‘Tis the season for your winemaking!
Tra la la la la la la la la!
Summer is almost here and soon there will be fruits and plants available for winemaking!
The first two to appear are Dandelion and Rhubarb. The recipes presented are for one gallon. If you wish to make more, just multiply by the number of gallons being made, except for the yeast. One sachet can handle five gallons.
Dandelion Wine
1 GALLON
INGREDIENTS
3 quarts dandelion petals, no green
1 pound chopped raisins
3 pounds Dextrose or SG to 1100
3 teaspoons acid blend
1 campden tablet, crushed
1/2 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 packet all purpose wine yeast
water to 1 1/4 gallon
INSTRUCTIONS
Mix all ingredients except the wine yeast in primary fermenter. Wait 12 hours or overnight. This is to allow the campden tablet to work. Add the wine yeast. Cover with a heavy cloth or plastic sheet.
Fermentation should start within 48 hours. Stir twice daily for 4 days.
Coarse strain out the solids and syphon into gallon jugs or carboys with fermentation locks attached. These secondary fermenters should be kept FULL. Rack off the sediment in 3 weeks, and again in 3 months.
When wine is clear and stable, bottle.
SWEET WINE
Wine may be sweetened to taste at time of bottling with wine coditioner. Add potassium sorbate(stabilizer crystals) to prevent a renewed fermentation.
RHUBARB
3 lb Rhubarb
1/4 pt White grape concentrate
7 pts water
2 1/4 lb sugar
1/4 tsp Tannin
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
1 Campden tablet, crushed
1 pkg Wine Yeast
At bottling stage only
1/8 tsp anti-oxident powder
Starting SG 1.095-1.100
METHOD
Select and use stalk ONLY. Wash, drain and cut into small pieces.
Place rhubarb in nylon straining bag, mash and squeeze out juice in to primary fermenter, keeping all pulp in strainign bag. Tie top and place into primary fermenter. Mix in sugar and campden. Cover primary.
Let mixture sit 2-3 days stirring once daily. Then, strain juice from bag. Discrad pulp.
Stir in all other ingredients(except anti-oxident), using cold water then add yeast. Cover primary.
Stir daily and check Specific Gravity.
When ferment reaches SG 1.040(3-5 days) syphon wine of sediment into glass secondary. Attach airlock.
When ferment is complete (SG has dropped to 1.000, about 3 weeks) syphon off sediment into clean secondary. Reattach airlock.
To aid clearing syphon again in two months and again if necessary before bottling.
You may prefer them dry or slightly sweetened back.
To sweeten: add 1/ tsp stabilizer crystals(potassium sorbate), then stir in wine conditioner to taste.
Stay tuned for our next article on May 7th! "So, you can get a wine kit for 30 bucks…"