New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association

Beer Recipes and Food => Mead, Wine, and Cider Recipes => Topic started by: Al-Loves-Wine on December 17, 2011, 03:26:24 PM

Title: President's Choice Blend Wine
Post by: Al-Loves-Wine on December 17, 2011, 03:26:24 PM
Hey guys! So I'm a relatively new brewer. Been doing wine for about 3 months, and have gotten totally addicted to the hobby! :D I don't get to crazy on beer brewing (yet), for now I have just done a couple Brew House kits, and was quite happy with them. But wines are another story, I'm always trying to think up some new recipe. So this is my latest, and I'm open to any input you more experienced guys may want to add.

Was in to the Superstore and bought 6 1.89L bottles of PC 100% Cranberry/Concorde grape juice. I was going to buy Ocean Spray, but the PC was cheaper and didn't have any additives that I suspected might hinder fermentation. Plus I blended up 2KG bag of frozen wild blueberries to add as well. So this is my recipe as follows.

6 - 1.89L Bottles PC 100% Cranberry/Grape juice
2KG of frozen wild blueberries blended
3KG of granular sugar dissolved in boiling water
6 tsp of pectic enzyme
1 tsp of tannin
6 tsp of yeast nutrient
3 tsp of yeast energizer
Water to top off to 5 Gallons and whip the crap out of it.
Lalvin EC-1118 Yeast

I considered adding some tartaric acid, however I believe its going to be fairly tart anyway. Now my only thing that I'm pondering is if it will need to be back sweetened. As for now my SG is 1.080, and if it ferments dry should get me into the 10% range.  :shakes:
Title: Re: President's Choice Blend Wine
Post by: Dave Savoie on December 17, 2011, 04:32:31 PM
If you havnt tried lavlin 71-B yet give it a go
Title: Re: President's Choice Blend Wine
Post by: Richard on December 17, 2011, 05:16:36 PM
The 1118 will take that all the way down to 1.00 and beyond, so you might need to back-sweeten if you don't like it that dry.

Other than that, recipe looks great - would love to try some when it's done :)
Title: Re: President's Choice Blend Wine
Post by: Chris Craig on December 18, 2011, 09:20:26 AM
I did something similar last year, only with raspberry instead of blueberry.  Turned out great.  It was gone in a  flash.

I used 1118, and it went to about .995, so I decided to cut it with some more of the juice after it was stabilized, then bottled.
Title: Re: President's Choice Blend Wine
Post by: Al-Loves-Wine on December 18, 2011, 11:09:44 AM
Excellent! Thanks for the insight guys. I don't have much option for yeast strains from the local shop here in Woody. She is not really a craft brewer, just does kits only. So I try to get the stuff she doesn't normally stock when I'm down in the city. Sadly when I get into S&S there, I'm so busy looking at everything else I end up forgetting something.  :roll:

I expect it will be as Richard mentioned, may need to back sweeten a bit. I will check the SG periodically over the next couple weeks and rack once I get it down. I also have one that I'm getting ready to rack that was similar that I did with Welches white grape juice and blended green seedless table grapes. Was into the sauce a bit when I was making it and forgot the take my SG before I pitched, but I'm sure its going to turn out great. Smells awesome so far!
Title: Re: President's Choice Blend Wine
Post by: Al-Loves-Wine on December 31, 2011, 03:01:43 PM
Well it dried up very well. It is certainly tart, and fermented out to 0.995. So I added a package of sweet reserve, Sorbate and P. Metabasulphite, and clearing with Sparkolliod. Hopefully it is tasty, but expect I will still need to back sweeten a bit possibly.


Cheers all!  :cheers:  And a Happy New Year!!!!
Title: Re: President's Choice Blend Wine
Post by: Richard on December 31, 2011, 03:23:29 PM
I thought sweet reserve was for backsweetening? You mean you'll need to back-sweeten more?
Title: Re: President's Choice Blend Wine
Post by: sdixon on December 31, 2011, 06:45:05 PM
This should be pretty decent... I'd love to give it a try. I only make fruit wine with berries that I pick myself, but I'm interested to see if a good wine can be made from store bought stuff ;-) Hopefully you can make it to a meeting one day ;-)
Title: Re: President's Choice Blend Wine
Post by: Al-Loves-Wine on January 01, 2012, 12:34:45 PM
Yes Richard, that is what I meant. I added it to back sweeten, but I believe I may have to add some additional sweetener after it clears. It was super tart!
Title: Re: President's Choice Blend Wine
Post by: Al-Loves-Wine on January 18, 2012, 09:36:51 AM
Well I was pleasantly surprised with how well this turned out. Chris hit this one dead on, its not going to last long! The one package of sweet reserve was enough back-sweeten to just leave it a bit tart, but very tasty with a nice cranberry flavor!
Title: Re: President's Choice Blend Wine
Post by: brew on January 18, 2012, 10:10:20 AM
Sounds really good! Too bad you couldn't get to Freddy to a meeting - be nice to try it!