Wild chokecherry wine

[Yooper]

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

There probably are checklists out there, but for me I generally cold stabilize for a month or so before bottling. It's not critical, but I do that before I rack to the bottling bucket so that more sediment doesn't drop out in the bottle in my cellar.

I use campden/sulfite at every other racking to help prevent oxidation, and add more at bottling.

It does sound like oxidation with your dad's wine. I'm not sure why it would happen in 30 minutes, though, unless it was already present and became worse with some sitting in the glass.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi, Yooper, and thanks for letting me know. Sounds like your way is the way to go. I'll rack, then cold stabilize (the same as cold-crashing, I assume?) and then bottle.

Last question (I hope) - Should the Potassium Sorbate come before or after the cold-stabilizing?

unless it was already present and became worse with some sitting in the glass.

Between you and me (and the rest of the forum now, I guess..lol) I am betting that this is what happened. To my knowledge, the only campden tablet that he added was when he started the wine. His words: My dad never added that stuff, so I don't see any reason to."

 

[Yooper]

Hi, Yooper, and thanks for letting me know. Sounds like your way is the way to go. I'll rack, then cold stabilize (the same as cold-crashing, I assume?) and then bottle.

Last question (I hope) - Should the Potassium Sorbate come before or after the cold-stabilizing?



Between you and me (and the rest of the forum now, I guess..lol) I am betting that this is what happened. To my knowledge, the only campden tablet that he added was when he started the wine. His words: My dad never added that stuff, so I don't see any reason to."

If you're not sweetening the wine, I would skip the sorbate. It does have a bit of a protective effect I guess, but I only would use it if I was adding additional fermentables to prevent renewed fermentation. It does impart a taste, although slight, and I prefer to not use it unless necessary.

I was thinking about wine decanting at dinner tonight. Sometimes we decant a big bold wine that may need a bit of time to breathe. It really opens up the wine, but if it's not needed it does detract from the wine. In this case, it sounds like the wine was flawed already but having it sit and interact with oxygen after the pour probably exacerbated it.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Thanks for the info, Yooper - I'll skip the sorbate.

Good thoughts on the decanting/interaction with oxygen. I'll try harder to convince him, next time.

 

[Acreagegal]

My 2014 chokecherry wine has aged into an amazing dry, smooth wine with a strong cherry bouquet. I did not add grape concentrate, and am pleased with the flavour. Next batch I may sweeten before bottling. Being new to making wine from scratch, rather than from kits, I was impatient with it, and found it too sour before letting it age 2 years, and unfortunately used up much of it in delicious summer sangrias. I'm amazed with it at 2 years however, and regretting using it in sangria.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

As an update to my posts above, my dad's chokecherry wine is aging to be a much nicer wine than it was before. Perhaps simply "time in the bottle" is all that it needed, but most, if not all, of the off-flavors that I previously perceived are diminished or gone, and it is shaping up very nicely.

 

[Dangeruss]

I am in the process of making what I think might be a chokecherry wine. I have a tree in my front yard and the fruit starts out red to dark red when it gets really ripe and is in bunches. I tried it when I picked it and it had a tart/sour taste. When I took a sip of the hydro sample after two weeks of fermenting the taste reminded me of a cranberry wine. Is this a right description of the taste of chokecherry or is this a different variety of cherry/berry?

 

[Yooper]

I am in the process of making what I think might be a chokecherry wine. I have a tree in my front yard and the fruit starts out red to dark red when it gets really ripe and is in bunches. I tried it when I picked it and it had a tart/sour taste. When I took a sip of the hydro sample after two weeks of fermenting the taste reminded me of a cranberry wine. Is this a right description of the taste of chokecherry or is this a different variety of cherry/berry?

It's really hard to say from the description. It doesn't taste like cranberry wine to me, but I don't know if you had chokecherries or not. If you remember them well, you could try to do a google image search and see if they are the same. They really taste more like cherries to me (as they are a type of cherry). The are very astringent when eaten, and most people wouldn't eat more than one.

