Maple Wine

[BlueberryHill]

I am attempting a Maple Wine. I have some limited experience brewing (2 beer batches, 2 hard cider batches, 1 pineapple wine batch) So far, so good.

But this Maple Wine I am starting to question myself and I am wondering if I should just proceed as I have been , or if anyone has any recommendations on how I can optimize this.

I am a small scale maple syrup producer. At the end of the season this year, I took my unfinished syrup that was still in my evaporator and I adjusted the last 5 gallons to 22 brix by adding a little bit of finished syrup from an earlier batch. Once it was at room temperature I added a champagne yeast packet. Yeast has been in my fridge for a year and this is where I think I might have had an issue??

It took about 24 hours before I saw any action. And once it started to ferment, it did not ferment as strongly as it had in anything else that I have made (see above). But I did not know what to expect. After 5 days of slow bubbling, I read up a little bit more and found that I should have been stirring daily (or so someone, somewhere posted). So for the next 3 days, I stirred once a day. But then I had to leave for vacation, so I transferred to secondary. It has been in secondary for almost 2 weeks now. The airlock is bubbling away at a decent rate. There is no foaming or anything.

Another thing is that there were nights where I might have gotten down aaround 60 degrees in here. Daytime max is probably 75 degrees so far. Don't know if that matters much, just trying to include all the info I can.

What, if any steps should I take next? My thoughts were to just want until it has been in the secondary for 60 days and then bottle it and let it age for a year in the bottles before I try it.

I know I am clueless here so I won't be offended by any criticisms, please fire away. I am here to learn. Thanks! This looks like a great forum.

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

Do you have a hydrometer? bubbles aren't really an indication on whether it's finished fermenting. If the hydrometer reading is around .99 it's finished the only thing left to do is let it age a bit. stabilize and bottle.

 

[BlueberryHill]

I have a hydrometer that reads out in brix for my maple syrup making. Guess I'll test it and see where I am at. What should I have for a brix reading when it is "Done"? 1 or less? Sorry for the noob questions.

I guess I was concerned that it got a slow start and maybe did not build up enough alcohol fast enough (fermented too slowly) and that it might cause some kind of issue.

I am hoping that this ends up as a decent finished product. I could have just cooked this all down to finished syrup and retailed it for about $150 bucks.

 

[jensmith]

If it is fermenting then the yeast was good. Lower temps will cause a slow ferment. Not a big deal. Some prefure a slow ferment. Did you add nutriants? If not that will cause a slow ferment, or a stalled ferment. Starting with boiled sap means you boiled off the air, the yeast needs some air to start. The stirring helped add some back in, as well as releasing stinky yeast farts.
A wine hydrometer is cheep and has the added benafit of being labled with abv % So no need for math to convert brix to abv
When "done" it should read .990 to .998. Closer to .990 the better, but that depends on yeast type and starting sg, ect. The sg should not change between readings to consider it done. Most take readings a few days apart. I err on the safe side and take readings a month apart. I am not a fan of bottle bombs

I have not made a maple wine, but have read several post from people who have. Reveiws of flavor are not good.... The maple flavor is in the suger. Once the yeast has eaten all that suger there is not much or any maple flavor left. Plan on backsweetning with more maple syrup if you want to bring back the maple flavor.


Sent from my iPod touch using Home Brew

 

[BlueberryHill]

Thanks for your reply Jen. That makes sense and I am glad to hear that the slow ferment is OK. Looks like I should be on track. I'll have to go pick up a hydro! On a forum dedicated to maple syrup, there were a bunch of members that had tried their own maple wine and the consensus there was that it needs to age for at least 1 year before it is good and that the maple flavor starts to come out at that point. Maybe I will backsweeten half of it and leave the other half unaltered so that I can see what ends up being the best. We have no shortage of maple syrup, so hopefully I can figure out a way to make some nice alcoholic beverages with it.

 

[JaimesBeam]

Maple Sap doesn't have as many nutrients as a grape wine. Use a mead yeast
Which is bred for a honey must closer to maple sap. Use some kind of nutrient
Like DAP or Fermaid. Also you should some kind of acid like lemon juice.

I've made several batches. Mostly aiming for a dry finish. Most of the sugar
Ferments, leaving just the carmelized remainder of the sugar from the
Evaporization process, which is the majority of the flavor. The drier it is the
More that subtle flavor will come out.

Good Luck, Jim

 

[BlueberryHill]

Thank you for your reply. Next year when I make another batch, I'll use the yeast that you recommended.

