Tanglefoot's fruity fermentations

[Tanglefoot]

Today I began a 4 gallon batch of apple and pear wine.
I have no eating apples in my garden but my neighbour offered me the windfalls from his Worcester tree -sweet with a lovely pink tinge to the flesh and juice.
I made a similar white fruit wine with success many years ago and this summer made sparkling
and dry elderflower wine which went down well with the familly.

I quartered and cored all the fruit, which went in a straining bag in the fv.
Starting gravity was 1.084 - sample for reading looked and tasted delicious !


Worcester apples 12 lb
Conference pears 10 lb
Bramley apples 6 lb
white grape concentrate 250 ml
sugar 7.5 lb
campden powder 4 tsp
tannic acid 4 tsp
pectolase 4 tsp
yeast nutrient 4 tsp
citric acid 3 tsp

Giving it a day before pitching Gervin G5 white fruit wine yeast, then let it ferment down to 1.010 before racking off.

I'm also planning an elderberry,blackberry and plum red wine (for which I've just got an extra 4 plastic demi johns with airlocks)
and have some berries ready in freezer for a bottle of Sloe gin.
I'll be keeping a track of my fruity efforts here, for anyone interested !

 

[Tanglefoot]

After 3 days and little sign of fermentation I repitched with rehydrated Lalvin E1118 and within 8 hours the must was going crazy - or fermental as my daughter put it !
Today I removed the bag with fruit, let it strain and transferred to demi johns after checking the gravity.
After starting at 1.084 it has got down to 1.016, now I'll let it continue to ferment and periodically rack off until
clear and dry.
Also got my sloe gin under way, hoping it might be ready for christmas.
My planned red fruit wine looks likely to be mainly blackberry and plum as I've probably missed the elderberries
now, will see what I can forage this weekend.

 

[Tanglefoot]

In a joint effort with my daughter we picked 9lb blackberries and 1lb elderberries yesterday with which
I started a 2 gallon batch of wine this evening.
keeping it simple, after adding 2kg sugar and a 660gm bag of dextrose ( borrowed from a beer kit )
for a starting gravity of 1.086, I added 2 tsps each of campden powder,pectolase and yeast nutrient.
I will leave for 24 hrs before pitching Gervin G11 red fruit wine yeast.

The apple and pear wine is slowly fermenting but lost the vigour it had pre -racking,
maybe I should have left it in the fv a bit longer ? Time will tell no doubt !

 

[Tanglefoot]

The blackberry wine is finally showing signs of fermentaton three days after pitching yeast.
I gave it a stir with a sanitised spoon yesterday morning and could see a light foamy head
and some surface bubbling.
The Youngs Super 'cone in a cup' type airlock I'm using is' nt much of an indicator, finally
starting to give an intermittent wheezy rattle by the afternoon.

The apple and pear wine has settled down and all three demi johns are fermenting steadily.
Next time I'll fill each partially in turn from the fv to ensure that the yeast is evenly distributed as I
ended up with the last one getting super charged with most of the trub.
They have dropped about 1/4" of sediment and are just starting to show signs
of clearing from top down so maybe rack off again next week.

 

[Tanglefoot]

Racked off the apple and pear wine for the second time yesterday, topped up with pure apple juice and it's
carrying on it's fermentation steadily.
I also racked the blackberry wine from the fv into demi johns, it was fairly clear of crud as I used a bag for the fruit which I strained earlier in the week. It has fermented down to 1.002 - sample tasted very promising!

 

[Tanglefoot]

I Racked off my blackberry wine for second time today, gravity is down to .994 so just about fermented
out now.
Not too much sediment and mostly stuck to the bottom so didn't lose much in the process
but topped up each demi john with a cupful of red grape juice.
The apple and pear wine is at about the same stage having racked it off a week or so ago for the third time and
gravity was .996 , both wines clearing well and ready for bottling soon.

