If you are interested in getting a book on wine making, I recommend The Joy of Home Wine Making. This is the book I reference when I have questions.
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Selecting the proper wine yeast for your wine is as important as deciding what kind of wine you want to make. Different yeasts will add different characteristics to wine and some have different uses. I’m going to explain what I look for in a wine yeast and some of the ones I use for my fruit wines.
First, I use dry wine yeast for my wines. There are liquid yeasts available, but I have not used them. Lalvin yeast is the brand I use the most. Red Star is another company that makes wine yeast. For this article, I’m going to review some of the Lalvin wine yeast that I use.
Lalvin EC1118 – A quick fermenting high alcohol tolerant yeast that has neutral effect on flavor and aroma. It can ferment up to 18% alcohol wines. This is my general purpose yeast. I use it in my dandelion wine and recommend it to beginning wine makers when they are first starting to make fruit wines. You can’t go wrong with this yeast.
Lalvin D47 – A moderate fermenting yeast that is good for bringing out the flavor and characteristics of the fruit. It also is good for wines where you want malo-lactic fermentation. Lalvin recommends this yeast for white and blush wines. I use it in my Elderberry wine to bring out the fruit flavor and encourage malo-lactic fermentation.
Lalvin 71B – A moderate fermenting yeast that is good for bringing out the aroma or esters of the wine. Lavin recommends this yeast for young reds and this is my second choice for my Elderberry wine.
Lalvin K1V-1116 – A moderate fermenting yeast good for fruit wines. This is the yeast for problem wines. It can tolerate low nutrition musts, like fruit musts. It can tolerate high SO2 levels, like in blueberry musts, and it can restart stuck fermentations. If you are having a problem with your wine fermenting, this is the yeast to use.
There are many more types of yeast that I did not cover. I use these four varieties on a regular basis because they have worked well for me. All of these strains will tolerate low nutrient levels which is common in fruit wines. I use each of them for different situations based on my experience. If you are just starting out with wine making and are not sure what yeast to use, pick Lalvin 1118. If you are having problems getting your wine to ferment, choose Lalvin 1116. The rest are for when you are ready to take you wine making to the next level.
Enjoy!
Last week we took a trip to Erie to do some wine tasting. We stopped at 3 of the winery’s this time. They were South Shore Winery, Heritage Winery, and Mazza Winery. As a wine maker, I am always trying to learn more about the art of wine making. One way to do that is to sample other wines. There is no better place to sample wines than at a winery.
At most winery’s you pay a small fee for a number of tastings. In Erie, it was $2 for 6 tastings. We split the tasting between us, so we each tried 3 wines. I usually try wines I am familiar with, but I also ask if there is one wine I should try while I am here, which one would that be? I get some strange looks with that question and then they usually ask me what kinds of wine I like. After that I get to try something unique to that winery. And it is something I probably would not have picked myself.
One winery did not charge a tasting fee and that was Heritage. They also had the largest selection of wines for sampling. Heritage has an “open” tasting bar and you have to pour the samples yourself, but if you want to try a large variety of wines, this is the one winery to visit.
South Shore Winery was by far the most unique. It has a beautiful stone cellar that is over 150 year old. You have to see this winery in order to appreciate the stone cellar. It is unlike any other winery I have seen. It is like you are walking into a cavern to taste wine. They are also part of the Mazza Winery.
Winery’s offer the wine maker an opportunity to sample different styles and types of wine. Most of these winery’s also offer different kinds of fruit wine. If you are trying to learn to be a better wine maker, sampling other wines will help you learn more about the art of wine making. By tasting other artist’s work, you can learn what is different from your wine and what is the same. Maybe they will give you new ideas for you wine. Maybe you can offer them some ideas. And as always,
Enjoy!
I received an email from Luva Bella Winery recently, they are now taking orders for Californian and Italian Wine Grape Juice. If you are looking for a source of Californian grape juice, check out their web site. They have a nice selection of varieties this year, so you should be able to find something you like. I’ve bought juice from them in the past and have been happy with their service. If you have time, try some of their wood oven baked Pizza and sample some of their wine.
Enjoy
When you think wine grapes, most people think of California, France, or Erie here in Pennsylvania, but there is another region that produces fine wine grapes. That region is the South American Country of Chile.
