Barbados Cherry Wine?

The other day i was contemplating about making wine, when my 2 yr. old ran into the cherry tree and knocked a few down (she takes after her mother ). Newton already explained gravity via the apple, but this had me thinking, hmm why not a barbados cherry wine? We sometimes eat the cherrys but they are very tart, so im not sure how that'd go over in wine.

Thoughts?

Dave

Talk to yooper for sure. Do you know what the specific gravity on the cherrys are (1lb/gallon H2o). You could backsweeten or just add lots of sugar and use a low floc yeast

Arneba28 said:

Talk to yooper for sure. Do you know what the specific gravity on the cherrys are (1lb/gallon H2o). You could backsweeten or just add lots of sugar and use a low floc yeast

Click to expand...

I'll have to check that out. BTW do you mean low atten. yeast? From my understanding low floc yeast will just leave the wine hazy and low attenuating will not ferment all the sugars. Then again, are there any low attenuating yeast that have high floc? Could be wrong, though.

FishinDave07 said:

I'll have to check that out. BTW do you mean low atten. yeast? From my understanding low floc yeast will just leave the wine hazy and low attenuating will not ferment all the sugars.

Click to expand...

Sorry yes you are right. I used the wrong word. I would say maybe Cotes Des Blanc. I believe that yeast leaves some residual sugar but it is a low floc yeast. May be Lavlin ICV D-47, Medium Floc, 10-14%abv

OOOOH- tart cherries make great wine! I have one in secondary now, and it's a little harsh. I was talking to Ken Schram about it (he wrote the Compleat Meadmaker) and he suggested adding some honey to smooth it out, and I will do that as soon as I get my hands on some honey. Still, tart cherries are wonderful for wine. I got my recipe off of Jack Keller's site, I believe:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques61.asp

I did the third one down on the list, but used 4 pounds of my sour cherries since they were very flavorful. I used Lavlin 71B-1122 for the yeast. It fermented quickly to .990, and I've racked it a couple of times. It's pretty good, but as I said, it's a bit harsh and I think about 1/2 cup of honey will smooth it out (the honey will ferment out). I'm going to let it sit for a while- it's clear and really beautiful- and see what the honey does. I think time will also take care of the harshness.

I was wondering how long it would take for the Vintress to respond . Thanks, some good info there.

YooperBrew said:

I was talking to Ken Schram about it (he wrote the Compleat Meadmaker)

Click to expand...

How is it that you were just happen to be talking to THE Ken Schram?

I feel like such a nobody!

BigKahuna said:

How is it that you were just happen to be talking to THE Ken Schram?

I feel like such a nobody!

Click to expand...

Haha- the first time, I didn't know who he was. We were just blabbing. But, then I went to the mead seminar (at the National Homebrewer's conference) and enjoyed his talk. He gave us a sample of a nice sour cherry mead, and I loved it. Actually, he brought several samples but that's for another story. Afterwards, we were talking again and I mentioned this cherry wine that was great, but harsh. That's when he told me that honey would smooth the flavor alot, just as it did for my crabapple wine. (We talked for quite a while, I guess).

A thing I've really been thinking of doing in the past with my pineapple wine is to first of all use lalvin 71B-1122 as apparently it metabolizes some acidity, but prehaps run a bit of malolactic fermentation on it, to change out some of the acids into less harsh ones. I don't know if it would turn out, but it's a thought.

Ken's da man! Did you know he was a world class fly fisherman and fly tier?

He really is a great guy. He'll talk to anyone about anything and kinda reminds you of your next door neighbor.

Freezeblade said:

A thing I've really been thinking of doing in the past with my pineapple wine is to first of all use lalvin 71B-1122 as apparently it metabolizes some acidity, but prehaps run a bit of malolactic fermentation on it, to change out some of the acids into less harsh ones. I don't know if it would turn out, but it's a thought.

Click to expand...

I don't know if pineapple is a particularly malic fruit, but it could very well be. I think pineapple makes a nice wine without the MLF, though, but it is definitely worth a try.

summersolstice said:

Ken's da man! He'll talk to anyone.

Click to expand...

Um thanks!

YooperBrew said:

Um thanks!

Click to expand...

Um, I guess my comment could be construed that way . I meant, Hell, he talked to me so he must be able to talk to anyone. Cheers!