 

[Agate]

Agreed, it's hard to say from the description, but that doesn't sound terribly much like chokecherries. Chokecherries turn almost black when they're really ripe. Could you have cranberry viburnum? They also make a great wine. Was there one large pit on the inside, or several smaller seeds?

 

[Dangeruss]

A large pit. The fruit does look like a cherries in a bunch. And looking on the interweb images it could be the cranberry viburnum. A few years ago somebody asked if they could pick it and use it for jam and they thought it was chokecherry. We've also decide to make jam out of it and that was good. So I figured why not wine.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi, Yooper -

Another post following up on my writings above dealing with my dad's chokecherry wine. It has really aged into something nice; we enjoyed a bit a couple of nights ago while watching the full moon rise and listening to the coyotes screaming bloody murder, and it has definitely improved to a state what I would consider a fine chokecherry wine.

The flavor of the chokecherries is coming through beautifully, with only a bit of what I would call a "tannic bite," and the colour is absolutely stunning; extremely clear to the point where you can read through it.

This is all pretty surprising, since my dad broke almost every rule one could imagine while making it, as far as handling the must goes. To my knowledge, the only additive that he used was a campden tablet at the beginning of the process, and MAYBE one before bottling.

In any case, I hope that this experience inspires other folks who are wanting to try this, yet are worried about "screwing up" somehow. If you leave the stuff alone to do its thing, it is apparently very hard to ruin.

Thanks again!

Ron

 

[Wooden]

Yooper - curious in how your batch turned out using the "reduced grape concentrate" version of the recipe.

I too, am very into the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and like to make things as purely from the wild stuff I pick as possible. For example, I'm the type of person that when I get a deer I don't bring it to a processor and have them mix it with a bunch of pork and beef to make sausage and burgers... I take pride in a careful butchering job and enjoy finding ways to use ea. cut creatively - but that's just me, I'm weird.

Not that I am entirely opposed to using grape (if it's necessary or makes the wine that much better) am just intrigued by the concept of using only - or primarily chokecherries or things that I pick/forage - or ingredients at least native to our area - but I want it to be good too....

I really like big oaky reds and things that pair well with the variety of venison dishes I make - so I do plan on oaking this if it makes a difference.

Picked about 4 gallons of choke cherries yesterday with my Grandpa who is 93 - and he out-picked me .... Again!!! Curious what your tasting notes are by reducing the grape concentrate and going more of the all-chokecherry route.

 

[Yooper]

I didn't like the plain chokecherry nearly as much as the one with the grape concentrate. It was ok, but thin and not nearly as complex or full bodied. I now only make it as written, and almost always oak it.

 

[all5n]

Hey, seems like a great recipe. Going to start it tomorrow (5 gallon batch to start). Thanks so much for sharing.

Was able to harvest around 70 pounds of chokecherries in northwest nebraska this year. Worked out just right that we were there during the peak season for them (wild plums and apples were still too green, drat!).

One question i had from your instructions was around this part:

Pour and strain into carboys.

Is oxidation from the pouring not a factor yet due to the ongoing nature of the fermentation at this point in the process? What do you use to strain the must, and what does this process consist of?

I am going to have the cherries in a strainer bag as big as the fermenter, so removal of the pits/skins should be taken care of when i remove the strainer. Do i really need to strain the must again when moving it into the carboy?

Thanks for answering a question from a wine newb.

 

[Yooper]

Is oxidation from the pouring not a factor yet due to the ongoing nature of the fermentation at this point in the process? What do you use to strain the must, and what does this process consist of?

I am going to have the cherries in a strainer bag as big as the fermenter, so removal of the pits/skins should be taken care of when i remove the strainer. Do i really need to strain the must again when moving it into the carboy?

Thanks for answering a question from a wine newb.