For this current batch, it is too late to add the nutrient and/or lemon juice? Or should I just leave this one as-is? It was in primary for a weekish and now it has been in secondary for about 3 weeks. S-type airlock is still bubbling every 10 seconds or so.

 

[Yooper]

Thank you for your reply. Next year when I make another batch, I'll use the yeast that you recommended.

For this current batch, it is too late to add the nutrient and/or lemon juice? Or should I just leave this one as-is? It was in primary for a weekish and now it has been in secondary for about 3 weeks. S-type airlock is still bubbling every 10 seconds or so.

It sounds fine, but I have no idea where the fermentation is. If you take a hydrometer reading, then you'd be able to see if anything needs to be done.

 

[BlueberryHill]

Thanks yooper, I just did a test. It is at 1.03, I started at 1.09. Based on that, I understand that it still has some fermenting to go. But I don't know what action to take, or what reading to wait for before I do take any action. For now I just plan to leave it going as is and try to spend some time doing more reading soon to determine my next move. Open to any opinions or suggestions!! Just hoping to get the best finished product possible.

As you would expect this still tastes pretty sweet. Also still has a good, distinct mapel syrup flavor. No mistaking that. No off flavors or smell at all as far as I can tell.

Other than when to rack and or bottle, I am also still interested in any other opinions on whether or not to add any nutrient and/or lemon juice at this time or if I am just better off letting it ride.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks yooper, I just did a test. It is at 1.03, I started at 1.09. Based on that, I understand that it still has some fermenting to go. But I don't know what action to take, or what reading to wait for before I do take any action. For now I just plan to leave it going as is and try to spend some time doing more reading soon to determine my next move. Open to any opinions or suggestions!! Just hoping to get the best finished product possible.

As you would expect this still tastes pretty sweet. Also still has a good, distinct mapel syrup flavor. No mistaking that. No off flavors or smell at all as far as I can tell.

Other than when to rack and or bottle, I am also still interested in any other opinions on whether or not to add any nutrient and/or lemon juice at this time or if I am just better off letting it ride.

No lemon juice! That will lower the pH, and make the yeast struggle more. You need some yeast nutrient. Dissolve that in a little water, and then stir it into the wine. Start slowly, as you will get a volcano! Stir the wine quite a bit first, to degas it, then add the nutrient solution, stirring well. That should help a lot, getting the c02 out (c02 is poisonous to yeast) and getting some oxygen and nutrients in.

 

[BlueberryHill]

OK, I stirred, added the yeast nutrient, stirred again, had a little bit of a volcano (I added slowly, but obviously not slowly enough, haha) and now the airlock is back on. Fermentation has really kicked back in!

I think that my plan now it to wait a couple of months and once it is nice and clear, bottle it and let it bottle condition for 9 months or so. Sound like a good plan?

One other thing... as I have been reading up on other threads, I see discussions about head space. The image below is not mine, I just found the pic online. But it is filled to the same level as mine. Do I need to worry about this? Do I need t top it off, or just leave it?

 

[Yooper]

OK, I stirred, added the yeast nutrient, stirred again, had a little bit of a volcano (I added slowly, but obviously not slowly enough, haha) and now the airlock is back on. Fermentation has really kicked back in!

I think that my plan now it to wait a couple of months and once it is nice and clear, bottle it and let it bottle condition for 9 months or so. Sound like a good plan?

One other thing... as I have been reading up on other threads, I see discussions about head space. The image below is not mine, I just found the pic online. But it is filled to the same level as mine. Do I need to worry about this? Do I need t top it off, or just leave it?

You are going to want to make sure to rack whenever you get lees 1/4" thick, and once fermentation slows/ends, you want NO headspace at all in your carboy. For now, you do want a little headspace (remember the volcano?), but once the wine gets to 1.010 or less, you want to minimize air contact. At 1.010, you should rack to a new vessel without disturbing the sediment (leave it behind), and make sure it's topped up.

After that, you want to rack whenever you have ANY lees at all after 60 days in a new carboy.

It must be topped off, or racked to a smaller vessel when you have headspace after the initial fermentation period. I usually make larger sized batches to account for topping up. You can use a similar wine to top up, or a commercial white wine, but it's best to use no water unless it's written into the recipe (some of mine are).

 

[jensmith]

Personaly I would not rack untill the sg is below 1.000, to all done. .994 or less. Especially as you have already airlocked it. More of the solids will have settled down by then and I just like to let the yeast finnish befor racking that first time. Not all the yeast will have settled to the bottom, but a fair amount will have.
Winemaking is great in that there are many ways to do it 'right'!


