Chokecherry wine (and others)

[Yooper]

We just pressed the chokecherries yesterday, and moved the wine to secondary. It's so pretty that Bob took a picture:


Where we started:

 

[Yooper]

We seem to have beer and wine in many places right now. We had a great fruit harvest this year, and I still have 135 pounds of crushed apples in the freezer to deal with this weekend.

Here are a few photos of places in our house:

corner of the living room:


behind a big stuffed chair:


in the office:


Next to the kegerator- wine in the kegs:


Kegerator with three beers on tap:

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Cool pics Yooper gives me some ideas on where to set up some more carboys. Closet, kitchen and laundry room are full.

 

[Yooper]

Cool pics Yooper gives me some ideas on where to set up some more carboys. Closet, kitchen and laundry room are full.

Well, my living room is pretty full, but there are three carboys behind that chair, and no one can see them.

I have more in other places, like the brewery/laundry room but it's a good thing we don't use our living room I guess!

 

[WVMJ]

Your pics are rigged Yopper, there are no stains on your floors, I dont see any red splats on the cabinets or even on the ceiling. You guys crushed them outside, changed clothes and then brought them inside to take a picture! WVMJ

 

[Yooper]

Your pics are rigged Yopper, there are no stains on your floors, I dont see any red splats on the cabinets or even on the ceiling. You guys crushed them outside, changed clothes and then brought them inside to take a picture! WVMJ

HA! There are some faint purple marks on my nice white walls, trust me, as well as faint purple stains on the side of that couch. The hardwood floors have held up well, but if you look at the picture of the keg of wine, there are some faint purple stains there as well. That darn picnic tap drips, I guess.

We do press in the basement, though, and I have some small purple splatters on my clothes from yesterday since the little chokecherries seemed to spray a bit out the sides during pressing!

I joke that while Bob loves white walls and ceilings, we should go with purple for the walls (wine color) and beige for the ceiling (beer color).

I think only home vintners and brewers mop their walls and ceilings.

 

[jensmith]

Thanks for showing all your goodies!! It proved to my family I really am not as nuts as they think. I only have two rooms with carboys, ok, three rooms if you count keeping the shower full of fermentors! And one fermenting jug on the kitchen table.... Only one freezer has more fruit then food.
My mother is drooling over your chockcherry wine. Purple splattered walls are well worth it! Enjoy a glass for her when it gets done!

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Pure awesomeness Yooper!
Regards, GF.

 

[jmichael888]

wow that is impressive!

 

[Farside]

This is my second year making chokecherry wine. This year I decided to make port with it because it just screams port to me.

I boiled the berries down, removed the stones, and fermented on the skins for a month using a port yeast. When it was done, I strained off the wine and added sugar. But I miscalculated and added too much sugar and now the wine is stuck.

I didn't want to dilute the flavors so I was slowly adding water, hoping the yeast would self select and finally get going but not too much luck with that.

So now I doubled the volume to 5 gallons by adding water and away it went. My plan it so ferment this out, let it age, and next winter I'll freeze concentrate out the water until I have a port.

 

[Farside]

This season I picked 20lbs of berries and froze them. I'll be making 5 gallons of wine with them, but first I will thaw and gently simmer them before directly fermenting them.

Last season's wine is still in the fermenter. It tastes great and the port yeast I used has really imparted a port character. Can't wait to freeze concentrate and put it on oak.

 

[NGD]

@Yooper I realize this thread was raised from the dead, but how great does your living room smell with multiple fermentations going on?