First up is an update on the watermelon-strawberry wine. I am SO HAPPY to say that the yeast starter solution not only worked, but worked WELL. That is the absolute fastest I have ever gone from introducing yeast to putting it in the secondary. If I had the time, I'd do that for ALL my wines, but sadly I don't have that much forethought :-/
It started fermenting immediately, and the color went from a pale color to the thick "smoothie" look indicative of a LOT of yeast being in there. The starting gravity was 1.13, which gave me a potential alcohol of.... a lot. like 17% ABV a lot. The yeast I used could definitely take it there, but it was at the upper limit of what it could do. But it went FAST and seemed to actually be going to dryness. In record time, it was time for the secondary:
Watermelon wine is very watermelon colored. Strangely I was surprised at this. I don't know why. I also, as usual, ended up with about half a gallon of extra. I always do that. I need to learn to stop that, but I just always underestimate how much water will come out of the fruit and so think there will be more solids left than actually are. Ah well.
This one bubbled for a while, and then started to clear. As with the mead, I did some gravity filtration, but this time only on the bit left in the small jug at the bottom. I couldn't trust myself to siphon that precisely, so I just got rid of the solids that way. It, too, unfortunately, turned a more gold color. I think it's because *someone* (totally not looking at you, Boyfriend) keeps leaving the pantry door open, and so light gets in there and breaks down the color. I should use some of my old black shirts to cover things again. But I so LIKE seeing how it's clearing!
Also, yeah. Totally went to dryness.
This one is..... not the best I've done. I should have let it be a lower alcohol wine as the kick from the alcohol completely over powers any fruit flavor until about 2-3 seconds after you stop coughing. I'm hoping it'll mellow, but I don't have much faith in that. I think this one's name will be "Potent Potable", because.. as my mother says about my grandfather's wines "Not a lot of bouquet, but it's got a helluva kick!". Also... Celebrity Jeopardy is awesome.
Next, the blueberry!
We went back to Weavers Berryland Farm to get fresh picked blueberries. And I'm glad we did. I'm also glad I had a small breakfast because I totally GORGED on blueberries in the field. (They said we could...). It wasn't quite "one for me, one for the bucket".. but it was close at times. We ended up with 2 gallons:
The colander is less than a gallon. I needed a little over a gallon (9 pints, to be precise) so we picked 2 gallons, so we'd have stuff to eat too. Once again, I'm using Jack Keller's recipe. These are lowbush blueberries, and I'm making the medium bodied dry wine there. I'm still trying to avoid all use of anything related to a grape (no grape juice, raisins, etc).
Once again, the recipe called to put all the berries in the bag and crush them. I was more prepared than I was last year, and just used my fists and was very careful to not drip as much. My kitchen looked MUCH less like a murder scene, though the bucket did look....... icky. :-p
I ended up adding a bit more sugar than the recipe called for because I knew I was going to underestimate the amount of water that will come from the berries, and that my volume would be higher than the 3 gallons I was aiming for. I ended up adding about 6 1/2 lbs instead of just 6. Oddly it made the juice and water look incredibly dark.
I have since put the yeast in and it's fermenting, but not as fast as usual. I used good old Montrachet to make sure the alcohol doesn't go too high, and to preserve that delightful dark color. There's a lot of ascorbic acid in blueberries which can inhibit yeast to a very large extent, which is likely why fermentation is going slower, and the recipe calls for it to ferment 10 days before putting it in the secondary. I've added some yeast energizer to see if I can get it to move a bit faster. I want this wine dry, not semi-sec.
The name for this one will be "I'm Blue" with a small stick figure either singing or thinking "Ah boo dee ah boo dah..." because... I'm a child of the 90's. That song is addictive. It's blueberry.
And lastly... PLUM!
While at work on Sunday, I made a promise to myself that if they had black plums on for less than $2/lb, I would grab them, as it's plum season here and very few farms have a pick your own for plums. Naturally, after making a deal with the universe, the universe called my bluff and showed me black plums for $1.89/lb. I sighed, told the universe I get it, and hauled away 18lbs of the suckers. Because I need 6 lbs per gallon, according to Jack.
And then went "Wait. I have the blueberry in my primary now. WHERE AM I GOING TO START THIS?!"
So Tuesday had me at the wine store getting ANOTHER primary bucket and nylon bag. I justified it by saying that one bucket will later be turned in to a "cleaning bucket" for mopping, cleaning bottles, and all that. That's my story and I will stick to it, even when I start another 2 batches at the same time later this year.
Tuesday night, I enlisted Boyfriend to help me chop up all 18lbs of said plums. I wish I'd thought to take a picture, but figured there's enough pictures of chopped fruit on here. Also, I had to put some bandaids on.
Me: Ow!
Boyfriend: Did you cut yourself?
Me: I'm using a sharp knife over the course of 3-4 hours.
Boyfriend: That's like asking me if I'm hungry, isn't it?
Me: Pretty much.
My thumb is a bit worse for the wear. But neosporin and bandaids are all that's needed. This time.
Again, I have NO IDEA how much water to add because 18lbs of chopped plums take up a LOT of volume, and I just can't trust the measurements to say "Here is 3 gallons" because I KNOW I'm going to lose volume when I take out the solids and well... ok.. this one might be 4 full gallons. Interestingly enough, it started to look like Hawaiian punch...
My "no grape things!" does not extend to grape tannin, as this is a necessary thing for a lot of wines. Tannin adds astringency, which is hard to describe, but is necessary in wines. Also tannins help with the clearing process as they bind to proteins and precipitate them out, which is a possible explanation as to why they taste like they do. It lends a taste of "dryness" to a wine, which can be confused with "bitter". But in this case, I have a very large feeling that it's being used less for a taste, and more for the "protein binding and precipitation" effect. Plum wine takes a VERY LONG time to clear, and so anything that will help get those proteins out of there is good.
I took a specific gravity reading before adding all my nutrients and was dismayed at the 1.08 I saw. I added a full 6 lbs (instead of the 5 1/2 the recipe stated) and hoped that would be enough, but apparently my plums aren't as ripe and I added too much water. I came home and added another 2lbs and that brought the SG up to a more respectable 1.10, which is where I'd like it to be. I sprinkled the yeast on and crossed fingers. Again, I used Montrachet.
And man... fermentation took off massively. The color has lightened already to the smoothie stage, and is just fizzing away. At 24 hours post yeast pitching, the SG had already gone down to 1.09. This one will definitely be in the secondary before the blueberry.
And that's what's going on in the kitchen now. I have one more open secondary and am debating on either doing a fig wine, or going ahead on my chai spiced bochet. So much fruit, so many ideas. So little time!
Boyfriend has told me I am allowed to name the plum wine "Somebody has set up up the bomb" only if I do a fig wine later and name it "Take off every fig."
I think this is a fantastic idea. And also why I love that man so much. :-p
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