Recently, I posted an article on why most wines are made from grapes. The gist of the article was that grapes have everything you need to make good wine. However, you can make wine from other fruits if you just make up for any deficiencies. So, upon seeing the fruit sale, I loaded up on strawberries, cherries and blueberries, but also got some raspberries and a can of frozen white grape concentrate to round things out. When I got home, I looked around at country wine recipes and decided on the proportions of the fruit and last night, I made the wine.

I’m posting the recipe now and will give updates as the wine ages. (I actually used tartaric acid instead of a wine acid blend, but I put the latter in the ingredient list because I think it’s a better choice.)

[Read more…]