 

[Yasser]

I have no eating apples in my garden but my neighbour offered me the windfalls from his Worcester tree -sweet with a lovely pink tinge to the flesh and juice.

We've just started to make cider with the trees we have but don't know the names of any of the varieties but maybe we were using the same type of apple.

 

[Tanglefoot]

Bottled most of my apple and pear wine, got a demi john left to mature a bit but expect this lot will get
drunk fairly quickly.
Nice crisp dry taste, worries the pear would get lost were misplaced. Finished around 10.5 % with just
residual fruit sweetness.

Also strained off the sloe gin which I made at start of september - will be having a taster tonight after a
familly outing to take in local Xmas lights !

 

[johncrobinson]

Sounds like your WELL into the hobby

 

[Tanglefoot]

I made an elderflower wine over the weekend, recipe below.
Was convinced yeast had failed and all ready to pitch a fresh pack but after taking a sample it has
dropped from 1.084 to 1.038 in three days so all good - tasted very promising.
Another case of a leaky fv and no bubbling from the airlock.

3 gallon batch

4 quarts elderflowers
5 macerated lemons
approx 8 ounces raisins
2.25 pints white grape juice
6 lbs sugar
3 tsp tannin
3 tsp yeast nutrient
3 tsp pectolase

Lalvin EC118 rehydrated at 35c added to must at same temp

OG 1.084

Thinking of putting 10L in a minkeg at 1.010 for a sparkling wine and putting the rest in a demi
john to rack off a few times and clear before priming in PET bottles but plan may change.

Still plenty of elderflowers out so may be time for another batch after this, as familly and friends
will be able to get through this lot fairly quickly !

 

[Tanglefoot]

I made an elderflower wine over the weekend, recipe below.
Was convinced yeast had failed and all ready to pitch a fresh pack but after taking a sample it has
dropped from 1.084 to 1.038 in three days so all good - tasted very promising.
Another case of a leaky fv and no bubbling from the airlock.

3 gallon batch

4 quarts elderflowers
5 macerated lemons
approx 8 ounces raisins
2.25 pints white grape juice
6 lbs sugar
3 tsp tannin
3 tsp yeast nutrient
3 tsp pectolase

Lalvin EC118 rehydrated at 35c added to must at same temp

OG 1.084

Thinking of putting 10L in a minkeg at 1.010 for a sparkling wine and putting the rest in a demi
john to rack off a few times and clear before priming in PET bottles but plan may change.

Still plenty of elderflowers out so may be time for another batch after this, as familly and friends
will be able to get through this lot fairly quickly !

Surprised how quickly this has fermented given the total lack of airlock activity.
Elderflowers have formed a dense blanket on top of the must so absorbs the co2 perhaps ?
Now done to .998 and ready to go in demi John's this weekend.

 

[Tanglefoot]

Bottled my last demi john of apple and pear wine I made in 2020.
Didn't cork it as it will be drunk within a few months, got a bottle in the fridge to try tonight.
Also have one demi john of Blackberry wine left to bottle before this year's production gets under way.

 

[Tanglefoot]

My elderflower wine àfter racking off a couple of times and sat at .996

2 gallons are now in a mini keg after sugar priming and building pressure after a couple of days ( after a sneaky sample to check this evening )

 

[Tanglefoot]

Started my first batch of water kefir a day ago, fermentation underway.

Kefir is more often used with milk but water is a great dairy free alternative,
it's culture of yeast and bacteria that are probiotic and beneficial for the gut microflora, indigestion and auto immunity ( my wife has rheumatoid arthritis ).
Will strain and bottle with fresh fruit juice
after another couple of days fermentation it will go in the fridge ready to drink.
ABV should be around 2% , it's a pleasant sparkling non alcoholic alternative - sounds nice with elderflower
I've tried a commercial version which is really nice, I have a small glass as a tonic in the morning.
The grains multiply so you can use them in other ways, added to Kimchi or as a smoothie.