Sent from my iPod touch using Home Brew

 

[JaimesBeam]

Someone said that lemon juice would make it harder for the yeast.

I disagree. That lemon juice does add some acidity; which I believe
Both the yeast and you will like it.

When I make a maple wine/mead I start close to 1.1 SG (24 Brix), and
I want to get it down to 1.00 SG if not below 1.00. I like it dry.

I'd go ahead and add the lemon juice.

Jim

 

[BlueberryHill]

It's been about a week since I added the yeast nutrient, so I tested the gravity again and came up with 1.02 now. Still tastes sweet (and pretty good). I was hoping that it would be lower by now. I had a ton of space in there since testing gravity takes so dang much out. So I added a bottle of cheap white wine to it to top it up. Don't know how long I should wait to test again. Also not sure if I should add more nutrient, or just let it ride. I don't care how long it takes for this stuff to finish. More concerned with getting the best quality finished product I can at this point.

 

[jensmith]

No need to keep it topped up if its still fermentin.
Do you have any yeast energizer? I use it along with nutriants for wines that are far removed from grapes. Its kinda like a super vitamin or a power bar.
Yes, if it has stalled out at 1.020 then add another teaspoon nutrians or better yet 1/2 tsp yeast energizer. Give it a good stirr as well. Remember you will probely get a volcano effect when adding dry stuff at this point. Mix the pwders with some wine first, then add. Slowly just in case it still explodes on you!
If your wine sample tube and hydrometer have been sanatised you can add you sample back to the wine. Unless you just like to drink it


Sent from my iPod touch using Home Brew

 

[BlueberryHill]

I tested it a few days ago and it was at 1.00 or even slightly under. So I racked it. That was Saturday. Now it is Monday and there appears to be no airlock activity at all. I'm worried that there is oxygen in there with no CO2 generation to drive it out. I need to get to the store to buy some cheap white wine to top it up I think. There is probably room in there for a full bottle of wine before I am up to the neck. I hope I have not screwed anything up!

Also, the last few days it has been getting up around 75 degrees during the afternoons in the room where I have all my fermenting/aging wines. How much of a problem is that? Can I keep them there at that temp? Have I already screwed them up? I need to get my AC installed I suppose. I could put them in my basement, but it is a musty nasty old dug out basement with granite slab walls. It's cooler down there but I hesitate to store anything down there for fear of mold/mildew.

The good news is that in the last week it has started to clear up pretty good. It's been a couple months since I started this and I want to age it for a year before we start to drink it. But I am not sure how many months it should be in carboys and how many times to rack it before I bottle. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Paps]

Some people use sanitized glass marbles (the kind kids play with)
to take up extra space in carboys. Just boil the marbles for a bit to clean them.This will eliminate extra headspace.
I personally will let ferm temps go to 70-f or higher at the very tail end of fermentation to help the yeast keep chugging along and clean up any undesirable chemicals they may or may not have produced during fermentation. So no worries there for you, it should be fine.
Rack it until it's clear, then bottle/pastuerise.
Try a product called K.C.-SUPER KLEER
its keiseol/chitosan (spelling) and works wonders for clearing.
You can let things sit on yeast for months but try not to go beyond 4 months. If sediment (yeast cake) builds to over 1/4 inch tall, rack it off the cake/lees/whatevernameyouwanttocallit.
Hope this helps.

 

[bernardsmith]

If the gravity is at 1.000 or even a hair below that there is still sugar that the yeast will be eating and so they will still be producing CO2. Just like your car or truck - you scratch the paint off and eventually it will rust but rusting is not a process that for all intents and purposes happens overnight. While I would certainly not leave wines in carboys with significant amounts of headroom for any significant length of time I don't know that you need to lose any sleep over oxidation taking place in the next few days that you will be able to detect by taste or color. What you might do is dissolve an appropriate number of campden tabs in water (one per gallon) and add them to the wine. You might add them each time you rack - the free SO2 they produce inhibits oxidation.

 

[jensmith]

Or rack into a smaller carboy. A three galleon and a one galleon. Plus whatever odd size is needed the the last bit. This way the bulk of it is topped up and pure. Just a small amount left with headspace.
I also have left carboys with headspace with no ill effect. You should be fine for a month or so, especially as its still finishing up the last tiny bit. No bubbles in the airlock is fine. They are just very far between and hard to catch. May be micro bubbles too. Temp is fine.
Now you just have to hurry up and wait!!


Sent from my iPod touch using Home Brew