Two new experimental batches of "mystery wine"... Critics?

Hi guys and gals,


Just pitched some Montrachet on top of two brainstorms I had recently.

First up is a one gallon jug of (roughly) 1/3 organic White Grape Juice, 1/3 organic (concord???) Grape and 1/3 organic unpasteurized Apple juice with just a very slight splash of pure Pomegranate juice. I also added just under 12 oz. of raw Blue Agave Nectar and a trivial amount of Dextrose (in an effort to jumpstart fermentation... thoughts???)


Second is a less adventurous 5 gal. batch of Apfelwine with a 10. fl oz. addition of pure pomegranate juice and 3 pounds of honey (one pound Acacia Blossom and 2 lbs. Clover). Roughly 1/3 unpasteurized Apple and 2/3 White House... I reduced the original famous forum recipe for 2 lbs. of Dextrose to 1.75 to compensate for the 3 lbs of honey. I'm hoping the SG is close enough that the ABV is about the same as the normal forum recipe.


Just plugged the airlocks in and am hoping to see fizzies tomorrow morning.


Any thoughts?

Am I getting too trailer park with the mixtures or is it "edgy"?


I guess I'll find out come summer.




Best wishes,


Scary

I don't think people in trailer parks know what pomegranate is so I think your fine there...

I'm interested on knowing the outcome. Are you aging it like wine or apfelwein?

What I had done in the past is simply age in primary for 4 months and then take a sample... If it plays, it goes to bottle and then conditions (some with carbonation, some without) for another month or so.

I'm toying with the idea of racking to secondary, but honestly,I've never seen a need.

To answer your question, these recipes were inspired by Apfelwine, more specifically, Edwort's.

Myself, my brew buddy (cvstrat on this forum), my brother and my sister have all 4 had great results with the Edwort's recipe and I decided to go out in left field with this batch to see if I could create something a little more "winey".


From a winemaking standpoint, is there anything (speaking in adjuncts) that you guys recommend? All of my experience is in beer save a couple batches of AW.

I wouldn't at all mind steering this more in a wine direction, I just don't really know what I'm doing.


Thanks for the reply,


Scary

Thanks for the advice Emerald.

When you added your acid blend was that DURING fermentation?

ScarySouthernMan said:

Thanks for the advice Emerald.

When you added your acid blend was that DURING fermentation?

Click to expand...

I made one wine with the acid blend put in at the first and it was toooooo TART! ACK! So now I have been waiting until it starts clearing up and then tasting and adding acid blend in if it needs it... I think that adding pure concentrate to the wines really boosts the acid compared to just bottled juice... I wish I was better at this but I have only been making the juice/concentrate wines since last September! (So many are still at the stage of "clear, but needs to age out a bit") But I am hoping that by putting my mistakes up here, you and others might not have to make them. But some of the wines that I have made and are still young are tasting as good as, if not better than the white wines that I have been buying.. not that I am a snob or anything, or that I buy really good wines, cuz I just can't afford them at the moment, but the fact that something made from scratch at home coming out close to what I pay for is kinda cool, and fun. Even the hubby likes them. Plus it helps on the way to making all the fresh fruits and berries that we grow here in Michigan into a great wine and or mead! Whoo hooo!

It's been one week almost to the minute and both vessels are still bubbling away, the 5g batch of (what I'm now calling) ExorCyser was smelling quite pungent at first but even in just a week it has "exorcised" whatever awful notes were coming out of the main bulk of fermentation and mellowed out to be quite sweet smelling with just a hint of honey odor to it as well.

As obvious of a statement as this may be, the little one gallon guy is thinning and smelling exactly like red grape wine. I wasn't expecting that at all given the Blue Agave sugar base.


I'm excited to see what happens next. Things have started slowing down and I think they'll be at the point of secondary in another week or so. So therein lies the question, to rack or not to rack?

If I rack to secondary, is there enough yeast still in suspension to continue finishing out the process or should I expect it to be done (ergo insignificant)?


Thoughts or comments???

Thanks again,

Scary

I just finished up a welches wine that went really fast. I did rack that onto a clean bottle once the fermentation hit bottom. I backsweetend and let it set for another week before moving along to smaller bottles. I don't always rack to secondary's. I mostly decide depending upon taste and looks. Plus I've been trying to remember to measure with the hydrometer, too.

It's been two weeks and both batches are still bubbling right along. There must be an absurd amount of sugar. Although they have slowed considerably, they are still fizzing away.

Haha. What have I done? They are gonna be so alcoholic that no one's gonna want anything to do with them... or WILL they? LOL.


They have both simmered to a quite pleasant smell. I started another standard Edwort's recipe in a 15 gallon fermenter and that thing is raging. It almost evaporated the airlock in two days.


It's time to start thinking about secondary here in the next day or so. I'm gonna need to make a decision.

Thanks for you guys' and gals' input. I appreciate it.


- Scary

Ok,

I just tasted these suckers for the first time.


The cyser is about what I expected. Kinda like applewine and subtle meadiness.


The wierd Agave/grape/apple deal is quite bizarre. It finished out very dry, which is ok by me, but I think critics would say that it needs some back sweetening or acid maybe. I'm not sure I know enough about wine to identify all of the adjectives to describe what I just tasted but it's definately curious.

When is a good time to back sweeten/ add acid?