Tomato Wine

[timothyap]

Hi, made 5 gal tomato wine and have some questions.
this is the recipe x 5.

3 1/2 quarts of water
2 lbs of sugar
4 lbs of ripe tomatoes
2 tsp acid blend
1/8 tsp tannin (used some really strong black tea)
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 campden tablet
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1 packet Champagne or Montrachet yeast (not x 5 of course)

The must was really acidic so added 5, 1/2tsp calcium carbonate at fermenting, with PH strips showed 3.2, the next day PH was 3.6.

So as of the 7th day today at racking SG .999 it taste fairly good but very dry with a really strong acidic taste, stronger than it ever was, but the PH shows 4.0, how can this be?

What Should I do?

Should I just adjust PH to my taste with calcium carbonate and then sweeten later, not sure...

This acid and PH adjusting stuff confuses me.

Thanks for some help boys and girls.
Tim

 

[WTD]

in new, real new and could be wrong but i found strips useless and bought a digital PH tester.

from what ive read also is the relationship to PH and acid TA is not linear. the acid can be high or low for a single PH number depending on many variables such as fruit and temp. so while blueberries with a PH of 3.3 could be slightly acidic the tomatos could have way more acid for the same PH.

I plan to buy a TA kit when i can afford it to test acid content over PH but will check both

 

[jgmillr1]

You should measure the TA and let that (along with your tastes) guide your next steps. Only microbes and chemical processes care about the pH. Your taste buds care about TA. The pH strips are not very reliable.

An unfortunate corner of the process window is the high pH and high TA corner where you are left with only back sweetening as an option if you don't want to live with an acidic wine. Hope your wine isn't there.

 

[S-Met]

I'm asking for my educational purposes only, but tomatoes are acidic, why would you add an acid blend, then go back and balance with calcium carbonate?

 

[timothyap]

I'm asking for my educational purposes only, but tomatoes are acidic, why would you add an acid blend, then go back and balance with calcium carbonate?

I'm not sure why it called for it, I put it in because thats what the recipe called for.. go figure,, This confuses me..

Anyway, does anyone recommend test kits for test all these acids???

Thanks

 

[timothyap]

in new, real new and could be wrong but i found strips useless and bought a digital PH tester.

from what ive read also is the relationship to PH and acid TA is not linear. the acid can be high or low for a single PH number depending on many variables such as fruit and temp. so while blueberries with a PH of 3.3 could be slightly acidic the tomatos could have way more acid for the same PH.

I plan to buy a TA kit when i can afford it to test acid content over PH but will check both

Been looking for kits also, but not sure what to get, seen some for $10 and others for $100, maybe its the amount of chemicals in the kit..hope you find what your looking for and it works, nothing worse than getting something in the mail and its not even close to what you thought..

 

[beerlover77]

Not sure if there is still a lot of Co2 in the new wine, but if there is any, this will skew any PH reading. Ive read in winemaking, never to use the strips as they are inaccurate but always use a good meter.

 

[Virgin Tippler]

Hello everyone, I have been toying with the idea of wine making using tomatoes. Totally new to the whole thing. Any tips to a complete novice? Something that I should look out for or avoid, greatly appreciated. Also I have 6 different varieties to choose from, is there a particular type that works best, beefsteak, plum, cherry or yellow etc.

 

[Yooper]

Here's my recipe and some notes on how I did it and the results: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/tomato-wine.52828/

I've leave out the acid blend if you don't have ultra-sweet tomatoes, but otherwise it's good as is.

As far as the mix of tomatoes, I only used very ripe big boy type of tomatoes, with maybe a few other garden ones mixed in. The wine came out golden colored in the end.

 

[Virgin Tippler]

I have a similar type to big boy , brandywine, just realised the clue might be in the name. lol

 

[WittyMoniker]

I’m going to try a tomato wine because our garden has produced SO MANY tomatoes, so why not?

Should I get an additional primary fermentor for this venture? I haven’t made homemade wines aside from grape, but I currently have separate (plastic) primary fermenters for beer and wine to avoid transferring any flavors, etc. I’m not sure what may linger behind after primary fermentation. What have you guys experienced?

 

[Yooper]

I’m going to try a tomato wine because our garden has produced SO MANY tomatoes, so why not?

Should I get an additional primary fermentor for this venture? I haven’t made homemade wines aside from grape, but I currently have separate (plastic) primary fermenters for beer and wine to avoid transferring any flavors, etc. I’m not sure what may linger behind after primary fermentation. What have you guys experienced?

I use my fermenters interchangeably, including the plastic ones. I've done that for at least 15 years with no issues.