Correct- the fermentation ongoing and the tons of c02 in the wine at this point means no issues at all with oxidation.

You don't have to strain the wine at the point, but I would recommend it. You would be amazed at the stuff in there. It'd be a pain to rack it, but you certainly could do that if you prefer.

I have a huge funnel with a removeable piece of strainer that makes it easier, but a colander inside a funnel would work also.

I use mesh bags for my fruit, and smash the fruit in the bags to extract as much choose as I can.

 

[Wooden]

Destem chokecherries and freeze (this helps break them up easier).

Is the destemming really necessary? (It is seriously a lot of little stems - I mean I have taken out the larger twigs, and "parent" stem and things that held the cluster of berries on the tree if they made it in my bucket) - but individual stems I have not - I have already frozen them btw

Dissolve the sugar in 5 gallons of boiling water and pour over fruit, stirring well.

Is it OK to boil the water to dissolve the sugar and then let the water cool, say with a wort chiller, or does it actually have to be boiling? My thoughts are I could maybe avoid pectic enzyme if I skipped the boiling part.... No? (My thoughts were boil first and cool using wort chiller) because a) I don't have any pectic and b) I will forget or likely not do the schedules step in time.

Same question for the Campden can I just add it and wait for it to cool and avoid pectic and then just pitch the yeast right away??

12 hours after that, add the yeast. Cover loosely with a towel.

Sorry to question you yooper - but it's a critical part of the way I learn stuff

 

[all5n]

Another question:

Cover with a towel. 12 hours later, add the pectic enzyme. Check the OG, and adjust to get it from 1.090-1.100.

12 hours after that, add the yeast.

What is the purpose of the 12 hour lag time(s) between the adding of the campden, pectic enzyme, and the yeast?

The only thing i can think of is that it might be letting the must cool to pitching temps.

After starting today (crushing the cherries was fun, let me tell you), i am at the lag waiting to add the pectic enzyme. I have the must in my temp controlled chest freezer set to 66 degrees.

EDIT: Answered my own question. Pectolase works better when there is no active fermentation going on.

 

[rlmiller10]

Hey, seems like a great recipe. Going to start it tomorrow (5 gallon batch to start). Thanks so much for sharing.

Was able to harvest around 70 pounds of chokecherries in northwest nebraska this year. Worked out just right that we were there during the peak season for them (wild plums and apples were still too green, drat!).

One question i had from your instructions was around this part:



Is oxidation from the pouring not a factor yet due to the ongoing nature of the fermentation at this point in the process? What do you use to strain the must, and what does this process consist of?

I am going to have the cherries in a strainer bag as big as the fermenter, so removal of the pits/skins should be taken care of when i remove the strainer. Do i really need to strain the must again when moving it into the carboy?

Thanks for answering a question from a wine newb.

70 lb of chokecherries, wow you are the master. those little berries take serious commitment to harvest. FYI if you have a bit extra of the juice, freeze it and drop a cube in a glass of bourbon. so good.

 

[all5n]

Yeah my oldest daughter got into chokecherry picking and wanted to go every evening after dinner. She liked the riding around on the ATV looking for the "mother lode" bushes that had the huge clumps of chokecherries, stealing them from the "angry birds" that were surely coming to get us for taking them.

There really was a bumper crop this year after the late freeze last year that froze all the blooms (apples, chokecherries, plums).

I did steam juice 15 or so pounds of them. I will use my "ice ball" maker to freeze some of the juice to try in some Bulleit.

 

[Yooper]

Another question:



What is the purpose of the 12 hour lag time(s) between the adding of the campden, pectic enzyme, and the yeast?

The only thing i can think of is that it might be letting the must cool to pitching temps.

After starting today (crushing the cherries was fun, let me tell you), i am at the lag waiting to add the pectic enzyme. I have the must in my temp controlled chest freezer set to 66 degrees.

EDIT: Answered my own question. Pectolase works better when there is no active fermentation going on.

