Ben Evert.com » Fruit Wines

Dried Cranberry Wine

ben — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:08:00 +0000

* 1 lb dried, unsulfited cranberries * 2-1/2 lbs granulated sugar * 1 tsp pectic enzyme * 1 tsp yeast nutrient * 1/8 tsp tannin * 1 crushed Campden tablet * water to one gallon * 1 pkt Lalvin RC212 (Bourgovin) wine yeast Chop the cranberries or run them through a mincer. Place in primary and add one quart warm water. Stir in crushed Campden tablet. Cover and set aside 12 hours. Add pectic enzyme, recover primary and set aside another 12 hours. Meanwhile, bring remainder of water to boil and stir in sugar until completely dissolved. Cover sugar and allow to cool to room temperature. When 12-hour pectic enzyme treatment is complete, combine remaining ingredients in primary and add sugar water. Stir well and cover primary. Stir twice daily for 7 days. Strain out cranberries, rack liquid into secondary and fit airlock. Rack every 60 days for 6 months, topping up and refitting airlock each time. Stabilize, sweeten to taste, wait 10-14 days, and rack into bottles. Store in cool, dark place for additional 6 months. Source: Jack Keller

Quince Wine

ben — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:20:00 +0000

Third in the Series

This is a nice dry wine with hints of pear and apple in its flavor. For those who have never seen a quince tree, the fruit is yellow to yellow-green---it resembles a pear in color, though it doesn't have the classic pear shape. (The fruit looks something like a fat doughnut, with depressions where the whole should be on either end.)

Makes 1 Gallon

20 ripe quinces

2 1/4 pounds sugar

Juice and zest of 2 lemons

1 teaspoon pectic enzyme

1 Campden tablet

1 package wine yeast

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

1 1/2 cups orange juice at room temperature

Grate the quinces as near the core as possible. Boil the grated peel and pulp in enough water to cover, for a maxium of 15 minutes. (Don't over cook the fruit or you may have trouble clearing the wine.)

Strain the mixture and pour the juice onto the sugar in fermenter. Add the juice and zest of the lemons. Let the mixture cool then add the pectic enzyme. Add a capmden tablet and let the mixture sit, well covered for 24 hours.

In a jar, make a yeast starter culture by combining the wine yeast, yeast nutrient, and orange juice. Cover, shake vigorously, and let stand 1 to 3 hours, until bubly; then add to must.

Add enough water to make 1 gallon and allow the mixture to ferment for 48 hours. Rack into an airlocked fermenter and let the wine ferment to completion (about nine months), racking at intervals as needed to clear the wine. When you are sure that fermentation is complete, bottle, cork and cellar the wine.

Age for at least six months before sampling.

Technorati Tags: Wine, Winemaking, Quince, Recipe

Sweet Mulberry Wine

ben — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:42:00 +0000

" Any one who has a mulberry tree in the yard knows that these berries can be a real pain in the neck. The fruit falls all summer long, creating disagreeable purple stains on the patio, shoes and children's clothes. When you do gather enough to make something of them, the stems are difficult to remove and you end up with purple fingers and meager results. In fact, as far as we can tell, there's only one thing mulberries are really good for, and that's making wine. Maybe that's why we found so many mulberry wine recipes. Here is one on the sweet side."

Makes 1 gallon

5 pounds mulberries

1 teaspoon pectic enzyme

4 pounds sugar

1 Campden tablet

1 package wine yeast

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

1 1/2 cups ornage juice at room temperature

1 teaspoon acid blend

1/4 teaspoon grape tannin

Crush the mulberries in a 2 gallon fermenter. Pour 2 quarts of boiling water over them. Let the mixture cool, add the pectic enzyme, and cover the container with plastic wrap or foil. Let stand for four or five days, stirring daily.

Strain the liquid through cheesecloth and add sugar, stirring to dissolve. Add a Capmden tablet and let sit for 24 hours, well covered, before proceeding.

In a jar, make a yeast starter culture by combining the wine yeast, yeast nutrient and orange juice. Cover, shake vigorously, and let stand 1 to 3 hours until bubbly, then add to the must.

Add the remaining ingredients, plus enough water to make 1 gallon and pour the liquid into an airlocked fermenter. Let the wine complete the fermentation process. When it is clear, rack and bottle the wine.

Wait at least six months before sampling your first bottle.

Technorati Tags: Wine, Winemaking, Mulberries, Recipe

Apricot Wine

ben — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:11:00 +0000

"The apricot's intense flavor becomes mellow and full-bodied in wine. The lovely golden color is a plus."

3 pounds fresh apricots 1 1/2 pounds sugar 1 pound honey 1 pound high quality dried apricots chopped Juice of 2 lemons 1 teaspoon lemon zest 1/4 teaspoon grape tannin 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient 1 teaspoon pectic enzyme 1 Campden tablet 1 package wine yeast Cut fresh apricots in half, remove pits and cut the fruit into quarters. Put the fruit in the fermenter and cover with sugar. Mix 1/2 gallon of water with the honey in a suacepan and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam. When no more foam rises to the top, add the chopped apricots to the honey mixture and pour over the fresh apricots. Add the lemon juice, lemon tannin, yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme and Campden tablet to the mixture. Let stand for 24 hours. Add the yeast and let the mixture ferment for one week, stirring daily. Remove the solids and pour the liquid into an airlocked fermentation vessel. Let ferment for one month. Rack again and let ferment for two months. Rack again then bottle, cork and cellar the wine. Wait at least six months before sampling. Makes 1 gallon My Note - Dried apricots usually are treated with sulfites. Try to purchase untreated apricots. Technorati Tags: Wine, Winemaking, Apricots, Recipe

Pineapple-Orange Delight

ben — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 04:02:00 +0000

This is the first in the series of recipes from Making Wild Wines and Meads.

