first time posting and first time making wine

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enyaw-1

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I've juiced 8 #s of chokecherries and have collected 8 1/2 quarts of juice cocentrate. The juice kinda stopped running so I quit juuicing. Does this amount seem right for 8 1/2 lbs of berries? I'm using a recipe from the " winemakers " recipe handbook which called for 8 lbs of berries and 7 pints of water. Do those liquid amounts seen about right? Recipe calls for 2 3/4 lbs sugar,peptic enzyme,energizer,campden and a package of yeast however the package of active dry wine yeast says it contains enough yeast to make up to 5 gallons of wine. How much of the package of yeast do I use or do I use the whole package?Any info or pointers anyone can give me would be very, very greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. -------- a first time wine brewer, enyaw
 
Welcome to HBT! :mug:
I don't know a whole lot about wine making but I thought I'd welcome you and bump this thread. There are some great wine makers here who I'm sure can answer your questions.
 
Chokecherry wine is up next for me- but I haven't made it yet so I can't tell you about the juicing. I froze them and will use them when they thaw in a large mesh bag. I don't juice the fruit first, particularly those with seeds/pits. So I can't tell you about that, sorry.

As far as yeast, yes, use the whole package. It does have enough to make up to 5 gallons of wine, so for up to 5 gallons you use the whole package. Sounds like you have a great start. Let us know how this turns out for you- chokecherry wine is one of my favorites!
 
Sounds about right on the juice extraction! But, how big of a batch are you making? 2.5 gallons of juice is a bit high for a 3 gallon batch and such a low amount of sugar. I use 13 lbs of Chokecherries and 11 lbs of sugar for a 5 gallon batch.

Best idea is to follow the receipe exactly. Also a good idea is to take a look at winemaking.jackkeller.net as you will find lots of useful info and can compare the receipes to give you an idea how much different your receipe is. Use the entire packet of yeast.

Best of luck and let us know how it is progressing.
 
I have the must going and checked the SG 5 hours after adding the yeast ( didn't know I should have checked b 4 adding the yeast ). The SG was 1.080 so I added sugar and brought it up to 1.100. A tad high but didn't know what to do about it. I now have put 6.78# sugar into 2 gallons of must. Hope I'm on the right track!!!!! Should I put the air lock on the fermertor pail or not? I thorough appreciate your responses. Thanks again enyaw
 
wow- that's alot of sugar for a small batch. What was the recipe? The recipe I'll be using is this one:

WILD CHOKECHERRY WINE
2-1/2 lbs fresh wild chokecherries
2-1/2 lbs finely granulated sugar
1 tsp acid blend
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1/4 tsp grape tannin
7 pints water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 crushed Campden tablet
Champagne or Sauterne wine yeast
Pick only ripe berries. Destem and destone berries, put in blender with one cup of the water and chop. Pour into nylon straining bag, tie and put in primary with half the sugar and the remianing water, acid blend, tannin and crushed Campden tablet. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover primary and let stand 12 hours. Add pectic enzyme and let stand another 12 hours. Add yeast, stir and cover again. Gently squeeze bag twice daily to extract juice. After seven days, drain bag and squeeze well to extract as much juice as you can. Add remaining sugar and stir well to dissolve, then pour into secondary and fit airlock. Use dark fermenter or wrap brown paper around secondary to preserve color. Ferment 30 days, rack, rack again in two months and again after additional two months. If you are going to sweeten, add stabilizer, wait 10 days, then add no more than 1/4 cup sugar dissolved in 1/8 cup water. Bottle in dark glass or store in dark place. May taste in six months, but best aged a year. [Adapted from Dorothy Alatorre's Home Wines of North America]

I always just lightly cover my primary with a dish towel to keep bugs out. I airlock in the secondary.
 
I have an airlock on the primary fermenter whichh is bubbling. My recipe says to stir daily.Is that necessary? If I do stir, there will be more chance of contamination which could stop the fermentation process or does the primary pail need more oxygen to work well.I've read pro's and con's concerning this. What are your experiences ? Thanks, enyaw
 
Just make sure anything that touches the must is sterile. In the primary the yeast is replicating and growing. It uses O2 to do this so yes O2 is good during primary. As the yeast multiplies some falls to the bottom and is covered by some of the dying yeast cells. The stiring does allow the yeast to remain suspended better.

I stir my batches once a day for at least the first 7 days.
 
Hi all, just a progress report on what i've done so far to see if you may have any more helpful hints. In the primary, the sg dropped from 1.110 on day one to 1.030 on day 6. I siphoned the the wine ( about 2 gallons ) into the 6 gallon secondary and installed the airlock. On day 13, the sg measured 1.000 so I assumed fermentation was complete even though the airlock was still bubbling. I siphoned it into a second carboy and added 3 cups of sugar dissolved in 2 cups of water for a better taste. I also added another campden tablet and about 1/4 teaspoon acid blend. The sg measured 1.030 and the taste was pretty good so I put the airlock on. The airlock still is bubbling. Should it be? I think it's a waiting game now. 2 gallons of wine in a 6 gallon carboy leaves alot of room for oxygen. Is this bad? Some articles I've read say that the carboys or storage containers should be very full ( no space for oxygen ). I'd love some advise. Thank you all so much for your help. This is really an enjoyable hobby, if of course the end product turns out well. Thanks again. The greenhorn brewer !!!!! enyaw
 
Yes this could be bad! You do not want much headspace because of oxy. issues. Try to get it in something smaller. Even spliting into 2 one gallon carboys would be better. I picked up 4 1 gallon jugs at the LHBS for around $10.00. Keep us informed.
 
At 1.000, it was not done. When you added more sugar, you also are increasing the alcohol. You will have rocket fuel if you're not careful. At 1.100, you would be about 13% alcohol and then then another 3 cups of sugar will boost that even more as well as continue fermentation.

At this point, it would be best to put it into 2 one gallon carboys to decrease the head space, or a one 3 gallon carboy with sanitized marbles to decrease the headspace. You have way too much headspace and are headed for oxidized rocket fuel.

So, I'd siphon it into new (different) sanitized gallon containers and let it sit under airlock for about a month, or until the sg is under .996. Then rack every 45 days or so as long as you have lees (sediment) in the bottom. Don't add more sugar until you have stabilized and the fermentation is completely over.

I suggest reading alot to keep you occupied while you're waiting! This is an awesome place to start: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/basics.asp

And, feel free anytime to post questions, especially about stabilization and finishing fermentation. We'll try to help!
 
I'm going to start some beet wine. The recipe says to skin the raw beets. How is this done without losing alot of juice from the bleeding of the raw beets?
 
enyaw-1 said:
I'm going to start some beet wine. The recipe says to skin the raw beets. How is this done without losing alot of juice from the bleeding of the raw beets?

As you peel them just chop and place in a bowl immediately then rinse the bowl with water your adding to the carboy. You can also get them almost to the frozen stage and the juices won't come off as quickly.
 
To get a good solid full gallon of finished wine I throw about 6-8 lbs of stemmed&pitted frozen bings into a 2 gallon pail.
Then I boil up about 6 pints of water, dissolve a 4 lb bag of sugar into it while on the heat.
Dump over frozen cherries.
Stir it up, add enzyme, nutrient, kmeta.
Pitch about 8 hours later.

Run it about 4-5 days in primary and splash rack into a glass 1 gallon.

Mix up the remainder of the bucket and dump it into a 5 gallonbatch of skeeter pee as a starter.
Rack the pee about 2 days in.
 
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