Candy Sweet with Some Heat

freedompoint (75)in OCD • 5 years ago

It feels like it has been a life time since I first mixed up this yeasty beasty. It has only been 4 weeks, but watching the process everyday has made it feel much longer. Until today! After dinner we enjoyed a glass of this delicious dessert wine.

The story really starts about 5 years ago in the deep woods of Southern Missouri. Our family spent a few hours gathering fresh black berries from the neighbors property. I used a large amount of that batch to make my first wine. It was a smooth and creamy black berry wine. It ended up be so strong that my bride had to water it down a bit.

Fast forward to now, and I have made a few more attempts at wine. I have had some winners, and have had some absolute garbage. The process is pretty technical, but I think I finally found some consistent measurements to base future wine one.

This batch was fresh pressed apple cider. I got it from a local farm store. There are no preservatives...just apple cider.

I started by warming a full gallon in a pot and adding sugar. Because I wanted a sweeter and stronger wine, I chose 8 cups of sugar to the 1 gallon of cider.

Over a medium to low heat I stirred it until the sugar had been absorbed into the cider. I left that cool off so i could add the yeast without killing it and from there I put it into three different sterilized glass bottles. I added the yeast, and put a large punching balloon over the opening. Once it had the balloon on I made sure to shake it up real good without getting any in the actual balloon.

I watched it everyday. The yeast started eating that sugar and filling the balloon up with gas. As the process went on I could see the bubbles nearly roaring up to the top. By the end of the whole thing the yeast is exhausted. There is a thick sludge at the bottom, and no more bubbles.

Next came thr racking. Pouring the wine into another container through cheese cloth, and not getting any of that sludge from the bottom. I put the finished wine into a new bottle and put a smaller balloon on top. Just to prevent stuff from getting down in.

I have to say...it was just what I hoper for. When we tried it tonight it was candy sweet with some heat. I think this batch was a real winner.

Have you ever made home made wine? What kind?