Pectic enzyme works better without sulfite (so you add it 12 hours after the campden) or yeast (so you add it before the yeast) but it works ok even later on if you forget it.

 

[all5n]

UPDATE:

Overshot the OG a bit i think due to the red wine concentrate having more sugar than expected, and had to add a bit more water. Currently sitting at 1.11 (14.5% potential). I used the "Wineexpert Red Grape Concentrate 1L", so have added this to my notes to use less sugar next time when overshooting on the concentrate.

The red star montrachet yeast is (supposedly) good for 15%, so i should be within range there hopefully.

PH is 3.6, so that is in the correct range.

 

[Wooden]

I made this last night with Grandpa! Scaled down to 6 gallons.

A couple of questions:

1) will KV-1116 or Premier Cuvée work? This is in a small town and they were out of EC-1118.

2) when I was crushing the semi-frozen berries, by hand, in the paint strainer, they seemed like they were oxidizing on the spot. Did I do anything wrong or is this normal?

I added the hot water and sugar after I had "crushed" most of them for probably 20-30 minutes (perhaps I should have let them thaw a little more first). Then, I added the Campden and stirred.
The resultant juice was, well kind of beer-colored. Sweet, and tasted good but not like I expected.

After that, I added the grape concentrate, as I was a lil confused about the timing of this step.

Did I not add the sulfites soon enough here? Is my wine doomed? For what it's worth the juice tasted pretty good after everything was added.

Now about to add the pectic enzyme.

 

[Yooper]

1. Yes, either would be fine for this wine.

The rest seems ok. If you have a photo, I could take a look but it doesn't sound any different than what I do.

 

[all5n]

After a couple weeks in on this, some thoughts:

General Thoughts/Comments:

Crushing/Breaking Skin on the Cherries and "little stems":
So far the most troublesome part of this wine was getting all the berries crushed. I had 16 pounds in the batch and thought i did a good job crushing, but probably only managed to get about 66%. I had to spend some time when transferring to the secondary crushing the whole ones by scooping a bit at a time into a mesh bag and squeezing. Hands got a workout.

The next batch i will crush them when removing the annoying little stems left from the harvesing process. My process was to pour the frozen cherries onto a cookie sheet a bit at a time to find the ones with stems and remove. I think i will add another step to that and use something to gently crush them on the cookie sheet.

It seems like the freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw method doesnt work to break the skins on chokecherries. Need to try again with a 3rd and 4th iteration to see if that works.


Excessive OG:
As i mentioned previously, my OG was too high. My fault for not starting with less sugar.

Turns out that due to the sheer amount of fruit, when i racked from the primary to the 5 gal carboy there was only about 4.5 gal of must, even though the primary was up to the 6 gallon mark. Fruit takes up quite a bit of space!

I also (pre-emptively) re-pitched with EC-1118 to give the Montrachet a hand with the higher OG. Re-piched from a must starter on day 4 or so when it showed signs of slowing down at 1.03. Was at 1.01 on day 6 when i transferred it to the secondary. 1.00 a couple days after that.

Definitely will use less sugar next time and adjust upwards if necessary.


Extra Equipment a Home Brewer needs to make fruit wine:

After brewing partial mash for 10+ years i thought i had enough equipment, however i found that wine is a different beast. Had to buy the following:

- Large potato masher for "punching the cap" of fruit down. The grate on it was just too big to crush the whole berries in the primary, they get stuck between the grates. Need to find a fine mesh SS piece to attach to the end for that. Or get one of those SS food mills with the wooden pestle (yet something else i need to get).

- Wine thief.

- Extra large fermentation bucket. Fruit takes up space.

- Rope/Pulley system for extracting the mesh bag of fruit from the primary. It can hang there and drip while you sqeeze it. Guess i could also use this to BIAB beer.

- Double mesh strainer / large funnel.

- Floor Corker. Havent bought this yet, will need it eventually as we get closer to bottling time.

