Wild chokecherry wine

[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.

I got bad news Yoop. My wife and I moved to San Jose CA from Milwaukee. I can't visit and get any chokecherries! I did like your recent write up though.
Keep up the winemaking!

 

[Agate]

Bummer... The chokecherries around my area of the UP are looking REALLY nice this year!

 

[Yooper]

Bummer... The chokecherries around my area of the UP are looking REALLY nice this year!

Not here! I'll be lucky to get 45 pounds this year, if I work really hard for them. Usually, they are abundant.

 

[Melana]

If only i could find some...

 

[Yooper]

If only i could find some...

We found more than we thought we would- in some places they are sparse, but in others they are more abundant. We have 44 pounds right now in the freezer, and aren't done yet!

 

[Melana]

We found more than we thought we would- in some places they are sparse, but in others they are more abundant. We have 44 pounds right now in the freezer, and aren't done yet!

When I grow up I want to be just like you.

 

[Yooper]

When I grow up I want to be just like you.

You want to be a dumpy middle-aged drunk?

Seriously, we are really into the "foraging" and "hunter/gatherer" lifestyle and while we love it, most younger people think we are weird. The good thing about being over 50 now is that we graduated to "eccentric" instead of just weird I guess.

We also have to pick blueberries this week, and start harvesting wild rice as well so this is a very busy time of year.

I hope we get another 50 pounds of chokecherries yet this year.

 

[Melana]

Yoop if i look half as good as you do when i turn 50 i will be very thankful!

 

[turtlescales]

I am 30, all about the hunter/gatherer life and I'm thought weird by most too, I don't know if age has much to do with it! Just got my first 5 gallon batch of this stuff together, do you have any tips or tricks on de-stemming the chokecherries? 15 pounds of it was pretty tedious, I don't know if I could handle 45! Must be some good wine, I am excited to try it next year.

 

[Yooper]

I am 30, all about the hunter/gatherer life and I'm thought weird by most too, I don't know if age has much to do with it! Just got my first 5 gallon batch of this stuff together, do you have any tips or tricks on de-stemming the chokecherries? 15 pounds of it was pretty tedious, I don't know if I could handle 45! Must be some good wine, I am excited to try it next year.

It's tedious- but when I pick them I already have them destemmed. It's hard to describe, but the person that taught me told me to "milk" them. That's hard to visualize, but since they grow on a long string, you can just pull them down, like you're milking a cow, and if they are ripe enough they come out in your hand destremmed and you just drop them into your bucket in your other hand. If they aren't fully ripe, they'll be red and not black, not not destem like that.

 

[brewingmeister]

Any chance you could get a picture of the berry cluster and the leaves for identification? I have a tree on the edge of my yard that might be chokecherry but I really don't know and am not one to just eat something unknown.

 

[Yooper]

Any chance you could get a picture of the berry cluster and the leaves for identification? I have a tree on the edge of my yard that might be chokecherry but I really don't know and am not one to just eat something unknown.

They are Prunus virginiana, related to black cherry and pin cherry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_virginiana has some photos.

 

[brewingmeister]

I believe what I have are chokecherry. These are definitely full grown trees though. I don't know how I would harvest 99% of them.

 

[Melana]

I harvested some choke cherries this year and will blend them with a big red to hopefully get.... Something!

 

[Acreagegal]

Where do I get large mesh bags, do you have a picture, or dimensions? 15-20 lbs of choke cherries in the freezer, ready to start some wine. Do you add a clearing agent?

 

[Yooper]

Where do I get large mesh bags, do you have a picture, or dimensions? 15-20 lbs of choke cherries in the freezer, ready to start some wine. Do you add a clearing agent?

I get the mesh bags from two places- the homebrew store and lately from Wilserbrew, here on the forum.

http://biabbags.webs.com/

I get the large bags that line my entire fermenter, and the put the frozen (thawing) chokecherries in there, and tie them up to contain them.

I use pectic enzyme in the must, but otherwise do not use finings. I'm not really opposed to them, except that I want a vegetarian-friendly wine and most finings come from animal products (or plastic type of finings, ick!).

