Thread: Homemade Country Wine Production

Originally Posted by Rojo

Well when I posted about combining the 2 3gallon carboys of Lemon Mead I failed to write in the post that I did that to add Sulfite & Sorbate before back sweetening. That was why I had to wait 24 hours. I will go back and edit that post to reflect the complete process. Most posts in the wine making section I am drinking wine while posting if in the evening. Probably why the stabilizing part of the process was omitted .

No worries at all, no need to edit nutin. Even if you did, I prolly wouda forgot anyway!

No matter where I look around here something still needs addressing since the Tornado hit us. I had racked the 2 meads, forced to leave too much head space in 2 Carboys due to other more pressing work in front of me daily. Finally I was able to boil out enough bottles of this Italian Sparkling Wine my Bud's wife drinks to bottle the Mead. Bottling is one thing but this Mead is going to need a couple of years in the racks for the flavors to meld and the heat from the alcohol to cool. The Spiced Mead is very, very, complex and the flavors are still individualized, melding is needed. I expect 2-3 years at least for this Mead to be very enjoyable to drink.



This little Canadian wine filter is absolutely fantastic. That said I laid a Landmine for myself here. Later in the post I have a picture of the choice of filters, I should have used the coarse filter but used the #2 Polishing filters because that is the filter I always use.



This is the recovered Lemon Mead that after much research I have learned the "Skunky" smell to the nose happened because I fermented this batch too warm. Now too warm in fermenting a Mead is over 70 degrees. My house is rarely under 70 degrees except in dead of winter. Lesson Learned. Bon Temps has Honey for me and now I will not ferment a Mead till dead of winter. When recovering this mead I used Raspberry Puree and a all natural Raspberry flavoring. Well the mistake was adding the puree because of the fruit pectin it contained. Not going thru a fermentation process all that pectin was still in this Mead. I made notes in my Wine Making Diary to prevent this for happening again.



This bottling will be eased by filtering into this 5 gallon fermenter.



I should have used the coarse filters because the Polishing filters were plugged in the last gallon of the filtering process by the excess fruit pectin. Mead shot everywhere. The filter pump looked like a Mead sprinkler. Lots of that disaster is not in this post. Not the time to stop and take pictures.



I had a Nuclear Mess.



So success in the cleanup. 5 Gallons of filtered Raspberry Melomel ready to bottle. The Carboys are washed and sanitized so they will be ready to go next time their needed.


I can boil 22 of these fat bottles at one time in this 100 qt pot.



Local propane tank fillers are a pain to deal with so I use these big tanks so I rarely need to fill one.



Different bottles take different ways to remove the labels, these it was best to remove them with a razor scraper after soaking but while still hot. With the insulated chemical glove holding the hot bottle I would maintain the razor angle while turning the bottle.



Residual adhesive was removed with this cleaner.



Cleaning the bottles before sanitizing.



The sanitizer is injected into the bottle by pushing the bottle down on the piston/plunger. Very efficient pump.



All the bottles are then placed on the drying rack before filling.



30 Bottles of Raspberry Melomel ready to add the seals.