Wild chokecherry wine

[Pick-Axe]

I am new to making wine. I have brewed beer for a few years. I have 2 gallons of chokecherry juice in the freezer that I was going to make into jam. I was thinking of making chokecherry wine. I cooked the chokecherries in water and then destoned and squezzed the pulp. Can I still make wine after cooking the chokecherries (intially intended for jam)? I have yeast(Lalvin EC-1118, 3 packages), campden tablets, pectic enzyme, acid blend, yeast nutrient, and 1 liter of red grape concentrate. Any help would be great. I want to get the juice out of my freezer.

Thanks.

Pick

 

[Yooper]

I'm sure you can. I did something similar for a friend who had steam-extracted juice. I'm not sure it'll ever get crystal clear, though, once the pectin has been set. But that's the only thing I can think of that would be a problem.

 

[Pick-Axe]

So how does 2 gallons of chokecherry juice equate to your original recipe? I am not sure if I have too little or much juice.

 

[Yooper]

So how does 2 gallons of chokecherry juice equate to your original recipe? I am not sure if I have too little or much juice.

I have no idea! They gave me three gallons of juice, so I just used the juice. I have no idea how many pounds of chokecherries per gallon they used.

 

[Karey]

Go for it. But only use one packet of yeast. I've followed Yooper's recipe for several years now, adjusting it per harvest. So I always use the whole fruits. All I can add, is that any wine from just juice is going to be shallower, but could still be a drinkable wine. Next time tho, don't juice your chokecherries. They do make an excellent red wine.

 

[Yooper]

We just finished picking chokecherries, and are done for the year. We only picked 60 pounds, and had enough. We've also been picking blackberries and blueberries, and our garden is requiring a ton of picking as well- everything came ready at once this year!

We are going to make 20 gallons of chokecherry wine later this month. They are in the freezer right now!

 

[Melana]

Ooh! I'm hoping that we'll have ripe choke cherries in Rhody this weekend. Yoop -as always - you inspire me! Thanks!

 

[Agate]

How ripe should the berries be for this recipe? I caught them at the purple/black stage. I used 9# sugar for 5 gallons, so a little shy of the recipe, and ended up with a brix of 26... Also, I had to add about twice as much acid to get the ph around 3.6 and TA over 0.6. Maybe the berries just sweetened up a little more this year than usual?

On the plus side, it sure took on a nice shade of red with the extra acid!

 

[Yooper]

How ripe should the berries be for this recipe? I caught them at the purple/black stage. I used 9# sugar for 5 gallons, so a little shy of the recipe, and ended up with a brix of 26... Also, I had to add about twice as much acid to get the ph around 3.6 and TA over 0.6. Maybe the berries just sweetened up a little more this year than usual?

On the plus side, it sure took on a nice shade of red with the extra acid!

I always check the SG first, so I'm sure they vary quite a bit from year to you.

 

[Agate]

It was about 23 right after I smooshed everything up so I thought it was ok, but the next morning when I added yeast it had jumped up to 26. I guess the berries had some serious sugar in them. Anyways, thanks for the recipe... I couldn't resist all the trees heavy with fruit this year!

Should I do anything to dilute it or just hope for the best? If nothing else I could always turn it into punch and invite the neighborhood over.

 

[Yooper]

It was about 23 right after I smooshed everything up so I thought it was ok, but the next morning when I added yeast it had jumped up to 26. I guess the berries had some serious sugar in them. Anyways, thanks for the recipe... I couldn't resist all the trees heavy with fruit this year!

Should I do anything to dilute it or just hope for the best? If nothing else I could always turn it into punch and invite the neighborhood over.

It's high, but not THAT high. I'd consider diluting to 24 brix, to avoid any "hot" flavors, but certainly chokecherry is normally able to stand up to 16% ABV with some aging. I probably would leave "as is", and consider oaking when bulk aging.

I haven't started my chokecherry wine this year- but we have 65 pounds in the freezer. We pick them when black, or as black as possible. I picked up some "red grape concentrate" today at a winemaking store and am getting ready!

 

[Agate]

Cool... I'll leave it alone and see what happens. Thanks for your help, I'll probably be making your blackberry wine in a couple weeks!

 

[Karey]

Finished picking nicely ripe chokecherries and still getting them in freezer - not measured final pounds yet. Followed your, Yooper's, recipe back in 2010, with 30# of the berries. All good, but feeling it needs a bit more sweetening. Thinking this year, instead of the red grape concentrate, I'm going to try frozen bing cherries. Haven't figured on how much per 5-6 gallon batch yet . . .

 

[Melana]

It's high, but not THAT high. I'd consider diluting to 24 brix, to avoid any "hot" flavors, but certainly chokecherry is normally able to stand up to 16% ABV with some aging. I probably would leave "as is", and consider oaking when bulk aging.

I haven't started my chokecherry wine this year- but we have 65 pounds in the freezer. We pick them when black, or as black as possible. I picked up some "red grape concentrate" today at a winemaking store and am getting ready!

The choke cherry tree I was hoping to get fruit from is almost dead now.... No wine for me... Perhaps a bit of whine...

 

[Agate]

It might respond to heavy pruning if you wait until it goes dormant this fall. Chokecherry trees are like weeds, if you lop them off at the ground they usually grow back. That might be a little drastic, though.

 

[Agate]

I just moved 5 gallons of this down to my basement to relax awhile. After a week and a half, it looks and smells fantastic!

 

[Yooper]

Bob dug 63 pounds of chokecherries out of the freezer today, and will smash them up while I'm at work.