 

[Yooper]

I just started 26 gallons of this wine. The only yeast strain I have is EC-1118, so that's the one I picked. I'll try to remember to take a photo when I rack to secondary.

 

[Yooper]

Chokecherry picking is underway here! We have about forty pounds in the freezer. It's that time of year again- busy, busy. We'll have wine to show for it in the end, so it's worth it. I still love this wine.

 

[Melana]

Chokecherry picking is underway here! We have about forty pounds in the freezer. It's that time of year again- busy, busy. We'll have wine to show for it in the end, so it's worth it. I still love this wine.

You are an amazing woman.

 

[Agate]

I still have a case of this from 2013, and it is aging into a very nice wine. The first couple of years it was extremely bitter and astringent, but the last 6 months the tannins have mellowed and the flavor from the cherries is really starting to shine. Looking forward to seeing this one evolve over the next few years.

I've got about 10# in the freezer so far this year. Not sure if they're going into another batch of this, or into a UP "kriek" with chokecherries. Maybe both, if I can get enough!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi, Yooper - thanks for posting all of this information regarding chokecherry wine. I'll be reading it and learning from it as I attempt my first chokecherry wine in the coming week or two.

I am trying to get a recipe for a 1-gallon batch put together, based on your recipe and this one from E.C. Kraus:

http://www.eckraus.com/winerecipes/chokecherrywine.pdf

. The good news is that it appears that there is some leeway where some of the ingredients are concerned, so I'm doing my best to "average things out" for simplicity's sake.

Here is what I have so far - if you or anyone else sees any glaring errors, please let me know. I am still reading and trying to learn how the ingredients work together etc., but am hopefully on the right track.

For 1 gallon of chokecherry wine:

3 pounds chokecherries
2 pounds of sugar
1/4 teaspoon pectic enzyme
1/2 teaspoon yeast nutrient/energizer
Handful of raisins (up to a pound?)
1 to 2 campden tablets
*acid blend
*1 package of yeast

*Acid blend - The recipe for 5 gallons says to use 5 teaspoons of acid blend, and the recipe for 15 gallons says to use 5 teaspoons of acid blend; my question is, should I use 1 teaspoon, 5 teaspoons or something in-between?

*Yeast - I've seen Montrachet, E-1118 and Premier Cuvée mentioned; is any one better than the other? My goal is to have a nice chokecherry wine with some sweetness and fruit flavor.

 

[Yooper]

We started a 18 gallon batch of this yesterday, thawing and then crushing the chokecherries with a big (sanitized) stick. Today I pitched the yeast, using Lalvin RC-212 (bourgovin) yeast this time.

I'll try to remember to update this thread as it progresses!

 

[Melana]

Please do!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi, Yooper, and thanks for the update. Between hunting season and a few other fun (and not-so-fun) happenings, I haven't been able to get my chokecherry wine started yet, but am hoping to do so this weekend. On the plus side, I got a pretty good-sized batch of picked, well-packaged and frozen chokecherries from a lady who didn't want them, so I'll be making a few batches of this awesome wine over the winter!

Updates as they happen, but in the meantime, I had a question: I know that this was hashed around previously in the thread, with inconclusive results, but since the have you gained any idea as to how much wine might be made from a gallon of chokecherry juice? My dad was given a gallon of juice by some family friends, and insists in planning on using this to make wine, rather than the 20 pounds of chokecherries that he has in his bloody freezer. He asked how much wine he could make from this gallon of juice, and I said I don't know, but I knew someone who might have an idea. That's you!

If you don't know, it's no big deal, but I told him I'd try ~

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi, Yooper -

I finally got started with this, and am kicking myself for not doing so sooner. It was easy as pie, and I appreciate your advice.

Anyway, I'm 5 days into my primary fermentation (I pitched the Montrachet yeast on Sunday), and as far as I can tell, things are going pretty well. Here's how it looks:

Pardon the cruddy cell phone photo - the burgundy is much deeper than it appears.

I have a hydrometer, but nothing to put the must in to test it. I tried tilting the primary bucket enough to make it deep enough, but no luck. I have a test jar/tube thingamajig coming, hopefully tomorrow, so I'll be able to see where I'm at then.

