MikeInCtown

Recipes 

Local supply house just got two more "local" juices in.

The first is Catawba blush and the other is Sour Cherry blush.

Price for the Catawba is $6.65 a gallon and the Sour Cherry is $8.10 a gallon.

I'm looking at doing a small batch, just because I already have 6 gallons of Niagara White aging and have a 6 gallon batch of Island Mist finishing up. (plus doing about 10-11 gallons of fresh apple when it comes in next week)

Thinking this will be about 3-5 gallons at most.

Which would you guys choose and why?

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Primary - Apfelwine
Secondary - Niagara white wine
Kegged - AH Special Holiday Ale, AH Cream Ale, AH Honey Wheat
Bottled - Continental Pilsner, Island Mist Mango Citrus, Island Mist Wildberry Shiraz
Up next - AH Foster's clone, Labatt's clone, Hard Apple Cider,
The Independence Street Brew House

hcarter

Recipes 

I'd do a little research first, but I've heard Catawba can make some pretty good wine.

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Creag `An Tuirc
A Highlander likes two things naked. The other's Scotch.
- Howard
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/how-make-yeast-starter-pictorial-76101/

gratus fermentatio

Recipes 

I'd do 1 gallon of each, if they'll sell it in 1 gallon increments. Best of both worlds, everybody wins. Regards, GF.

mikeg77

Recipes 

If not, I would go with the Catawba. Why because I have had some decent Catawba wines and never tried sour cherry.

Yooper

Recipes 

I make catawba wine, and while I'm happy, it's definitely not the best and/or easiest wine to make taste good. It's acidic, and not very good on it's own. I used 65# of catawba grapes last year, and made 14 gallons of wine. One three gallon batch was only catabwa and it's tart and acidic. The others I played with- reducing acid, adding grape concentrate, etc, and it's ok. It's not a great wine, but it's ok. I also put it through MLF, and then cold stabilized it to precipitate more acid. It might age into a decent wine- it's just a tad over a year old now.

So, if it were me, I'd go with the sour cherry if you're only making one. Sour cherry juice makes a nice wine- but it does take a while. My sour cherry from last year is still harsh and astringent, and I added some honey (after talking with Ken Schram) to help smooth it out.

Jack Keller's website has recipes for both, and I would recommend reading the recipes and the techniques before deciding.

Catawba can make a good wine, but it takes more effort. Sour cherries pretty much do the job on their own, but need some time. Either way, plan on at least a year before considering bottling. Maybe more.

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

hcarter

Recipes 

I uhhhh ..... sit corrected. See!! Research!!

__________________
Creag `An Tuirc
A Highlander likes two things naked. The other's Scotch.
- Howard
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/how-make-yeast-starter-pictorial-76101/