For 1 Gallon
3.5 Litres of Pressed Red Grape Juice
700 ml Sugar solution
1 Tablespoon French Oak Chips
1/2 Teaspoon Wine Tannin
1 Teaspoon Acid (Citric or Tartaric)
Nutrient
Yeast (Gervin B - Black Label)
OG: 1072
Tartaric acid version, FG: 998 = 10.1% ABV
Citric acid version, FG: 997 = 10.2% ABV
Method
Mix the lot together, it wont be a full gallon. Aim for your gravity around 1070-1080. The grape juice will probably be around 1070 so you wont need much sugar for the sugar solution.
Pitch the yeast and fit the airlock etc
When fermentation settles down top up with sugar solution of similar gravity to the original must.
Rack, degas and stabilise as usual. You probably won't need finings.
I used "Sungrown" pressed red grape juice. Bought in Tesco, cheap enough at around 80p/litre so you most expensive ingredient comes in at less than £3.00 and all in all your bottles cost less than £1 each to make.
I used Gervin B - black label - yeast. I like a clean, cool fermentation and used this yeast as a trial. The ferment was messy and vigourous (fouling the airlock etc). However the resulting wine is good. If you want a less messy ferment all I can recommend is what I know, Sauternes yeast - my favourite. (Edit; see the end of this post for more suggestions)
Result and Observations
I made two batches of this wine, the only difference was the acid. For one I used citric acid, the other tartaric. The citric gave a slight lemony flavour (not surprising). The tartaric didn't have this and was crisp and a little sharp. I'm sure that the sharpness will go with time when it rounds off, and perhaps even drops some crystals. Despite this I prefer the tartaric acid version even now. There isn't much in it but for a rosé the loss of the lemon flavour is no big deal and there is plenty enough body and feel anyway so the relative simplicity doesn't make the wine uninteresting. However, if you like the citrus notes then go for the citric acid version. Both are very good, it just comes down to personal preferences.
This is a great wine to try experiments with. Try different acids, yeasts, oak chips, gravity etc. keep it simple tho, vary one thing at a time so you can easily identify what influences the result. And start the comparative brews at the same time. It's easy enough to do, make up your basic must, split it, then make the addition that varies according to your experiment. Great fun, simple, keep records, you are now doing science!
Edit (4.11.10): At a little over 6 months old this is just fine and dandy enough to be kept for special occasions. The only thing I would change is the yeast to make the ferment less messy. Sauternes, Gervin D, Gervin 5 (GV5 or Lalvin D47) or perhaps Vintner's Harvest MA33.
hi i wil be giving this one a go only one question do you strain the oak chips or put them into a bag.
ReplyDeletehi Filmgoing, thanks for your question and good luck with the brew. The oak chips i get are more like dust than chips, tho there are some splinter size bits. As a result i don't use a bag, and the "chips" sink to the bottom. If your chips are bigger than this then it may be worth using a bag just to make sure that siphoning is easy.
ReplyDeletethanks critter for your reply.it sounds like my chips are much like yours dust.at the moment its all going well last year i made 5 gals of cider and added burbon chips its been in the barrell for 3 mouths i had a little taste has you do and i must say tasted good. thanks for your reply and i like the site
ReplyDeletenice angle on the cider Filmgoing! good to hear that you like the result, if i made cider then i would definitely give your idea a go. Very pleased to hear that you like the site too, thanks for saying so.
ReplyDeletehi critter.thanks for your reply i started my rose on the 4th of feb in the primary with a reading of 1080 i then tranfered to a demi on the 7th of feb i took another reading it came out at 1000 with nearly all fermation finished by my reading that is 10.86% would you say say all is well and yust leave to clear then rack to another demi to mature maybe then bottle thaks for you help on this.
ReplyDeleteSounds pretty perfect to me. i would expect the gravity to drop a little lower, perhaps 995 or so, but that doesn't mean that anything is wrong with yours. It does sound like you have some residual sugar tho, which means your fermentation will probably continue for a little while.
DeleteWhen it's stopped then i'd recommend leaving it to clear and then racking and degassing. If clearing goes slow then rack and degas to help speed it up. Bottle it when you want to drink it, or when you need the demi-johns. If you're not averse to using metabisulphite (campden tablets) and potassium sorbate then adding these after degassing will stabilise your wine.
All in all it sounds like you've made a winner tho, so good luck with trying to forget about it while it ages. It helps to get something else on the go, why not try one of the many quickie wines on my blog?
I've enjoyed talking with you, happing quaffing ;-)
me again critter just looked at the airlock and guise wot chocker i have taken some wine out of the demi so thay when it slows down i will then top it up would you agree ? thanks .