- Closed system co2 transfer between carboys. Bought the stuff to make a co2 pressure transfer between secondaries when racking is required. Pre-flush the destination carboy with c02, using low pressure c02 to push from one to the purged new one. Reading about oxidation made me think this is a good idea. Still going to use some campden but possibly only every other racking. Not sure if campden is required when doing closed transfers.

UPDATE:

Overshot the OG a bit i think due to the red wine concentrate having more sugar than expected, and had to add a bit more water. Currently sitting at 1.11 (14.5% potential). I used the "Wineexpert Red Grape Concentrate 1L", so have added this to my notes to use less sugar next time when overshooting on the concentrate.

The red star montrachet yeast is (supposedly) good for 15%, so i should be within range there hopefully.

PH is 3.6, so that is in the correct range.

 

[all5n]

Going through round 2 on making this wine. Had some nice time over the holidays to do this one again and a strawberry/rhubarb wine.

Looking back at this part (quoted below) of my original analysis, i think i was overly concerned about the OG. Taking a hydrometer reading with so much fruit in the fermenter is NOT an accurate assessment of what the FG will be. This is because when you remove the fruit/pits, the volume of wine is below the target volume for the batch (mine was 5 gallons). When i removed the fruit i had to use quite a bit of water to top up, thus putting the FG back in the correct range of 12-13% ABV.

The recipe should probably actually state that you WANT a 15% OG on the original must, and that topping up will put it back into the correct range.

-allan

Excessive OG:
As i mentioned previously, my OG was too high. My fault for not starting with less sugar.

Turns out that due to the sheer amount of fruit, when i racked from the primary to the 5 gal carboy there was only about 4.5 gal of must, even though the primary was up to the 6 gallon mark. Fruit takes up quite a bit of space!

I also (pre-emptively) re-pitched with EC-1118 to give the Montrachet a hand with the higher OG. Re-piched from a must starter on day 4 or so when it showed signs of slowing down at 1.03. Was at 1.01 on day 6 when i transferred it to the secondary. 1.00 a couple days after that.

Definitely will use less sugar next time and adjust upwards if necessary.

 

[ericfromcowtown]

Hopefully no one minds me resurrecting this very long and very old thread.

The choke cherries were plentiful and plump at our Alberta prairie cabin this summer, and my kids dutifully harvested several pounds of them.

Chokecherries

• ericfromcowtown
• Dec 14, 2018

Choke Cherries 2018

After my wife made delicious choke cherry syrup, I am left with 6 pounds of fruit to make a batch of choke cherry wine.

I thought that 6 pounds was quite respectable, but it is obviously a far cry from the 45 pounds (wow!) that the recipe at the beginning of this thread calls for.

45 pounds chokecherries
28 pounds sugar
5 dark grape concentrates- 1 pint bottle (available in winemaking shops)
7 tsp pectic enzyme
5 tsp yeast nutrient
5 tsp acid blend
15 crushed campden tablets
3 packages of champagne yeast (Lalvin's EC-1118 works great!)

If my math is correct, a parred back recipe would look like:

6 pounds chokecherries
Approximately 3.7 pounds of sugar
Approximately 2/3 of a pint of red wine concentrate. I can buy the concentrate in 500 ml bottles, which is approximately 1 pint I believe.
Approximately 1 Tsp of Pectic Enzyme
Approximately 1 Tsp of Yeast Nutrient
Approximately 0.5-1 Tsp of acid blend
2 Campden Tablets
1/2 of a package of champagne yeast (or just the whole package)

This would make a 2 gallon batch I believe. Does this seem about right?

All that I have are 5 gallon carboys. Presumably, I should purchase a 3 gallon carboy, as I wouldn't want that much empty space and run the risk of oxidizing the wine, correct?

How can I top this up to 3 gallons without making the final product "thin?" I could add the entire pint of red wine concentrate. Would that do the trick, or what other suggestions do you have to stretch my 6 pounds of choke cherries into a 3 gallon first try at choke cherry wine?