This past spring, I ordered some wine grape juice from Chile. Luva Bella Winery buys wine grape juice from Chile each spring. They sell it in 6 gallon buckets for $43 – $48 depending on the variety. The wine juice has already been adjusted, the only thing the wine maker needs to do is let the bucket warm to room temperature and stir the must. (They keep the wine juice in coolers to keep it from starting on its own.)
I bought 4 different varieties this year, Pinot Grigio, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and White Zinfandel. They are in various stages of completion and should be ready to bottle by fall when Luva Bella orders juice from California.
Chile may not come to mind as a source for good wine grapes, but I have been impressed with the quality I have purchased this year. If you want to make wine from fresh grapes in the spring, Chilian wine grapes are the solution.
Enjoy!
I recently made a batch of Peach Berry wine. I had some frozen peaches left over from a prior batch of wine. I bought some berries to add to it. Here is the recipe for a 5 gallon batch.
9 lbs of frozen peaches
2 lbs of blue berries
1.5 lbs of blackberries
1.5 lbs of strawberries
8lbs of sugar boiled in 2 gal of water
14 tsp of acid blend
5 tsp of yeast nutrient
1 1/4 tsp of tannin
5 campden tablets
PA was 13 %
TA was .60%
I boiled the water and sugar and poured it over the fruit, added 8 tsp of acid blend and tested acid. It was low so I added 6 more tsp of acid blend for a total of 14 tsp to get acid to .60% TA. Next I added the yeast nutrient, tannin. When the must was cool, I added the campden tablets. 24 hrs later I added pectin enzyme, 24 hrs after that I added Lavin D47 yeast.
I know it has be a while since I have last posted. I’ve been making lots of wine and experimenting with different recipes and I will be sharing that with you over the next few weeks. Some things that I have been doing include, oaking wine, flavoring wine, blending fruits among other things. I still teach classes at Porter House Brew shop and the next class is scheduled for September 11. I hope to see you there.
Last spring, I started two patches of Dandelion wine. They are just now getting ready to bottle. I was sampling the first batch prior to bottling, when I discovered it was pretty weak. I top up my wine with water, and this wine was pretty light to begin with, so by bottling time I was not happy with the body.
All is not lost when this situation occurs. Blending is always and option with a weak wine. I didn’t really have anything I wanted to blend this with, so I chose a different. route. One suggestions from Winepress was to add a can of grape concentrate juice to the wine. I choose to add a can of frozen apple juice to the 5 gallon carboy.
After adding juice, I gave the wine some time to adjust. It had already been stabilized, so it did not start fermenting again. However, I did have to wait for it to clear again. I took about 1 month for the wine to clear after adding the apple juice. After it was clear, I tasted it, and it was pretty good, far better than before. After just 1 month in the bottle, it has become respectable enough to be given away. I think it will age well.
Not every problem with wine making turns into disaster. Sometimes what you think is a problem, is really a blessing in disguise.This is not the first time I had some kind of issue with Dandelion Wine. A couple of years ago, I had a batch of Dandelion Wine that had cleared but started fermenting again. I could not get it to stop, the sugar level was below 2%PA, I needed the carboy, so I made sparkling wine out of it. That was some of the best Dandelion wine I have ever made!
Sadly, that sparkling wine is long gone, but my point is to not give up. Wine making is part art as well as science. A little creativity can help turn what otherwise might be a problem, into a success. Do some research, read everything you can about wine making, and don’t be afraid to experiment. You just might be surprised by the results.
Enjoy!
We were racking wine this weekend. Some we bottled, some needed racked. One of the last ones we racked was Apple Wine. The carboy we racked from had a ring around the neck on the inside. This is normal, and of course, needs cleaned.
Now we could have just scrubbed the carboy with a brush. I’ve done that plenty of times. but I was pressed for time, so I used an alternate method. I mixed 2 tablespoons of B-Brite with two gallons of water. I put this in the carboy. I got an old coffee can and filled it with water and placed it in my wash tub. I then placed the carboy with the B-Brite into the coffee can upside down. The water in the coffee can will keep the B-Brite solution from draining from the carboy. The B-Brite solution, will attack any residue in the neck of the carboy.
I left the carboy upside down in the coffee can in the wash tub over night. The next day, the neck of was clean and I didn’t have to scrub the carboy! This is a nice trick to use if you don’t have the time to clean the carboy. It is also good if you can’t get some stubborn residue cleaned. Just make sure what ever you are trying to get cleaned is covered in B-Brite solution.
Enjoy!
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