Cherry-Pie Wine

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

brazedowl

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2009
Messages
864
Reaction score
50
Location
Fayetteville, NC
Recipe Type: Cherry Wine Yeast: Redstar Montrachet Yeast Starter: NO Batch Size (Gallons): 5 Original Gravity: NA :( Final Gravity: NA :( Boiling Time (Minutes): Heated not boiled Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21d @ ~70F Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21d @ ~70F Additional Racking (# of Days & Temp): 14d @ ~70F

~~Ingredients~~
8# Sugar
8 Strawberry Breeze Concentrate
2 Grape Concentrate
4 16oz Cans Cherry Pie Filling
1pkt Redstar Yeast (Green)
1tsp Yeast Energizer
1 Campden Tablet
Water to 5.5 gal

~~Prep~~
1) dissloved concentrates in ~3gal of water and the sugar in a separate 1gal
2) added cherry pie filling (and rinced cans a little) to the juice and steeped (~100) for a half hour.
3) Started yeast with a jar of juice solution.
4) Pitched sugar solution, then foamy yeast, then juice. Brought volume to ~5.5-6gal


~~Primary~~
Sat in an Ale Pail on my kitchen counter for two weeks. Regular room temp 70F-75F

~Secondary~~
Used blue plastic water jug (the type found at lowes etc). Already had a debate in another thread about oxygen permeability, and yeast settling but it ended up not being any problem (at least that I could taste or see).

Scooped off floating cherries and saved in the freezer. Put them in a blueberry cherry pie for thanksgiving which turned out GREAT.


~~Additional Racking~~
The wine refused to show any signs of clearing and had lots of floating cherry goobers. So I racked onto 2.5tsp pectic enzyme and 2tblsp of bentonite to help clear.

~~Bottling~~
Bottled into 24 regular 750ml wine bottles. Bentonite goo is VERY lite and likes to float around when moving to the counter to bottle. Had to let it sit overnight before bottling. In the end all the bottles came out crystal clear.

~~Notes & Comments~~
- OPPRESSIVELY Sweet. Closest thing I can relate it to is Cherry Kijafa. VERY good and still went through several bottles after dinner on Thanksgiving.

~~Moral of the story~~
Cheap. SWEET. Enjoyed by all. :mug:
 
When do you add the campden tablet and do you need potassium sorbate? Sorry im a newbie haha
 
Keep checking the Specific Gravity with your hydrometer and when it remains constant below 1.000 for several days it's time to bottle. I take about a cup of the wine, carefully dissolve the campden and sorbate and put it in the bottling bucket. Then I rack on top of it, and bottle. If you are backsweetening (adding sugar back), do the same, but you'll use a carboy instead of a bottling bucket, because you'll need to make sure it doesn't start fermenting again with the addition of sugar. It shouldn't, but if it does you don't want it to do so in your bottles.
 
Thank you! What and how much did you use to backsweeten with, and how much sorbate should be added. Thank you again for all your help :)
 
Did you use Welches Strawberry Breeze? I see that is a Cocktail and was wondering if you had any problems using it?


Also when you use Bentonite, do you just mix it in or do you have to add it in a blender and some wine and mix it up good?


Thanks
 
Did you use Welches Strawberry Breeze? I see that is a Cocktail and was wondering if you had any problems using it?


Also when you use Bentonite, do you just mix it in or do you have to add it in a blender and some wine and mix it up good?


Thanks

Yea, the welches strawberry breeze concentrate. No problems. It dosn't have any yeast-stopping preservatives.

When I use bentonite I just mix it with a cup of warm water in a blender or food processor to make a slurry and then rack the wine onto it.
 
I have a quick question. I started this on Wednesday and its OG was 1.110. I checked it today and its only down to 1.080 and I do not see much for airlock activity. There are bubbles on the top of the must and you can hear the yeast working. I am wondering if I need to pitch another package of yeast? I don't want this to get stuck. I did add nutrients when I started it and have added a little bit more each day.


Any suggestions would be awesome!
 
I have a quick question. I started this on Wednesday and its OG was 1.110. I checked it today and its only down to 1.080 and I do not see much for airlock activity. There are bubbles on the top of the must and you can hear the yeast working. I am wondering if I need to pitch another package of yeast? I don't want this to get stuck. I did add nutrients when I started it and have added a little bit more each day.


Any suggestions would be awesome!

Sorry for the delayed reply... has it dropped more? Sometimes it's just a moderate but steady fermentation straight through.
 
I have a couple questions about this recipe, as I am interested in making it.

Firstly, I see that a Campden tablet is listed amongst the ingredients, but unless I am missing something, I never saw mentioned exactly what point in the recipe the Campden tablet comes into play.

Secondly, is Yeast Energizer the same thing as a Yeast Nutrient, or is it different?

Thirdly, how long does this have to age after being bottled in order to be drinkable?

Thanks in Advance!
Sincerely,
MrMeadowlark.
 
I made this and did not use the Camden in the beginning. I think it's meant for the end. Since there is no fresh fruit here the Camden won't do anything. Yeast energizer and nutrient are not the same thing. Most times I only use nutrient but I believe when I made this I used both as directed. For me it was drinkable right away when I bottled it. It did take me almost 4 months to make tho. Very tart and reminds me a cherry kijafa as the OP posted.
 
It was one of my first recipes so you are correct that the campden comes in at the end. Glad you liked though!


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
Back
Top