Joy of Home Wine Making (28 page)

1 packet Flor sherry or Montrachet yeast

Boil the water. Process the raisins as above. Place the raisins in a nylon straining bag and put them in the bottom of the primary fermenter. Pour the hot water over the raisins. Cool to tepid, add the acid, nutrient, and the Campden tablet, if you choose to use one. Cover and fit with an air lock. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme. If you don’t use the tablet, merely wait until the must cools down to add the pectic enzyme.

Check the PA, add the yeast, cover, and let it ferment. Stir daily.

Checking the PA on this one might be a bit tricky because of the solids from the raisins, but do your best. Lift the bag of raisins out after five or six days, and let it drip and settle. Then check the PA again. If it seems a bit high, put the raisins back in and let them ferment a few more days, maybe up to another week. Then rack the wine into a secondary fermenter. Bung and fit with an air lock.

Rack the wine once or twice in the next six months or so. When it’s nice and clear and done fermenting, bottle it. If you used 6 pounds of raisins, this will be a dry, but full-flavored, sherry. If you used a greater amount, it will be sweeter. If you have any doubt about whether or not it’s still fermenting, use some stabilizer, or let it stay in the secondary fermenter a few months longer. This is not a wine that should be hurried.

Store one or two years before sampling. I’ve kept this up to seven years, so far. It just keeps on getting better!

REFINED ELDERBERRY WINE

Elderberries are rich in tannin and flavor, but not in sugar. How this comes out—sherry-like or like a red wine—depends on the quality of the dried elderberries you use. Buy your dried elderberries from a wine supply place whose stock turns over rapidly, or pick and dry your own, making sure, of course, that you know that what you are picking are elderberries. Note that it doesn’t take many dried elderberries to make a gallon of wine.

1 gallon water

2½ lbs. sugar or 3 lbs. light honey

¼-
¹
/
₃
lb. dried elderberries

1 tsp. acid blend or juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

no tannin or pectic enzyme

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

1 packet Montrachet yeast

Boil the water with the sugar or honey and skim. Rinse the elderberries under cool running water in a sieve. They are very small, so be careful not to lose any! Check for and remove pebbles, twigs, etc. Put the berries in a nylon straining bag, which you place in a primary fermenter.

Pour the hot water and sugar over the elderberries. When cooled enough, add acid, yeast nutrient, and the Campden tablet, if you choose to use one. Cover and fit with an air lock. If you don’t use the tablet, merely wait until the must cools down to add the yeast.

Add the yeast, cover, and let it ferment, stirring daily—mashing the berry bag occasionally. When the PA goes down to 2-3 percent, remove, squeeze, and drain the fruit. (Yes, you get to squeeze the fruit this time! Use sanitized plastic gloves because elderberries stain.) Rack the wine into a glass secondary container. Bung and fit with an air lock.

NOTE: You can add ¼ pound of chopped raisins to this recipe to improve the body if you don’t use honey. Don’t be tempted to use more elderberries than are listed in the recipe. Remember, they are high in tannin, and the wine will be, too.

During the next three to six months, rack the wine again. When the wine ferments out dry, bottle it. Elderberry wine is best dry.

Sometimes the color is a nice red, sometimes it is a rich amber. Keep it a year at least, and enjoy.

SAHARA PEACH OR APRICOT WINE

This is a light golden wine, usually, depending on the quality of the dried fruit you use. Sulfured apricots or peaches will produce a lighter wine, and unsulfured fruit will make a darker one. In any case it tends to be thin, so I recommend using all honey or part honey and part sugar.

1 gallon water, plus extra for soaking if you use sulfured fruit

2-3 lbs. of dried peaches or apricots

1½ lbs. sugar and 2 lbs. light honey OR 3½ lbs. honey

1 cup fresh or frozen orange juice (optional)

2 tsp. acid blend

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

no tannin

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

1 tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet champagne yeast

Rinse and soak the fruit overnight. Discard the soaking water if you have used sulfured fruit. Put the water and sugar and honey on to boil. Chop the fruit finely. Put it in a nylon straining bag, and place the bag in the bottom of your primary fermenter. Add the orange juice if you wish (I think it helps things along).

Pour the hot water and sugar and honey over the fruit. Cool to tepid, add acid and yeast nutrient, and add the crushed Campden tablet, if you choose to use one. Cover and fit with an air lock. After twelve hours, add the pectic enzyme. Check the PA.

Twenty-four hours later, add the yeast. Stir daily.

Ferment on the fruit for a week, stirring daily. When the PA is 2 to 3 percent, lift out the bag and drain, but don’t squeeze. Discard the fruit. When the wine settles again, rack it into a glass secondary fermenter, bung, and fit with an air lock. Let it go on fermenting for three to six months, racking once or twice. When fermented out dry, taste it and decide if you want to sweeten it a
bit. If so, stabilize and bottle it. Keep it for a year before sampling. Then try it again a year after that and see how you feel about it.

NOTE: For some people, apricots have a stronger taste than peaches do. If you don’t like apricots, don’t use them. If you use peaches, use three pounds of dried fruit. Half apricots and half peaches is fine, too.

I’ve never done it, but you could try using dried mango or papaya in this recipe instead of the apricots and peaches.

MOHAVE APPLE OR PEAR WINE