Post by ogeezer on Jun 12, 2007 8:43:36 GMT -6
Tho I'm a tea-tottler (recovering alcoholic), I sometimes like a small glass of wine with a meal BUT then only in moderation, while the rest of my family members, in-laws seem to prefer the nectar of the gods more so than glasses of citrus-juiced water I typically consume.
'n tho not big on wine consumption, that's something else i find making more fun than the drinking, especially if its Ogeezers Vintage, aged in a crock. Yesterdy, I kept busy with a couple of fresh batches of wild "mustang" grapes ... even while steam grilling a couple of barnyard birds at the same time.
The number one rule to top quality wine is cleanliness.
Ogeezer's Vintage is all about wild grapes found in the area, but I suppose any grape or berry could be used. All pickings must be gathered away from roadsides and other areas where they may be contaminated with herbicides and pesticides. Once home with the wilderness harvest, wash well under cold running water to remove insects, dust, and other undesirables.
Keep your equipment clean. Sterilize bottles by boiling in water for five minutes before bottling.
Boil and cool water before adding to fermentation vat. The hardest part of all is allowing wine proper time to age. The biggest fault of beginner winemakers is serving their creations far too soon. It’s hard to resist temptation but I assure you, when it comes to wine, time is worth the wait.
Mash the wild grapes (about 2 gallons), put in crock. Bring 1 gallon water to a vigorous boil. Add the 6 pounds of sugar, stir. Reboil for about 5-minutes, occasionally stirring. Pour over grape mash, cover with cheese-cloth or cotton cloth (to keep out insects). Let stand overnight to 24 hours, no more.
Strain off liquid, save. Mash wild grapes again, squeeze thru cheese-cloth, collecting liquid sqeezings, discarding skins, seeds, and pits. Return grape squeezings and strained liquid to crock. Add another gallon of water. And stir.
Yeast is used to prompt fermentation. One packet (eight grams) or ¼ ounce of dry yeast to no more than 2-gallons of water per 2 pounds of crushed & cheese-cloth strained wild grapes squeezings. To add the yeast, sprinkle it with yeast. Even if other wine recipes are halved, doubled, or tripled, the amount of yeast remains the same.
A bit about sugar. You can always increase sugar amounts in any recipe to produce sweeter wines, BUT never decrease sugar or you might end up with vinegar.
Juice ferments best at room temperature. Always cover the crock with clean cloth while fermenting is taking place. After the wine is done working (bubbling has ceased), finish it off by siphoning into bottles, corking, and labeling. When siphoning, leave sediments in bottom of crock and discard later. Store wine on its side in a cool, dark place.
If you're lucky enuff to have a variety of available fruits and flowers around, it’s a good idea to have two or three crocks working batches of wine fermenting at the same time, to add variety to the wine drinker virtuosos, prehaps making wild grape wine, dewberry wine, dandelion wine, or any number wine makings with store-bought fruits.
'n tho not big on wine consumption, that's something else i find making more fun than the drinking, especially if its Ogeezers Vintage, aged in a crock. Yesterdy, I kept busy with a couple of fresh batches of wild "mustang" grapes ... even while steam grilling a couple of barnyard birds at the same time.
The number one rule to top quality wine is cleanliness.
Ogeezer's Vintage is all about wild grapes found in the area, but I suppose any grape or berry could be used. All pickings must be gathered away from roadsides and other areas where they may be contaminated with herbicides and pesticides. Once home with the wilderness harvest, wash well under cold running water to remove insects, dust, and other undesirables.
Keep your equipment clean. Sterilize bottles by boiling in water for five minutes before bottling.
Boil and cool water before adding to fermentation vat. The hardest part of all is allowing wine proper time to age. The biggest fault of beginner winemakers is serving their creations far too soon. It’s hard to resist temptation but I assure you, when it comes to wine, time is worth the wait.
Mash the wild grapes (about 2 gallons), put in crock. Bring 1 gallon water to a vigorous boil. Add the 6 pounds of sugar, stir. Reboil for about 5-minutes, occasionally stirring. Pour over grape mash, cover with cheese-cloth or cotton cloth (to keep out insects). Let stand overnight to 24 hours, no more.
Strain off liquid, save. Mash wild grapes again, squeeze thru cheese-cloth, collecting liquid sqeezings, discarding skins, seeds, and pits. Return grape squeezings and strained liquid to crock. Add another gallon of water. And stir.
Yeast is used to prompt fermentation. One packet (eight grams) or ¼ ounce of dry yeast to no more than 2-gallons of water per 2 pounds of crushed & cheese-cloth strained wild grapes squeezings. To add the yeast, sprinkle it with yeast. Even if other wine recipes are halved, doubled, or tripled, the amount of yeast remains the same.
A bit about sugar. You can always increase sugar amounts in any recipe to produce sweeter wines, BUT never decrease sugar or you might end up with vinegar.
Juice ferments best at room temperature. Always cover the crock with clean cloth while fermenting is taking place. After the wine is done working (bubbling has ceased), finish it off by siphoning into bottles, corking, and labeling. When siphoning, leave sediments in bottom of crock and discard later. Store wine on its side in a cool, dark place.
If you're lucky enuff to have a variety of available fruits and flowers around, it’s a good idea to have two or three crocks working batches of wine fermenting at the same time, to add variety to the wine drinker virtuosos, prehaps making wild grape wine, dewberry wine, dandelion wine, or any number wine makings with store-bought fruits.