5 gallon french vanilla coffee wine

bandits567 · Sep 12, 2012

Well this is my first post and I thought I'd share what I'm brewing. I started a 5 gallon batch of French vanilla coffee wine tonight.

I used the following

4 225g packages of sensation French vanilla ground coffee

4 kg of dark brown sugar

6 tbs real vanilla

30 gallons water

I boiled the previous ingredients and placed them in my primary.

I checked my SG and I was sitting at 1.045. Not quite as high as I liked so I added unpasteurized clover honey. 3 cups.

I started my yeast with lavlinEC-1118
Coffee must
4 tbs of yeast nutrient
6 tbs lime juice

I just checked my SG and I'm now sitting at 1.053

I'm at 95 degrees currently so I am going to wait until I get to 75-80 before I add my yeast.

I am relatively new to making wine so if there are any glaring errors or omissions I would certainly welcome any advice.

Clayton

Unferth · Sep 13, 2012

Welcome to the forums. This looks cool, better than anything at starbucks. You might think of backsweetening with lactose sugar. Just a thought. I think it's Unfermentable too so you won't have to stabalize first.

Best of luck.

bandits567 · Sep 13, 2012

By a lactose sugar are we talking Splenda or can I use more clover honey?

RoughandReadyRanch · Sep 13, 2012

bandits567 said:
Well this is my first post and I thought I'd share what I'm brewing. I started a 5 gallon batch of French vanilla coffee wine tonight.

I used the following

4 225g packages of sensation French vanilla ground coffee

4 kg of dark brown sugar

6 tbs real vanilla

30 gallons water

I boiled the previous ingredients and placed them in my primary.

I checked my SG and I was sitting at 1.045. Not quite as high as I liked so I added unpasteurized clover honey. 3 cups.

I started my yeast with lavlinEC-1118
Coffee must
4 tbs of yeast nutrient
6 tbs lime juice

I just checked my SG and I'm now sitting at 1.053

I'm at 95 degrees currently so I am going to wait until I get to 75-80 before I add my yeast.

I am relatively new to making wine so if there are any glaring errors or omissions I would certainly welcome any advice.

Clayton

How long did it take to boil down that "30 gallons"?

5.5 gallons took me forever today so I can only imagine:cross:

bandits567 · Sep 13, 2012

I put a good 4 hrs into it. I let it boil a little to try and extract as much flavor as I could. And I'm leaving the grounds in until tomorrow.

bandits567 · Sep 13, 2012

O SNAP!!!!!! I meant 30 L not gallons. My bad

Lumpy16 · Sep 13, 2012

Lactose is an unfermentable sugar you would get at the homebrew shop. I have read some things that say splenda would work too but I have never used it. The honey would not work for this because it would kick up and start fermenting again when you added it.

Unferth · Sep 13, 2012

Lumpy16 said:
Lactose is an unfermentable sugar you would get at the homebrew shop. I have read some things that say splenda would work too but I have never used it. The honey would not work for this because it would kick up and start fermenting again when you added it.

Right. I was thinking lactose sugar b/c it gives a creamy mouthfeel and it comes from milk. This would seem to pair well with a coffee wine. If you'd prefer to use honey it's no biggie, just make sure you stabalize the wine first. Last I remember lactose sugar would be cheaper too.

RoughandReadyRanch · Sep 13, 2012

bandits567 said:
O SNAP!!!!!! I meant 30 L not gallons. My bad

I was gonna say holy $h!t*$ when you came back with letting it boil but 30L makes a bit more sense. Still 4 hours? Crazy talk man. Bet it smelled amazing.

brazedowl · Sep 13, 2012

And subscribed

johns · Sep 13, 2012

The 1118 is really powerful stuff also. I would age this one out for at least a year if everything goes right. If you want something more drinkable sooner, may I recommend a 71-b. This yeast has never let me down and also ages well in the long term.

bandits567 · Sep 14, 2012

johns said:
The 1118 is really powerful stuff also. I would age this one out for at least a year if everything goes right. If you want something more drinkable sooner, may I recommend a 71-b. This yeast has never let me down and also ages well in the long term.

Thanks for the info on the 1118. I will keep this in mind when I'm testing the wine. It probably will save me a few grey hairs and a lot of frustration.

bandits567 · Sep 14, 2012

I have some great action starting on this batch of wine. I'd say there is 1/2 inch of foam/fermentation on top of my primary. I gave it a slow stir tonight. I'm considering in racking it into a secondary tomorrow to remove the coffee grounds. Any thoughts?

johns · Sep 14, 2012

I d wait untill there your hydrometer is has stabilized. Do this by checking one or twice a day for a couple of days. Otherwise you run the risk of off flavors and making bottle bombs. Once in the secondary rack again into a carboy for long term storage.

bandits567 · Sep 15, 2012

So I did a SG test this morning and I'm sitting at 1.04. Which is a great thing. I started at 1.053. Woot woot. Still tasted sweet, but definite alcohol starting.

bandits567 · Sep 15, 2012

I have a question for the more experienced wine makers. Will my product ferment faster in a plastic fermentation bucket, or the glass carboy? I ask because I have two crab apple wines fermenting in glass carboys. ( they have great movement in the airlock) , but seems that the SG is taking longer to drop. Just curious if it's the fruit or fermentation process. Thanks for any thoughts or advice.

brazedowl · Sep 16, 2012

The rate of fermentation would be the same in either. The yeast are unaware and uncaring of their container. The carboy is preferable because it limits the surface area of the wine where oxygen can easily diffuse.

bandits567 · Sep 19, 2012

So it's been a week since I started this project. Tonight I checked the SG and im in the neighborhood of 1.008 so I thought what a great time to put into the carboy. So I racked it and I'm not really happy with the smell. I find it smells sour and not like a home brewed coffee as I expected. I whipped it for 3 minutes hoping to get rid of the sour smell. Time will tell I guess.

BeginnerBill · Jun 9, 2013

It's been about a year since this thread has been updated. I was wondering how your coffee wine turned out.

5 gallon french vanilla coffee wine

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