Wild chokecherry wine

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Thanks for the quick response; I understand that much head space is not good but I wanted your advice before I acted. It is still fermenting at this point so I figured I had a day to await your response.

I guess my question is about the original recipe. I scaled it back for a 3 gallon recipe, but of course when I remove the fruit bag I'm not going to have 3 gallons anymore. I just didn't expect it to be this much short. So really the recipe for 3 gallons actually only gets you 2.25 gallons.

At this point I figure I'm at about 9L, so I'm about 2.3L short. I did the pearson's square calculation and if I used 100% water to top up I would end up with a 12% abv wine, which is not bad (undiluted it would be 15%). I think what I'll do is top up with 1.5L of bordailles rouge wine and the rest with water. That should be a good compromise.

I don't want to buy any more carboys; I make mostly kits and only did this recipe to fill the one 3 gallon carboy I have that I used to make a dessert wine kit with.
 
hey yooper, how long do you recommend for bulk aging? i made a blend late last summer with some elderberries and wild grapes added to the chokecherries. since the elders and grapes are more tannic, does this need to push into a 2 year range? i racked today and tasted and it's good, but a bit of a tannic bite in the background. otherwise, lees are gone and it's quite nice looking :)
 
hey yooper, how long do you recommend for bulk aging? i made a blend late last summer with some elderberries and wild grapes added to the chokecherries. since the elders and grapes are more tannic, does this need to push into a 2 year range? i racked today and tasted and it's good, but a bit of a tannic bite in the background. otherwise, lees are gone and it's quite nice looking :)

Yes, I'd say it would be about two years to reduce some of the tannic bite. The good news is that it would age very well, and probably be excellent in 5 years.
 
ahhh, the wine hobby tests my patience. in february, i tasted this and it was almost undrinkable with a robitusin-like bitterness. that's really slipped away and the fruit is coming back, but it's clearly not there yet. i'll just forget about for another 6 months, then maybe oak it a bit and let it roll another year or more....thanks yooper!
 
I am all set to make this wine, I have 50lbs of cherries in the freezer all I have to do now is juice them. I have been searching for the red grape concentrate but I cant seem to find it anywhere localy. I could order it but I am not keen on waiting. Could I use a 5 gal wine kit? I was thinking of using a red like winexpert luna rosa or a pinot. Thoughts?
 
I am all set to make this wine, I have 50lbs of cherries in the freezer all I have to do now is juice them. I have been searching for the red grape concentrate but I cant seem to find it anywhere localy. I could order it but I am not keen on waiting. Could I use a 5 gal wine kit? I was thinking of using a red like winexpert luna rosa or a pinot. Thoughts?

It's not even close to the same thing! The wine concentrate used to come in small bottles, but now this is all I can find: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_24_22_343&products_id=2207

The idea you have is a good one, though and I think it would be great. But it seems like a "waste" of a good wine kit to water it down with chokecherries!
 
That is the exact same one we have in town....I thought you ment five of those. Perhaps my us-metric conversions arent good enough. How would you use this in your version?
 
just to supplement my post above, i added elderberries which carry more tannins and are contributing to the slow maturation of my wine. i don't think it would take as long for a pure chokecherry wine to come around.

wing nut, if you really don't want to wait, just buy some welch's grape concentrate and get after it... ;)
 
hey do you guys know where the cheapest place to get the wine chemicals at? I found them cheap last year but I cant remember at all what site I ordered from.
 
That is the exact same one we have in town....I thought you ment five of those. Perhaps my us-metric conversions arent good enough. How would you use this in your version?

I used 5 pint bottles in 15 gallons, back when they had pint bottles for sale. These boxes are quite a big bigger, and I haven't used that size to know for sure.

I thought you said you were planning on using a luna rosa kit or a pinot. Sorry for the confusion!
 
What are you doing in the picture? Have those choke cherries alread fermented? I can't figure out what you are doing?
 
Yooper, I had 30lbs chokecherries last year and followed your recipe for 10 gallons. It tastes great! tho very dry. I've only bottled one 5 gallon carboy and am wondering if I should try sweetening the other a bit before bottling. And if so, would I need to stabilize it first, and with what? I've got those liquid chitosan and kieselsol (I've not used yet) and sparkalloid (I have used for SkeeterPee).

