Thread: Homemade Country Wine Production

I like to watch the yeast work all the time. I think I make more wine than I can drink just to watch the yeast work. These 2 secondary fermenters are topped off so minimum area for oxygen exposure.

There is nothing attractive about frozen fruit thawing except the knowledge that the thawed fruit will almost immediately turn into pulp. Very little smashing will be needed, not even the fruit press is needed here. Juice extraction by the yeast will be a easy task. More to come.



A picture of the first glass after 12 months of bottle aging Bon Temps' Honey Spiced Mead. I step fed this Mead to over 20% alcohol before the yeast died. It is made with Page Mandarin juice, Cinnamon sticks, cloves, cayenne pepper, & ginger root. Super smooth now, all the flavors complementing each other, on a cold winter night very welcome to the taste buds. A lingering burn from the cinnamon & cayenne pepper warms the mouth after each sip. Good Stuff.

Busy day today but I managed to start the Pear wine I was planning using the Pears Bon Temps grew. I harvest fruit when available and try to ferment during the cooler months. For a twist and to make a unique wine I'm going to create a Pear Cobbler Wine.



First off was to cut open all the vacuum bags and add the Pears to the Primary Fermenter. Everything used here is sanitized to prevent contamination.



All total I had 30 pounds of Pears or about 3-1/3 gallons of pulp & juice.



For support of the Grape Wine Yeast I added 1 box of Golden Raisins. I usually add more but have found it is not necessary.



I weigh all the sugar with a digital scale. 9 pounds of Sugar is added to 1 gallon of distilled water.



Once on the stove I bring the syrup mixture to 180 degrees and totally clear before adding the syrup to Bon Temps' Pears.



After mixing well I tasted the Must for PH. Not scientific but accurate for the start of the wine making process. I'm looking for a final PH below 3.70, preferably around 3.5 as that along with a higher ABV makes a very stable wine when bottled and aged. 7 Teaspoons of Acid Blend was added and wow it popped out the Pear flavor even more.



Here is where I have to deviate from the norm, I just don't do norm anything so since this is a dessert wine I'm making it taste like a dessert, Baked Pear Cobbler. The Cinnamon added was 1tsp, just enough to bring out the aroma to the nose.



Campden tablets were used to kill any wild Yeast so now I wait 24-48 hours for it to work before adding the Yeast.



Here is a quick picture of the Lemon & Mandarin wines progress in clarity. I will need to rack these soon into a clean vessel for further fermentation. More later.

Pear cobbler sounds tasty. I bet the finished product will be good.

Originally Posted by SuperDave336

Pear cobbler sounds tasty. I bet the finished product will be good.

New Pear wine makers usually end up with a weak flavored wine as Pears really don't have a very strong flavor. Flavor, texture, & moisture all tell us we are eating a Pear. Since we had excess Pears I used 30 pounds of fruit to a very small amount of water so I expect the quality of this wine will be very high but due to the amount of fruit pectin present it will take close to a year to fully clear.

Love what you do: Pear Cobbler Wine

Makes me hungry and thirsty at the same time. Not fair, but I love it!

Since we are looking for a "Fresh Baked" flavor to this Pear Cobbler wine I thought D-47 Yeast would deliver the best flavor. When D-47 ferments it produces a wonderful yeast aroma in the room. I can't say it will carry over but out of all the wine yeasts I keep here D-47 smells the most like baking bread.



This GoFerm yeast starter supplement really boosts the yeast colony's health. If you are making a yeast starter I highly recommend it.



Once I get the distilled water cooled to under 110 degrees I add the GoFerm then as it cools to 104 degrees I add the dry wine yeast without stirring.



These pictures are of a time lapse from adding the yeast to the measuring cup to 20 minutes later. Each photo is a time lapse of 5 minutes. the final yeast starter is Rockin'.




The mega dose of Pectic Enzyme did a good job of breaking down the fruit after 30 hours. I just dumped the yeast starter to one side of the bucket so it can acclimate on it's own as it wants. More later.

I love the smell of rising yeast in the morning, especially beer or wine yeast! lol