Any other suggestions, tips, or warnings?

 

[Yooper]

Hopefully no one minds me resurrecting this very long and very old thread.

The choke cherries were plentiful and plump at our Alberta prairie cabin this summer, and my kids dutifully harvested several pounds of them.

Chokecherries

• ericfromcowtown
• Dec 14, 2018

Choke Cherries 2018

After my wife made delicious choke cherry syrup, I am left with 6 pounds of fruit to make a batch of choke cherry wine.

I thought that 6 pounds was quite respectable, but it is obviously a far cry from the 45 pounds (wow!) that the recipe at the beginning of this thread calls for.

45 pounds chokecherries
28 pounds sugar
5 dark grape concentrates- 1 pint bottle (available in winemaking shops)
7 tsp pectic enzyme
5 tsp yeast nutrient
5 tsp acid blend
15 crushed campden tablets
3 packages of champagne yeast (Lalvin's EC-1118 works great!)

If my math is correct, a parred back recipe would look like:

6 pounds chokecherries
Approximately 3.7 pounds of sugar
Approximately 2/3 of a pint of red wine concentrate. I can buy the concentrate in 500 ml bottles, which is approximately 1 pint I believe.
Approximately 1 Tsp of Pectic Enzyme
Approximately 1 Tsp of Yeast Nutrient
Approximately 0.5-1 Tsp of acid blend
2 Campden Tablets
1/2 of a package of champagne yeast (or just the whole package)

This would make a 2 gallon batch I believe. Does this seem about right?

All that I have are 5 gallon carboys. Presumably, I should purchase a 3 gallon carboy, as I wouldn't want that much empty space and run the risk of oxidizing the wine, correct?

How can I top this up to 3 gallons without making the final product "thin?" I could add the entire pint of red wine concentrate. Would that do the trick, or what other suggestions do you have to stretch my 6 pounds of choke cherries into a 3 gallon first try at choke cherry wine?

Any other suggestions, tips, or warnings?

Hmmm, if you want three gallons use the 6 pounds of chokecherries, you could try a bit more of the wine concentrate. In one batch, I used 2.5 pounds of chokecherries per gallon, and it came out really nice and that's not a huge difference I guess. Try for an OG of 1.090 or so, and it should be pretty good. And yes, you'll need a 3 gallon carboy or three one gallon jugs to make a 3 gallon batch. You can start it in a bucket or something, but once it's time for secondary, you'll want to move it to an appropriately sized vessel.

I have a batch now that is a mix of blackberries and currants because I didn't have enough blackberries for a full batch. You could try that as well- using another fruit to help keep the batch from being too thin or light. I would think sour cherries would be a good fit.

 

[ericfromcowtown]

Thanks for the reply!

I’ll try adding the full pint of red grape concentrate and aim towards that 1.090 SG. The needed ingredients, including a 3 gallon carboy, have been ordered and I’m looking forward to adding choke cherry wine to my repertoire.

Hmmm, if you want three gallons use the 6 pounds of chokecherries, you could try a bit more of the wine concentrate. In one batch, I used 2.5 pounds of chokecherries per gallon, and it came out really nice and that's not a huge difference I guess. Try for an OG of 1.090 or so, and it should be pretty good. And yes, you'll need a 3 gallon carboy or three one gallon jugs to make a 3 gallon batch. You can start it in a bucket or something, but once it's time for secondary, you'll want to move it to an appropriately sized vessel.

 

[ericfromcowtown]

Using the six pounds of choke cherries, the full pint of dark grape concentrate, and 2 kg of dextrose (4.4 lbs), brought 3 gallons up to 1.086ish SG.

Excited to see how this turns out, many months from now.

 

[ericfromcowtown]

After one week in the primary, I have racked over to my new little 3 gallon carboy. SG was just a hair over 1.00, down from the OG of 1.085.

