Pumpkin Wine

Photo by: D3

Ingredients

* 5 lbs grated pumpkin flesh
* 3-1/4 lbs finely granulated sugar
* 1/2 oz citric acid
* 1 tsp yeast nutrient
* 1/4 tsp yeast energizer
* 6-1/2 pts water
* wine yeast (see note below)

Procedure

Bring the water to a boil and stir in the sugar until dissolved. Remove from heat. 

Place grated pumpkin flesh in primary and pour boiling water over pumpkin. 

Allow to cool to room temperature and add citric acid, yeast nutrient and activated yeast. 

Cover primary and stir daily for three days, submerging "cap" as necessary. 

Pour through a nylon straining bag and let pumpkin drip drain. 

Transfer to secondary and fit airlock. After 5 days, top up if necessary. 

Rack after two weeks and again after additional 30 days, topping up and refitting airlock each time.

 

Set aside for 3 months and then rack, stabilize, sweeten if desired, wait 10 days for dead yeast to fall out, and rack into bottles.

Note: This is Leo Zanelli's recipe and he swears by it. The sugar is high and will produce either an 18% alcohol dry wine or a lower alcohol sweet wine, depending on what yeast you use. If you want the high alcohol, use a high alcohol yeast such as Lalvin K1V-1116 (Montpellier) or Wyeast 3347 (Eau de Vie), both of which can handle the extreme sugar. If you want moderate alcohol but sweet wine, use Red Star Cote des Blancs for 13% alcohol with 5% residual sugar. For slightly less sweet, use Lalvin 71B-1122 (Narbonne), ICV-D47 (Cotes-du-Rhone), Lalvin Simi-White, or White Labs WLP730 Chardonnay White Wine for 14% alcohol and 4% residual sugar, or Lalvin AMH (Assmanshausen), Lalvin BGY (Burgundy), Lalvin CY3079, Lalvin ICV-D80 (Cote Rotie), or White Labs WLP720 Sweet Mead/Wine for 15% alcohol and 3% residual sugar. 

 [Adapted from Leo Zanelli's Home Winemaking from A to Z with modifications by Jack Keller]
Source: Jack Keller

Sweet Potato Wine

Ingredients

Age all wines one year or more.

12 cups chopped sweet potatoes or yams
5 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups light raisins
1 teaspoon yeast nutrients
2 oranges
1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme
1 campden tablet
water
1 package wine yeast

Peel and chop sweet potatoes fine. Place in large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Simmer 25 minutes. Chop raisins and put into primary fermentor with sugar. Strain liquid into primary fermentor and squeeze all liquid out of the pulp. Pulp can now be used for sweet potato pie or other recipe.

Add enough water to make up to 1 gallon. Slice oranges thinly. Add all other ingredient EXCEPT yeast. Stir to dissolve sugar. Let sit overnight.

Next day, Specific Gravity should be 1.090 - 1.100. Stir in yeast. Stir daily for 5 to 6 days or until frothing ceases. Siphon into secondary fermentor and attach airlock.

For a dry wine, rack in three weeks, and every three months for one year. Bottle.

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.

If wine is not clear, or still has quite a bit of sediment forming between rackings, Fine the wine as follows:

Use wine finings or plain gelatin. Gelatin: use 1 teaspoon per 6 gallons of wine. Finings: 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallons or as per package directions. Soak in 1/2 cup cold water for 1/2 hour. Bring to a boil to dissolve. Cool. Stir into wine. Let sit 10 to 14 days. Rack. If not clear enough yet, repeat process. DO NOT increase amount of gelatin or finings. The mixture will stay suspended in the wine, preventing it from ever clearing. Bottle once wine is clear.

The wine is best if you can refrain from drinking it for one full year from the date it was started.

Pea Pod Wine

Ingredients

Age all wines one year or more.

5 pounds pea pods
6 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon yeast nutrients
2 teaspoons acid blend
1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme
1 campden tablet
1 gallon water, hot
1 package wine yeast

Wash pea pods. Simmer in water until tender. Strain liquid into primary fermentor and squeeze all liquid out of the pulp. Discard pulp. Add water to make up to 1 gallon. Add sugar, nutrients, acid, pectic enzyme and campden tablet. Stir to dissolve sugar. Let sit overnight.

Next day, Specific Gravity should be 1.090 - 1.100. Stir in yeast. Stir daily for 5 to 6 days or until frothing ceases. Siphon into secondary fermentor and place airlock.

For a dry wine, rack in three weeks, and every three months for one year. Bottle.

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.

