dandelion wine..

[waggoner]

A little update on the wine,,both have finished fermenting ages ago,,but the one made with grape concentrate/enricher has fallen crystal clear and has been racked to a new Dj. While the one made with fruit juice is still very cloudy...Photo below...interesting to see the difference..

[SiSandrine]

Last night I started some Dandelion wine using SiSandrines recipe and can't believe what an awful smell the must is producing. Is that normal for boiled Dandelions?
Rob

Yes absolutely. The smell is awful and taste is not much better for a couple months. I had some real doubts for a while with this one. After that absoutely delightful.

[lockwood1956]

That kind of covers a question i was going to ask about a book i just bought,(Award winning wines by Bill Smith), but i'll do another post on that a bit later

Bill Smith is a member of NGWBJ so we get to meet him regularly, great guy, great book

regards
Bob

[robwrx]

What a pong!

Last night I started some Dandelion wine using SiSandrines recipe and can't believe what an awful smell the must is producing. Is that normal for boiled Dandelions?
Rob

[waggoner]

Ahhh,,i see now,,i would never have though to have done the ferment in a bucket first,,then racked it to a DJ afterwards,, all makes sense now..

That kind of covers a question i was going to ask about a book i just bought,(Award winning wines by Bill Smith), but i'll do another post on that a bit later..

Thats brilliant, thanks, something new learned.

Thanks.
Mark..

[lockwood1956]

Sorry forgot to add......thats in a bucket, but the lid is fitted with airlock, it is used open till SG getrs to around 1.010 and then the lid is snapped on. It has lots of headroom, so I am ready to rack immediately the wine has finished. But remember it is protected by a layer of CO2, so no need to panic, a day here or there is ok.

regards
bob

[lockwood1956]

I take it that when you do add late additions that you leave the wine in the demijohn??

If I am adding juice late then I do it in the DJ. Anything containing pulp is done in the bucket, and racked to DJ at the end, leaving bits behind. I quite often make just over a gallon and then i have a gallon left at the end.

hope that helps

regards
bob

[Rich]

would there be a good way to top this up without watering/weaking the wine down??

Marbles would be good for that.

Or a pet bottle, squeezed to reduce the volume maybe? Or two 2litre pop bottles?

[waggoner]

Thanks Bob.

The petals were added as late additions, when the wine had reached SG1010,,I guess adding the ingredients later throws the volume of wine out a bit.
I take it that when you do add late additions that you leave the wine in the demijohn??

It would seem that when its really to rack,, there's going to be a lot of air space in the DJ,,would there be a good way to top this up without watering/weaking the wine down??

Thanks.
Mark.

[lockwood1956]

looking good....

as a side note, any wine with solids in it (that includes petals) needs to be started in a bucket to avoid these issues.

regards
Bob

[waggoner]

Two lots of dandelion wine,, one on the left is made with the grape concentrate and the one on the right is a No1 wine.
Had to pour a bit out of both, because the petals floated on the top and the gas built up underneath them, forcing the petals up the airlocks!!
Been stirring them daily to keep the petals mixed up..

But so far so good!!

[waggoner]

Just made the two base wines up,,following Bobs recipes, So thats good.

I washed the petals in the camden tablet solution, not so much for infection side, more for in case of dirt/dust/bugs on them,,maybe the odd bit of dog pee too,,, they came from a big park!!

I rinsed them off afterwards in clean water,,becaused it occured to me at the time that if i left the solution on them it might stop the fermintation when they are added to the wine..

So really thats the only reason i washed them first..

Thanks.
Mark.

[lockwood1956]

It was the possibility of infection being introduced into the almost fermented must from un-santitised ingredients I was wondering about, rather than frozen petals going off.

there is enough alcohol in the must at that point to negate infection

regards
Bob

[Cellar_Rat]

Just thinking out loud here...

" almost fermented must " = fermenting.

Fermenting is a process of sterilization.

So surely IMO this is the safest time to add stuff if there is any risk.

As opposed to adding something sulphited 'could' prematurely stop the fermentation?

[David]

I didn't David no.....

did think about it, but figured they should be safe whilst frozen

seemed to work ok

regards
Bob

It was the possibility of infection being introduced into the almost fermented must from un-santitised ingredients I was wondering about, rather than frozen petals going off.

As reduced amounts/late addition works with dandelions, any reason why it shouldn't be used with gorse flowers? Anything to reduce the amount of picking from amongst the thorns + I'm on holiday on Exmoor at the moment which is covered with the stuff and taking enough frozen flowers back for a gall would be a nice memento.

P.S. Was that 500ml of flowers loose or lightly pressed down?