Wine Continued...

October 5, 2014

Secondary Fermenter decanting

Brix is 30

Decanted and removed the dregs- in which there was practically no sediment at all!  The wine is a clear ruby color and tastes really good.   I don't think there is much alcohol content. The Brix was 30, SG 1.1292.  I calculated the original SG against the SG at the end of the main part of fermentation and the alcohol content is about 10% or so I think...  This will be remedied by fortification.  Apparently, port is a fortified wine with an alcohol content around 19-22%.  I'll need to add a few bottles of brandy to it to make it more potent.  Okay - brandy shopping I will go!

 I bottled one bottle and the dregs I put into a couple of beer bottles and put in the fridge.

I am going to do the fortification and bottling today.  Let's hope I have enough wine bottles!

I am going to call the wine - Little Red Hen - because all by myself I made it after I asked for help.

But I will not drink it all by myself - I will be giving it away as Christmas Presents.

My first real bottle of wine!

Wine color is beautiful!

Plum Wine Experiment

This is going to be a series of posts because wine takes a long time and a lot of steps.

The plum tree in my yard plummets me with plums in late June, early July.  It is ridiculous how much fruit drops off this tree.  This year the plan was plum wine.

Plum Wine Experiment

I started on June 29th.  20 pounds of plums pitted and cut up and put into a nylon bag and added to sugar (over 10 pounds), campden tablets (kills wild yeast) and water.  Next day, added port wine yeast, nutrient.  Next few days - squeezed bag and smushed down in the primary fermenter - tested - Brix 27, SG 1.115   

The primary fermenter looks like a 6 gallon bucket from home depot but with a spigot and costs about $25 instead of $2.50.  Here begins my rant about how much I spent on this "experiment!"  

All told, I probably spent about $200 if you include the cost of sugar, equipment, etc.  However, this first outlay is the only big one.  Future brewing experiments will only cost the price of ingredients!  That being said, I am figuring this is me paying for Christmas presents 6 months early...

checking brix on 7/3

About 10 days later, July 10th, pulled nylon bag out, threw away and put the "wine" into the secondary fermenter.  

On July 20th tried the wine - and tested the Brix - 10, SG 1.04 - tasted nasty - added some sugar (about 2 cups mixed into some water).

secondary fermenter or carboy on 8/2

Today - August 2nd - pulled the "wine" out of the secondary fermenter back into the primary and cleaned the sediment out of the bottom of the secondary fermenter.  When they say "dregs" they mean gross disgusting looking goo!  That stuff was all cleaned out with hot water and soap.  Then back into the secondary fermenter the "wine" went.  Tested the Brix 21, SG 1.0875  Tasted the "wine".  Tastes a lot better than a week ago.

looking clearer - not quite wine yet...