If wine is not clear, or still has quite a bit of sediment forming between rackings, Fine the wine as follows:

Use wine finings or plain gelatin. Gelatin: use 1 teaspoon per 6 gallons of wine. Finings: 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallons or as per package directions. Soak in 1/2 cup cold water for 1/2 hour. Bring to a boil to dissolve. Cool. Stir into wine. Let sit 10 to 14 days. Rack. If not clear enough yet, repeat process. DO NOT increase amount of gelatin or finings. The mixture will stay suspended in the wine, preventing it from ever clearing. Bottle once wine is clear.

The wine is best if you can refrain from drinking it for one full year from the date it was started.

Rice Saki

Use raw rice rather than polished rice, if possible.

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds rice
1 pound raisins
2 1/2 pounds honey
1 tablespoon acid blend
3/4 teaspoon energizer
1 campden tablet
1 package sherry yeast
water

Wash rice. Place in primary fermentor. Add raisins. Pour 1 gallon hot water into fermentor. Add all other ingredients except yeast. Let sit overnight.

Specific Gravity should be 1.100. Add yeast. Stir daily for 5 to 7 days. Strain out the pulp and put wine into secondary fermentor. Attach airlock. Rack when Specific Gravity reaches 1.020. Rack again when Specific Gravity reaches 1.010. Continue to rack every 3 months for 1 year. This method will yield a dry wine.

For a sweeter wine, add 1/2 cup honey at each racking. Rack every 6 weeks, adding more honey, until fermentation has ceased. Then rack every 3 months for 1 year with no further honey additions.

Bottle the wine when you are sure it is stable.

Honeysuckle Wine

With Spring almost here (it's still been a little chilly here), the flowers will soon be popping out. What better way to celebrate than to make a batch of wine with the flowers. For this wine make sure that you only use the flowers because the berries are poisonous.

Ingredients

4 cups honeysuckle blossoms 5 1/2 cups granulated sugar juice and rind of 2 oranges 1/2 pound raisins 2 teaspoons acid blend 1 teaspoon pectic enzyme 1 campden tablet 1 teaspoon nutrients 1 teaspoon tannin water to make 1 gallon 1 package wine yeast

Gently rinse the blossoms in cold water. Place in primary fermentor. Add 1 gallon of water and all other ingredients except yeast. Stir to dissolve sugar. Specific Gravity should be between 1.090 and 1.100. Let sit overnight.

The next day, add yeast. Stir daily until frothing stops -- about 3 to 5 days. Strain out blossoms and siphon into secondary fermentor. Attach air lock. 

For a dry wine, rack in six weeks, then every three months for one year. Bottle.

For a sweet wine, rack at six 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. 

Bottle the wine when it is 6 to 12 months old. I like to continue racking for a whole year to ensure the wine is as clear as possible. Wine is ready to drink one year after the date the batch was started.

Wine Labels The Easy Way

If you happen to stop by my house, you would find that I generally store my wine in gallon jugs. I'm just too darn lazy or getting too old to mess around with filling wine bottles.

Christmas time is a different story. I love to give my better wines away as gifts to friends and family. My problem is that I generally spend hours making the perfect wine label to make my bottles look professional.

This year my problem is solved. At Wine Label Builder you can make a professional looking label in less than a minute.

Not only did I find this as a real time saver but if your making several cases for that special occasion you can have professionally looking labels. Even though Wine Label Builder paid for this review, I found their collection of labels to chose from quite extensive.

Price wise, Wine Label Builder is very reasonable. You can also upload your own custom label and have them print them for you.

So, if your looking for some professional looking labels, give Wine Label Builder a try.







Having too much fun making labels since it was so easy.

Birch Wine

Soon it will be time for the sap to start moving up the trees. I thought that this would be one that would be kinda' neat to make. Very simple recipe.

1 gallon birch sap
4 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 oranges or 1 lemon, sliced thin
campden tablets
1 package wine yeast

Place birch sap in primary fermentor. Add sugar. Stir to dissolve. Add oranges or lemon. Let sit overnight.

Next day, Specific Gravity should be 1.090 - 1.100. Stir in yeast. Stir daily for 5 to 6 days or until Specific Gravity is 1.040. Strain out fruit and squeeze as much juice out of it as you can. Siphon into secondary fermentor and add airlock.

For a dry wine, rack in three weeks, and every three months for one year. Bottle.

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.

TO GATHER YOUR OWN SAP:

To get your birch sap without harming the tree:

Harvest in springtime. Cut only one or two low branches per tree, about the thickness of your thumb, with pruning shears. Attach a plastic food container (milk jug, margarine carton, etc) so it can catch the sap as it drips. You can cover the opening of the container with cheesecloth or nylons to keep out debris. Collect your sap daily and store it in the refrigerator until you have enough to make your wine. Add one crushed campden tablet each time you add sap to the refrigerator to kill any wild yeast and vinegar bacteria you may have collected.