ReplyDeletesounds fine to me filmgoing, tho it's not something that i do i have seen plenty of other homebrewers doing it. you just need to be careful with the bit you removed, if not you run the risk of contaminating the bulk of your your brew.
ReplyDeletethanks for your help critter. i got a box of fruit flavered tea bags just looking at me i was wondering if you had quickie for those put them to some good instead of tea.i will be trying some more of your recipes i dont very often make wine in 5gals more like 1 gal how would i break the recipes down to allow for this . thanks
ReplyDeletehi again, you're very welcome filmgoing. it's a pleasure to share what i know.
Deletei don't have any recipes for tea bag wine, but i do often wonder about them. if i was to try it then i would use a quickie wine recipe for the base. either 2 litres of grapejuice per gallon, or 1litre of each of apple juice and grape juice. i'd keep the gravity low (1070-1080) to make a wine of 10-11% ABV. i'd add the tea bags at the secondary stage and remove them when i do the first racking. I reckon it would be delicious and ready to drink in 6-8 weeks.
for smaller quantities, e.g. 1 gallon, just scale the recipe. the only thing you may want to keep the same is the sachet of yeast. if that seems like a waste of yeast then remember that you can always do a second run on the slurry/sediment if you add all your ingredients to it immediately (or very soon) after decanting/siphoning from primary to secondary.
thanks for your help on this. i just put together a quick recipes for my fruit tea wine. 1-litre of apple juice. 1-litre of grape juice. 1.50 of sugar 1 teaspoon of citric acid 1 teaspoon of pectolase 1 teaspoon of nutrient yeast plus 20 fruit tea bags witch i was going to infuse in boiling water for so min. then squeese and leave to cool then add to primary wot do think lol ??????
ReplyDeletesounds good to me filmgoing. I'd keep an eye on the OG and let that be my guide to how much sugar to add, keeping the OG around 1070-1080. Simply means you'll be drinking it sooner rather than later and can get a quick feel for whether it works for you or not. If you like it then you could either keep on going with it or formulate a recipe with only fruit juice and a higher OG so you end up with a wine of around 12.5-13.5 %ABV and more body, but of course you'll have to wait longer for it to age (6-12 months quite likely).
DeleteCitric acid is a fine choice cos it's fruity, and so should work fine with fruity tea bags. How you deal with extracting the flavour from the tea bags is something that neither of us have done before. Hot water will extract flavours that cold water won't extract, and more of them. So using boiling water has undeniable good sense and logic. If i made it then i would maybe do the same, but i'd also be curious to add the teabags at secondary stage, straight into the brew. Alcohol will also extract flavours that water alone won't. And i'd leave the tea bags in for some days so the extraction would be lengthy and hopefully successful.
Still on extraction, tea bags are of course designed for hot water extraction. So your approach has merit, and if i were you then i'd stick with it because you'll then be able to say it is "my wine, my formulation" and that feels good!
The one difference i think would be worth making would be to add your extract at secondary stage. The fermentation at primary stage is vigorous, which means that the more volatile (and often subtle) flavours get blown off with the fermentation gases. At secondary stage the fermentation is much more gentle and those volatiles stay in the wine more. The obvious advantage is that you keep a fuller profile of flavours, the less obvious advantage is that you need to use less! This is important where you're either on a budget, or using lots of these flavour imparting ingredients is not practical. Elderflower wine is a fine example of this, and these days i ALWAYS add my elderflowers at secondary stage, and so save myself a load of time in collection/foraging and working up the flower sprays for addition.
I hope my verbose answer doesn't put you off. Essentially i reckon you've come up with a good plan, and it's well worth giving a go. What yeast are you using, and why have you chosen it? Very best of luck with your brew (sounds like you won't need it tho!). hugs.
nice answer critter thanks for that i will be keeping you posted you could say you are my mentor lol.wot yeast would you use and why . thanks again
ReplyDeletehi again. yeast choice often boils down to practicalities so what suits me may not suit you. For me i have very limited space to brew in, it's cool and carpeted. So i choose low foaming yeasts (cleaning goo out of carpets is not my idea of fun) that are happy at low temperatures. Yeasts produce more than alcohol and carbon dioxide, they also make esters. Esters are fruity smelling molecules. Pineapple chunks, pear drops and other boiled sweets are flavoured with esters. But esters are also solvents used in glues and nail varnish for example.
DeleteIf the temperature range in your "brewery" is outside of the preferred range for your yeast then it won't make the esters that taste good and it may make esters that taste awful. Luckily optimal temperature ranges are pretty broad, but checking the range you have in your brewery is a good plan. Yeast packets usually have written on them what the best range is.