Due to a winter drought last winter I didn't get as much chokecherries. But they're in the freezer and will make what I can. This will be a regular wine I make, along with the kits I do.
 
You'll want to use potassium sorbate to stabilize. You can pick it up at your local wine or brew shop. Follow the amount-per-gallon instructions for the addition.
 
You'll want to use potassium sorbate to stabilize. You can pick it up at your local wine or brew shop. Follow the amount-per-gallon instructions for the addition.

Yep! I'd use 1/2 teaspoon of sorbate per gallon, along with one crushed campden tablet per gallon, dissolved in hot water and then rack the wine into that. Wait a few days, sweeten to taste, and then wait a few days to ensure that fermentation hasn't restarted. Then you can bottle.

I don't normally use finings, as this wine clears quite well and some of my friends are vegetarians. But those clarifiers would work.
 
We just bottled 16 gallons of this yesterday! It was a rainy day, and I had already washed all of the bottles so I got to it.

I had added some oak chips about a month ago, and they were a different kind this time because the oak was very very faint. I was happy with it, though, as it provided a bit of depth but no overt "oak".

We're done with chokecherries until they ripen again in August!
 
The chokecherries were a bust for us this year. :mad: We had a hot March, so everything bloomed, and then a big frost in late April, so everything (apples, cherries, etc) was killed. This is the first time in many years we aren't making chokecherry wine.
 
I am new to making wine. I have brewed beer for a few years. I have 2 gallons of chokecherry juice in the freezer that I was going to make into jam. I was thinking of making chokecherry wine. I cooked the chokecherries in water and then destoned and squezzed the pulp. Can I still make wine after cooking the chokecherries (intially intended for jam)? I have yeast(Lalvin EC-1118, 3 packages), campden tablets, pectic enzyme, acid blend, yeast nutrient, and 1 liter of red grape concentrate. Any help would be great. I want to get the juice out of my freezer.

Thanks.

Pick
 
I'm sure you can. I did something similar for a friend who had steam-extracted juice. I'm not sure it'll ever get crystal clear, though, once the pectin has been set. But that's the only thing I can think of that would be a problem.
 
So how does 2 gallons of chokecherry juice equate to your original recipe? I am not sure if I have too little or much juice.
 
So how does 2 gallons of chokecherry juice equate to your original recipe? I am not sure if I have too little or much juice.

I have no idea! They gave me three gallons of juice, so I just used the juice. I have no idea how many pounds of chokecherries per gallon they used.
 
Go for it. But only use one packet of yeast. I've followed Yooper's recipe for several years now, adjusting it per harvest. So I always use the whole fruits. All I can add, is that any wine from just juice is going to be shallower, but could still be a drinkable wine. Next time tho, don't juice your chokecherries. They do make an excellent red wine.
 
We just finished picking chokecherries, and are done for the year. We only picked 60 pounds, and had enough. We've also been picking blackberries and blueberries, and our garden is requiring a ton of picking as well- everything came ready at once this year!

We are going to make 20 gallons of chokecherry wine later this month. They are in the freezer right now!
 
Ooh! I'm hoping that we'll have ripe choke cherries in Rhody this weekend. Yoop -as always - you inspire me! Thanks!
 
How ripe should the berries be for this recipe? I caught them at the purple/black stage. I used 9# sugar for 5 gallons, so a little shy of the recipe, and ended up with a brix of 26... Also, I had to add about twice as much acid to get the ph around 3.6 and TA over 0.6. Maybe the berries just sweetened up a little more this year than usual?

On the plus side, it sure took on a nice shade of red with the extra acid!
 
How ripe should the berries be for this recipe? I caught them at the purple/black stage. I used 9# sugar for 5 gallons, so a little shy of the recipe, and ended up with a brix of 26... Also, I had to add about twice as much acid to get the ph around 3.6 and TA over 0.6. Maybe the berries just sweetened up a little more this year than usual?

On the plus side, it sure took on a nice shade of red with the extra acid!

I always check the SG first, so I'm sure they vary quite a bit from year to you.
 