"The color is light, but the flavor is redolent of the tropics. Choose a ripe pineapple, one that will release a leaf of its topknot with a firm tug--or give the pineapple the sniff test. The flavor--and ultimately the bouquet of your wine--will be reflected in the aroma of the pineapple, you use"

Yield 1 Gallon

4 pounds ripe pineapple

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

4 ounces golden raisins, chopped

2 pounds orang-blossom honey

12 ounces ornage juice concentrate

juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon orange zest

1/4 teaspoon tannin

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

1 teaspoon pectic enzyme

1 Campden tablet

1 package wine yeast

Chop and core the pineapple, and transfer to a 2 gallon plastic bucket. Add the sugar and raisins, and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, mix the honey in 1/2 gallon of water and bring to a boil. Skim off foam. When no more foam rises to the top, pour the honey-water mixture over the pineapple mixture. Add the orange juice, lemon juice, orange zest, tannin, yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme and Campden tablet. Let stand for 24 hours.

Add the yeast and let the mixture ferment for one week, stirring daily. Remove the solids. Pour th eliquid into an airlocked fermentation vessel and let ferment for 1 month. Rack again and let ferment for two months. Rack again. When fermentation is complete bottle.

Wait at least six months before sampling.

Technorati Tags: Wine, Winemaking, Pineapple, Orange, Recipe

Blueberry Port

ben — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:53:00 +0000

6 pounds (12 cups) blueberries 1/2 cup Dry malt 4 cups granulated sugar 1/2 teaspoon acid blend 1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient 2 campden tablet 1 package Sherry or Port yeast water Crush the fruit. Add 12 cups of water and all other ingredients except the yeast. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Let sit overnight. Specific gravity should be between 1.090 and 1.095. Sprinkle yeast over the mixture and stir. Stir daily for five days. Strain the must and squeeze the juice out. Siphon into secondary fermentor, add water to make up volume and attach airlock. For a dry wine, rack in three weeks, and every three months for one year. Bottle. NOTE: You must finish wine dry if making Port. For a sweet wine, rack at three weeks. Add 1/2 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup wine. Stir gently, and place back into secondary fermentor. Repeat process every six weeks until fermentation does not restart with the addition of sugar. Rack every three months until one year old. Bottle. The wine is best if you can refrain from drinking it for one full year from the date it was started. NOTE: If desired, 1 cup red grape concentrate may be added to the Blueberry Wine at the time of bottling for a fuller flavour. If used, also add 1/2 teaspoon Stabilizer to prevent restarting fermentation. Technorati Tags: Wine, Winemaking, Port, Blueberries, Recipe

Lime Wine

ben — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:24:00 +0000

2 dozen limes

1lb raisins, chopped

4lbs sugar

1 gallon water

1 tsp yeast nutrient

wine yeast

Peel limes and set aside. Place peels in fermentor. Dissolve sugar in 2 quarts boiling water; pour over peelings and let stand for 24 hours. Squeeze limes. Combine remaining 2 quarts water with raisins and lime juice. Squeeze limes in a separate container. Strain peel-water mixture into raisins and lime juice mixture and discard the peels; add yeast and nutrient, and put entire mixture into fermentor. Ferment for 2 weeks, stirring daily. Strain and pour into secondary fermentor. Age for at least 8 months.

Technorati Tags : Lime, Wine, Wine_Recipe

Crabapple Wine

ben — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 11:17:00 +0000

6 pounds crabapples (about 6 quarts)

water

2 campden tablets

1/4 teaspoon pectic enzyme

1 package wine yeast

1 teaspoon nutrients

3 pounds granulated sugar (about 6 3/4 cups)

honey

Crush apples -- DO NOT cut seeds open. Place in primary fermentor. Add enough water to cover apples. Crush and stir in campden tablets. Add pectic enzyme and stir well. Let sit overnight. The next day, add yeast and nutrients. Stir. Leave for 5 days, stirring each day.

On the 6th day, strain and discard apples. Add sugar. Make up to one gallon with water. Specific Gravity should be 1.100. Put into secondary fermentor with an airlock.

Three weeks after fermentation has stopped, siphon off the lees. Mix 1/2 cup honey with 1 cup wine. Stir honey mixture back into the wine. Put back into secondary fermentor. Fermentation should begin again. If it does not,add 1/2 teaspoon nutrients.

If you want a sweet wine, repeat the honey addition one or two more times, until fermentation does not start again when honey is added. For a dry wine, Rack every three months and do not add more honey.

When wine is 6 to 12 months old, bottle. Wine is ready to drink one year after the date the batch was started.

Technorati Tags: Wine, Winemaking, Crabapple