Yeast packets (or brochures on the shop shelf) will also have other info on them. The style of wine it suits, dry, sweet, white, red etc. Some yeasts metabolise malic acid (the main acid in apple juice, which tastes a little harsh) but most don't. to be honest an acid reducing yeast like these is not needed when the apple juice content is low, as in the brew you're making. Other things may be the nature of sediment, is it compact or fluffy.
None of this stuff is rocket science, most of it is simple practicalities as i said already. But knowing that us brewers have so many options to choose from is a great tool to have in our tool belt!
I usually list my yeast choice on my recipes, but unless you have a cool place for fermentation you may not want to copy my choices. Your supplier should be able to advise you, and if not (some homebrew shop owners are mainly into beer and not knowledgeable about wines) you'll make a good choice by reading the packets. Certainly it'll be a better choice than general purpose wine yeast.
The main brands i've come across are Gervin, Lalvin, Vintner's harvest, and then there are the homebrew suppliers own brands e.g. ritchies. Your shop (or online site) should have info to help the decision making. Most yeast strains are available from any brand even tho they may have different names or numbers.
A good choice of yeast will improve your results, but all these things are small incremental changes. On their won you may be hard pressed to tell the difference, but when you're making informed acid choices, yeast choices, using nutrient, enzymes, getting your OG right, doing your best to keep temperatures steady, waiting long enough for aging etc etc etc then the result is a million miles better than when you pay no attention to any of this stuff.
It sounds like you're well down the road with making good choices already. Sorry i can't point you to any yeast in particular, but have no doubt that you now have plenty of good info for making a good choice yourself.
its a real pleasure chatting like this and thanks for a quick reply.like i said cider iam ok some bording on wine some of it is 10-to 11 % witch is not proper cider but wine . being bought up in the west country of the uk well we know our scrumppy . who knows maybe i should do mi own blog on cider that could be fun . take care .
ReplyDeletehaha, i failed on the quick replies recently!
Deletei made apple wine a couple of years ago, don't remember if you read those posts. The one made with pure juice was a stunner, delicious, and matured way faster than expected. i still have a bottle somewhere i think ... i hope!
You mention doing your own blog on cider making, why not! Blogspot is easy to use, it's all drag and drop really. But you may be a tech savvy scrumper and so be able to make something much more fancy than blogspot. And you could also do apple wine recipes, and educate us all on scrumpy vs cider.
By the way i was recently in Cornwall, near Padstow. Camped in farmers field and enjoyed a long weekend in the surf, on my body board, with about a dozen like-minded others. Constantine Bay, Booby Bay and another i can't remember the name of. I hope to return, very soon, for more of the same (plans are being made). And i'd love to live in Cornwall. Who knows, one day perhaps.
hi critter just to say that i racked the oak rose and i had to have a small taste has you do well impressed i have left it in a 1gal demi . going to put it away for about 3 mouths.cant wait to taste . thanks
ReplyDeletegood to hear, and of course you have to try a sample when you rack. patience is good, but a little curiosity keeps us enthused and excited. I just read your most recent comment - so i'm all out of sync - and smiled broadly when i read this one. it turned out good, your optimism and confidence were well grounded. give yourself a pat on the back and polish your halo regarding your patience.
Deletehi critter wonder if you could help me with this i made some elderflower and apple back in 28th jan 013 the sg 1120 i took a reading tonight 7th march witch was 1040 i had a taste and it was very sweet i was surprised as there were no bubbles comeing out of the airlock or no bubbles in the dj witch indicated to me that all was finished i was getting readey to rack it any suggestion on this on wot to do if anything . thanks filmgoing
ReplyDeleteHi Filmgoing
Deleteapologies for the slow response.
Have you made any progress with this? An OG of 1120 is pretty high. That it fermented down to 1040 (without a hitch) is something that many would fail to achieve.
by quick and dirty mental arithmetic your wine is significantly over 10% already and so the yeast may be struggling a little. There could be a few reasons, insufficient nutrient (add more), alcohol level beyond yeast tolerance (unlikely at 10-11%) but if so then adding a high tolerance yeast should get it started. Some yeasts are marked as good for restarting stuck ferments and are often the same as high tolerance yeasts. If you're adding new yeast then you may want to make a starter, or give the must a good sloshy stir to get air dissolved so the yeast buds (multiplies) quickly.
Finally, if you don't want to do any of those things then just leave the wine, with an airlock of course, and it may restart all on it's own. If it doesn't then you could try blending it with a very dry wine. However the residual sugar means that fermentation may get going again, so if you want to avoid that then campden tablets and potassium sorbate will be your friend.
hope this helps, but it would be better if the fermentation had just started up again while i was being a slack responder. it happens sometimes.