He asked me to try using more chokecherries per gallon, and less concentrate, so I'm going to use 4 pounds per gallon in the must. I think it might be fairly astringent for a long time, but we'll see how it comes out in the end!

 

[Melana]

I'm on a mission in 2014 to find and collect enough choke cherries to make wine.

 

[Yooper]

I'm on a mission in 2014 to find and collect enough choke cherries to make wine.

Just come for a family visit here! I'll make sure have have plenty, and some finished wine to take home with you.

You should see my living room (the warmest room in the house!). I have right now, in carboys/fermenters:
6 gallons rhubarb wine
4 gallons apple cider
9 gallons plum wine
3 gallons dandelion
25 gallons of crabapple wine
3 gallons of oaked blackberry wine
1 gallon of blueberry wine
10 gallons of IPA (in primary)
and later today- 15 gallons of chokecherry!

I still have 60 pounds of apples (crushed) in the freezer and as soon as I get an open fermenter I have to get to work on that.

So I'm pretty sure I could spare a bottle or two if you and your family come visit!

 

[Melana]

Just come for a family visit here! I'll make sure have have plenty, and some finished wine to take home with you.

You should see my living room (the warmest room in the house!). I have right now, in carboys/fermenters:
6 gallons rhubarb wine
4 gallons apple cider
9 gallons plum wine
3 gallons dandelion
25 gallons of crabapple wine
3 gallons of oaked blackberry wine
1 gallon of blueberry wine
10 gallons of IPA (in primary)
and later today- 15 gallons of chokecherry!

I still have 60 pounds of apples (crushed) in the freezer and as soon as I get an open fermenter I have to get to work on that.

So I'm pretty sure I could spare a bottle or two if you and your family come visit!

Now there's an offer! I will have to talk to BigJohn!

 

[buzzerj]

Yeah Yooper if you are extending the invitation, my wife and I will drive up from Milwaukee. What time of year is harvest? Show me where the trees are and I''l be glad to pick.

 

[Melana]

Oh my! Party at the Yoops house!

 

[AlbertaGuy]

Bob dug 63 pounds of chokecherries out of the freezer today, and will smash them up while I'm at work.

He asked me to try using more chokecherries per gallon, and less concentrate, so I'm going to use 4 pounds per gallon in the must. I think it might be fairly astringent for a long time, but we'll see how it comes out in the end!

I was searching this topic trying to figure out just how long this wine needs to age. I started a 6 gallon batch with 28 lbs chokecherries (and 0.5 gallon grape juice) in September and it looks great but wow are the tannins heavy. I made a second wine with the leftovers from that batch plus a few pounds of crabapples (1 gallon) and it's delicious already and is such a nice looking rose colored wine. I see you started your batch later than mine but I thought Id bump to see if anyone else has tried a heavy fruit chokecherry wine? How did it come along?

 

[Yooper]

I was searching this topic trying to figure out just how long this wine needs to age. I started a 6 gallon batch with 28 lbs chokecherries (and 0.5 gallon grape juice) in September and it looks great but wow are the tannins heavy. I made a second wine with the leftovers from that batch plus a few pounds of crabapples (1 gallon) and it's delicious already and is such a nice looking rose colored wine. I see you started your batch later than mine but I thought Id bump to see if anyone else has tried a heavy fruit chokecherry wine? How did it come along?

I did that just this year. I used about 5 pounds per gallon this year, and it's pretty intense. I haven't oaked it as it is also more tannic. I think it'll be good in the end. I'll check on it in April and see how it's coming along.

 

[AlbertaGuy]

I did that just this year. I used about 5 pounds per gallon this year, and it's pretty intense. I haven't oaked it as it is also more tannic. I think it'll be good in the end. I'll check on it in April and see how it's coming along.

So, I ended up bottling mine this weekend (dry weather is evaporating air locks, solid bung makes me nervous, and its 6+ months old anyway) and it's improved considerably since I last checked. It did not drop any more lees following the last rack but there was a fair amount of crystalline precipitate in the bottom of the carboy. I managed 31 bottles and had a small cup leftover which I left in the fridge a day then tasted. Very delicious, nice undertones even with a bit of a "hot" aftertaste still (starting SG was a touch over 1.10 as the fruit was very sweet last year, it fermented bone dry, well below 1.00, in my experience "hot" goes away). This will definitely be the best wine I've made so far with a bit more age! It will also be very dangerous as the SG ended up a tad higher than I planned for. For now, its going into the back cellar (cold concrete room) for 6 months so I don't open any more early. Ill be needing to pick way more chokecherries this year.

 

[Agate]

I split my batch in half so I could oak some and have the rest without. There was a little left over so I bottled it. Wow is it good! Needs to mellow a little, but with as young as it is it's going to be awesome this fall!

 

[AlbertaGuy]

Is this stuff ever good! The chokecherries are in full bloom around here right now, hoping for a wet summer so we can make another batch.

 

[Yooper]

I'm drinking some with dinner tonight myself. Chokecherry wine has been our house wine for a few years. I love the oaked version- it's deep rich and bold. But the unoaled version is fruity and a bit lighter and goes great with so many meals. I don't think I could pick a favorite.

The photo is great. thank you for sharing it!

 

[turtlescales]

I am getting ready to make a 5 gallon batch of this, but can't get the grape concentrate locally. At the homebrew store they suggested just grocery store grape juice concentrate, do you think this would work if I got a preservative free variety?

 

[wessha77]

I would use a Concorde concentrate from Welchers from the frozen food section. You can get ,it at pretty much any grocery store.