Nice and dark and rich smelling during racking.

I’m getting perhaps one bubble from the airlock every 3 minutes or so. Not much left to ferment.

I do have more than a little air sitting between my nascent wine and the airlock. Should I be topping it up with water at this point?

 

[Yooper]

I just started 25 gallons of this the other day. It's been a while since I've looked through this thread, and I'm so sorry that I didn't answer questions when they were asked- I just never saw them.

My house smells soooooo good with the fermenting fruit!

 

[rlmiller10]

I still can't believe you get your husband to pick that many of those little berries.

 

[Hefferweizen]

Happy to find this thread! I whipped up 2 one gallon batches a month ago. On one, OG was a bit high at 1.112, but seems stalled out at 1.040. Maybe more than the EC-1118 can support? Gotta say the flavor is nice already! Any ideas or feedback?
1.5lb wild black cherry,
.5lb wineberry
.5lb blackberry
2.2 lbs white sugar
pectic enzyme
acid blend
EC-1118 Lalvin yeast

 

[Yooper]

Happy to find this thread! I whipped up 2 one gallon batches a month ago. On one, OG was a bit high at 1.112, but seems stalled out at 1.040. Maybe more than the EC-1118 can support? Gotta say the flavor is nice already! Any ideas or feedback?
1.5lb wild black cherry,
.5lb wineberry
.5lb blackberry
2.2 lbs white sugar
pectic enzyme
acid blend
EC-1118 Lalvin yeast

EC-1118 can go up to 18% ABV- so that's not it. How positive are you of the hydrometer reading at 1.040? Can you check it and water and see what it reads?

 

[Hefferweizen]

EC-1118 can go up to 18% ABV- so that's not it. How positive are you of the hydrometer reading at 1.040? Can you check it and water and see what it reads?

Hey Yooper, you are on the right track. I was using a new refractometer, which was recently calibrated. Just tried a hydrometer and it's showing under .994. Lesson learned, don't use a refractometer for FG unless measuring Brix perhaps

 

[Yooper]

Hey Yooper, you are on the right track. I was using a new refractometer, which was recently calibrated. Just tried a hydrometer and it's showing under .994. Lesson learned, don't use a refractometer for FG unless measuring Brix perhaps

Or use a conversion calculator online- they are really good at guestimating the actual FG, and then you can at least see if fermentation has stopped and not stalled!

 

[Hefferweizen]

Thanks for the help. I just upgraded to a 15 gal brewing system, this eliminates one screw-up variable when testing the new gear!

 

[CanadianGirl]

I’m curious how you would adjust this recipe for 15lbs of chokecherries? It’s my first time making wine with my own fruit, I’ve only done kits before. I’m so nervous, I don’t want to waste any precious fruit!!

 

[Yooper]

You can divide by 3, or whatever you need, to make a smaller size batch.

 

[Farside]

I thawed out the 25lb of chokecherries I picked this year and let them thaw overnight. Then I put them in a large pot with just enough water to cover them, and brought them to a gentle simmer / boil for about 10 minutes. Just enough to soften the skins.

I then mashed them up with a potato masher. There are still quite a few intact berries but I will be fermenting on the pulp so I'm not too worried about that.

When I transferred it to a 5 gallon pail, the head room was not really enough for my comfort so I split the batch into 2 5 gallon pails. I will let it ferment for 3 weeks on the skins, and especially early on, the CO2 will push the cap up a ways which is why I am using 2 pails. I will plunge the caps 2 or 3 times per day to get the skins back in contact with the must.

I'm using D47 as my yeast because I am looking for some accentuated flavours. But depending on how dry it finishes, I may put 1118 into the wine to clean up any residual sugars because I want this one dry.

I'm going to be aiming for 10% A.B.V and then freeze concentrating the wine to make a port. Residual sweetness will get concentrated too which is why I want this one bone dry. It's easy to add sweetness to port, but tough to take it away!