If taste is any indication, I think we're pretty far along. There pretty much no sweetness at all left in the must; rather, it is fairly sour with some bitterness, but still a chokecherry character. I am not 100% up on my wine terms, but if I am correct, there's a fair amount of tannin taste, kind of like dark chocolate without the sugar, or maybe an "oaky" dark wine. It's not unpleasant at all, but since I didn't add any tannin when I started (long story), it is unexpected.

I was going to rack to secondary tomorrow or Sunday - should I strain the must through a mesh screen as I do so, or simply rack it all over and let gravity do the rest?

 

[Yooper]

Hi, Yooper -

I finally got started with this, and am kicking myself for not doing so sooner. It was easy as pie, and I appreciate your advice.

Anyway, I'm 5 days into my primary fermentation (I pitched the Montrachet yeast on Sunday), and as far as I can tell, things are going pretty well. Here's how it looks:

Pardon the cruddy cell phone photo - the burgundy is much deeper than it appears.

I have a hydrometer, but nothing to put the must in to test it. I tried tilting the primary bucket enough to make it deep enough, but no luck. I have a test jar/tube thingamajig coming, hopefully tomorrow, so I'll be able to see where I'm at then.

If taste is any indication, I think we're pretty far along. There pretty much no sweetness at all left in the must; rather, it is fairly sour with some bitterness, but still a chokecherry character. I am not 100% up on my wine terms, but if I am correct, there's a fair amount of tannin taste, kind of like dark chocolate without the sugar, or maybe an "oaky" dark wine. It's not unpleasant at all, but since I didn't add any tannin when I started (long story), it is unexpected.

I was going to rack to secondary tomorrow or Sunday - should I strain the must through a mesh screen as I do so, or simply rack it all over and let gravity do the rest?

You can strain it now if you'd like, if there are a lot of dissolved solids floating around but you don't have to as gravity will eventually do the work.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Thanks, Yooper - I'll let Sir Isaac Newton do the work!

My testing jar thing arrived today, so I'll be able to use SG readings going forward, in order to fine-tune my procedure.

Thanks for everything!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Here is what I ended up with:

If I am reading the hydrometer correctly, the measurement is exactly 1.000; it is definitely no lower than that.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi, Yooper - a quick update and a question, if you don't mind....

My chokecherry wine was racked from primary fermentation to my 1 gallon fermenter 8 days ago. SG reading was exactly 1.000, if I am reading it correctly. There was enough to fill just within an inch or so of the top of the fermenter. Temperatures are in the close neighbourhood of 68 degrees.

It looks to be clearing nicely and is getting a really beautiful colour. There is probably half an inch of lees on the bottom, still some clearing to go, of course. This morning I noticed just a bare hint of what I *think* might be a sulfur smell, along with some really nice emerging chokecherry aroma.

My question is, should I go ahead and rack it onto a crushed/diluted campden tablet now, after 8 days, or wait it out to 30 days?

Thanks for any advice -

Ron

 

[TasunkaWitko]

This weekend, I'll most likely rack my chokecherry wine over for the last time before bottling. I'm a little unclear on this step, since I've never done it before, so I have a few questions, if y'all don't mind -

Does anyone have a general, step-by-step "checklist" for this final stage of the wine-making? Should I be cold-crashing and/or stabilizing it now? Or wait a few weeks after this racking before doing so?

The wine seems to have cleared up very nicely on its own, so I don't anticipate the need to add any finings or clearing agents. Should I add a campden tablet one more time before bottling?

I don't plan to back-sweeten, as this wine tastes simply beautiful on its own, even at this relatively young stage. There actually seems to be just a hint of vanilla in there, for reasons I cannot explain, and it is really nice. Has this happened with anyone else?

My dad's batch of wine, which he bottled rather early, in my opinion, tastes great when he opens it and pours a glass, but after about 30 minutes the flavor of the wine in the glass deteriorates quite a bit. Is this an oxidation problem? Would a campden tablet at bottling have prevented this, or is there another way to deal with it so that the same doesn't happen to mine?

Thanks for all feedback and advice -

Ron