Dandelion Wine Help

[duderay]

So I started my second ever batch of dandelion wine back in the spring. I got a little busy with life and it has been in my carboy ever since. I guess I'm just looking at what I should do next. Think it's time to bottle? Below are my notes/recipe. Not sure how my Specific gravity lowered after topping off carboy after racking, i am assuming user error. But I am
Certain on the reading after topping off.


2016 Dandelion Wine Recipe

3 quarts dandelion petal (attempted to remove all green parts)
3 gallons mineral water (non-chlorinated)
6 oranges
3 lemons
13 lbs sugar

1 packet Lalvin EC-1118
Cane Sugar
Yeast nutrient
Yeast Energizer

Starting Specific Gravity: 1.1530969 6-3-16

Peel petals from flower, then boil in pot for 30 minutes. Add the lemon and orange skins, no pith (white stuff). Then squeeze/juice the lemons and oranges into the pot and stir. Let chill for a few hours then pour into bucket or crock (if you actually have one of these stupid things). Leave for 3-4 days at room temperature, stirring twice daily.

5-25-16 added 3 crushed Campden tablets
Needs 24 hours with open lid ( topped with cheese clothe) I had to leave for 3 days because I was out of town.

6-3-16 added all of the sugar and then pitched yeast.

9-23-16 racked wine
Specific Gravity 1.072 before top up
After topping up carboy with water 1.053

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi duderay, I gotta say I am a little confused about the gravity readings. Was your first - the starting gravity 1.153 (and then some figures to the 7th decimal place? ).. but assuming that it was 1.153, then we are talking about a potential ABV of 20%. This is for a wine? That is a lot of sugar and a thick syrup that you are asking the yeast to transport through their cell walls.

Three months later (almost four months) and the gravity is about 1.072 - so it has fermented about half the sugar and is now a wine with about 11% ABV but is sweet enough to remove the enamel from your teeth (a gravity of 1.053 means that there is about 1.25 lbs of unfermented sugar in each gallon.. That is a recipe for diabetes, isn't it?
Bottom line: Not so sure that this is for bottling at the moment. I think you may want to blend this with another batch of dandelion wine that has zero sugar but about the same amount of flowers. That would make a wine with about 10% ABV... which is, I think what you want when you are drinking dandelion wine..

 

[duderay]

Thanks for the feedback. I believe the original specific gravity was 1.153.

 

[duderay]

Bump

 

[bernardsmith]

How does the wine taste? Is the gravity today closer to 1.000 or lower? I would not imagine that dandelion wine can support that high a potential ABV - the flavor is not perhaps strong enough to balance that amount of alcohol?

 

[duderay]

I honestly do not remember if I tasted it now, sorry I got a little busy with other stuff. If I were to blend it what would be a good wine to not take away from the dandelion?