It was about 23 right after I smooshed everything up so I thought it was ok, but the next morning when I added yeast it had jumped up to 26. I guess the berries had some serious sugar in them. Anyways, thanks for the recipe... I couldn't resist all the trees heavy with fruit this year!

Should I do anything to dilute it or just hope for the best? If nothing else I could always turn it into punch and invite the neighborhood over.
 
It was about 23 right after I smooshed everything up so I thought it was ok, but the next morning when I added yeast it had jumped up to 26. I guess the berries had some serious sugar in them. Anyways, thanks for the recipe... I couldn't resist all the trees heavy with fruit this year!

Should I do anything to dilute it or just hope for the best? If nothing else I could always turn it into punch and invite the neighborhood over.

It's high, but not THAT high. I'd consider diluting to 24 brix, to avoid any "hot" flavors, but certainly chokecherry is normally able to stand up to 16% ABV with some aging. I probably would leave "as is", and consider oaking when bulk aging.

I haven't started my chokecherry wine this year- but we have 65 pounds in the freezer. We pick them when black, or as black as possible. I picked up some "red grape concentrate" today at a winemaking store and am getting ready!
 
Cool... I'll leave it alone and see what happens. Thanks for your help, I'll probably be making your blackberry wine in a couple weeks!
 
Finished picking nicely ripe chokecherries and still getting them in freezer - not measured final pounds yet. Followed your, Yooper's, recipe back in 2010, with 30# of the berries. All good, but feeling it needs a bit more sweetening. Thinking this year, instead of the red grape concentrate, I'm going to try frozen bing cherries. Haven't figured on how much per 5-6 gallon batch yet . . .
 
Yooper said:
It's high, but not THAT high. I'd consider diluting to 24 brix, to avoid any "hot" flavors, but certainly chokecherry is normally able to stand up to 16% ABV with some aging. I probably would leave "as is", and consider oaking when bulk aging.

I haven't started my chokecherry wine this year- but we have 65 pounds in the freezer. We pick them when black, or as black as possible. I picked up some "red grape concentrate" today at a winemaking store and am getting ready!

The choke cherry tree I was hoping to get fruit from is almost dead now.... No wine for me... Perhaps a bit of whine...
 
It might respond to heavy pruning if you wait until it goes dormant this fall. Chokecherry trees are like weeds, if you lop them off at the ground they usually grow back. That might be a little drastic, though.
 
I just moved 5 gallons of this down to my basement to relax awhile. After a week and a half, it looks and smells fantastic!
 
Bob dug 63 pounds of chokecherries out of the freezer today, and will smash them up while I'm at work.

He asked me to try using more chokecherries per gallon, and less concentrate, so I'm going to use 4 pounds per gallon in the must. I think it might be fairly astringent for a long time, but we'll see how it comes out in the end!
 
I'm on a mission in 2014 to find and collect enough choke cherries to make wine.

Just come for a family visit here! I'll make sure have have plenty, and some finished wine to take home with you. :D

You should see my living room (the warmest room in the house!). I have right now, in carboys/fermenters:
6 gallons rhubarb wine
4 gallons apple cider
9 gallons plum wine
3 gallons dandelion
25 gallons of crabapple wine
3 gallons of oaked blackberry wine
1 gallon of blueberry wine
10 gallons of IPA (in primary)
and later today- 15 gallons of chokecherry!

I still have 60 pounds of apples (crushed) in the freezer and as soon as I get an open fermenter I have to get to work on that.

So I'm pretty sure I could spare a bottle or two if you and your family come visit! :D
 
Yooper said:
Just come for a family visit here! I'll make sure have have plenty, and some finished wine to take home with you. :D

You should see my living room (the warmest room in the house!). I have right now, in carboys/fermenters:
6 gallons rhubarb wine
4 gallons apple cider
9 gallons plum wine
3 gallons dandelion
25 gallons of crabapple wine
3 gallons of oaked blackberry wine
1 gallon of blueberry wine
10 gallons of IPA (in primary)
and later today- 15 gallons of chokecherry!

I still have 60 pounds of apples (crushed) in the freezer and as soon as I get an open fermenter I have to get to work on that.

So I'm pretty sure I could spare a bottle or two if you and your family come visit! :D

Now there's an offer! I will have to talk to BigJohn!
 
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