North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Gordon Nofs" <gc_nofs@hotmail.com>]

Wine will not go over 11% no matter how much sugar you add. If you have a wine saccharometer You just adjust to the meter and make sure that you do not end up with enough sugar to get 11%

   The best book I have is Homer Hardwick  Winemaking at home put out by Wilfred Funk, Inc.

Mine is copyright 1954

I used to turn all the wine I was not happy with into close to 160 proof alcohol using an all glass still that held little over gallon. I would end up with close to a fifth.

   I quit drinking about 40 years ago. I gave away gallon jugs of well aged wine. And there is some fifths (Don't remember how many) still in a room beyond the basement. All the equipment etc.

   Ever tried, Rice, rhubarb,tomato, and others? I had made wine from many thing, ever pure sugar. Wine can be made from anything using your imagination.

Please don't ask for any af the meters etc I have. My 5 children want me to keep for posterity or something.

 

Gordon C. Nofs

Flint, MI.

From: Rob Halgren <halgren@msu.edu>
Subject: [NAFEX] Re: Fruit Wines
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 11:01:52 -0400


>Well it seems to me that my wines are pretty potent. I haven't
>measured it
>scientifically, just personally. If you want a dryer wine, use less
>sugar.
>After all the alcohol is not sweet. The left over sugar in the
>solution
>after fermentation is done is what makes it sweet. It is like most
>recipes
>say.."sweeten to taste."
>
>I did use beer yeast when I made beer but that was from a kit so it
>does not
>really count. I used bread yeast the first time because I had
>everything
>ready to go and it seemed that my wine yeast was no good. I make
>bread a
>lot so I had a quart jar of bread yeast in the fridge. I used it
>and got
>wine. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
>Naomi
>in Idaho

There is a pretty good book (older, but still good) called First Steps in Winemaking. If I have the title right - there may be a newer edition than the one I have, or I may be wrong in some other fashion. The author is very british, and discusses 'country wines' in some detail, with recipies. Dandelion wine (which is far more excellent than you might imagine) is in there, as are wines made from almost anything that can ferment. Not a lot of detail, but a lot of ideas.

You can order a hydrometer (or pick one up) for quite cheap, I think mine was 10 bucks. This handy device measures the specific gravity of your juice (or wort, if you are making beer). You probably are shooting for something around 1.090 for a starting gravity. The higher the number, the more sugar is in the solution. If I were making a wine from pressed juice, I would measure the SG, and add beet or cane sugar to raise the SG to the desired level. This is far safer and more reliable than following a written recipe - fruit sugar content varies widely depending on how good a year it was. When your fermenting is done, you can measure again and do a handy calculation to determine your alcohol content.

This isn't a bad introduction to the hydrometer: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hydrom.asp

I would, however, go out of my way to get a good quality wine yeast. Any homebrew store and a number of internet vendors would carry several different varieties. Yeast strains are quite different. Using bread or beer yeast is a good way to get a product that tastes 'bready' or 'beery'. In addition to producing wine that tastes more like wine, wine yeasts also usually ferment to a higher alcohol content, which is what you want. A couple bucks extra for good yeast is well worth it.

Rob

--
Robert G. Halgren, Ph.D.
Bioinformatics Specialist
GTSF - Michigan State University
http://genomics.msu.edu
(517) 353-7236 - halgren@msu.edu

---

 FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now!