My wine problems

[Star1pup]

I used to make good wine with sort of a hit or miss method.  Since then I have been trying to do it right and have not had much luck.  Much of our wine seems to be either too sweet or have a vinegar taste.  Out rhubarb wine has been good.

I've been trying to mark down everything we do so we can compare what went right with what went wrong, but still not getting good wine.  Any help and ideas will be appreciated.

[jvs]

My experience has been that Vinegar results when either improper sterilization of hardware has been done or an inefficient airlock for fermentation.   Using a jug that had Vinegar in it at one time is a big NO-NO.  Try to find old Cranberry Juice jugs or empty wine jugs.

As wine ferments, it creates Carbon Dioxide bubbles.  As long as your synthetic atmosphere above your fermenting wine is carbon dioxide your wine should turn out ok.  Oxygen and Microbes other than yeast  and Bugs are your enemies.  Starting with absolutely clean hardware is a must.   I have begun to use 3 Efferdent Tablets in each of the one gallon jugs that I use for wine.  I clean the jugs with a bursh, fill them with warm water, add the tablets and wait for a day.  Those tablets not only clean but they also have  sterilizer and a bleach in each tablet.  Ingredients that are mostly not harmful to humans or yeast when rinsed properly after use.

A hydrometer would be the thing to pick up.  They arent hard to use and they can tell you the specific gravity of each wine you make.  If you still want to try the hit or miss approach, you can buy Wine yeasts that have a higher tolerance for Alcohol, which basically would cut down on the Brix of your wine.  

You didnt say if you add sugar in your recipes.  As you add sugar, you also add food for the yeast.  The yeast will keep after the sugar until the strain of yeast can no longer survive in the alcohol it produced.  If the sugar content is still high enough to make your wine too sweet, then you either did not have the proper strain of yeast or you added too much sugar.  Some Wine yeasts can give you 18% +  alcohol content.  The trick is the balance between a Desert Wine and a Dry one.

I would keep your basic recipe as is, just cut back on any added sugar.  If you are not using added sugar, then you need a better wine yeast.

I dont think I missed anything.

[jvs]

I should add that understanding the yeast you use is very important.

Basically, fermentation produces at least two byproducts:  Carbon Dioxide Gas and Alchohol.  As the yeast consumes the available or added sugar in the 'must', it produces both.

I have long since come to the conclusion that  yeast eventually poisons itself out of existence by producing alcohol.  Alcohol is a waste product, and so is the gas.  Carbon Dioxide is essentual to the fermentation process.  But it would be like a Human Being eating a bunch of beans and eventually dying of Uremic Poisoning.

That should give you something to think about.

[Star1pup]

Thanks for all the tips.  I'll keep trying and will follow your suggestions.

BTW: We do add sugar so maybe I'll cut back on that too.

[jvs]

What fruit are you using?

How big a batch of it do you make?

How much sugar are you adding per gallon??

[Star1pup]

We did well in the past with blueberries and even Concord grapes before things went sour (pun intended).  Usually make about 3 gallons at a time.  I'll have to check on the amount of sugar and those notes are in the house.  I'll post them later.

I would love to use the blueberries and blackberries on our property.  Tried to use the peaches once and it was a disaster.  For some reason the rhubarb comes out okay.

[Star1pup]

We used 14 lbs blueberries.  Crushed them in a clean plastic wastebasket and added 2 gal. boiling water.  Let sit for a few daysa and added 8lb sugar dissolved in 7 cups boiling water.   Let cool and added yeast.

Let this sit for a few days and transfered to jugs with fermentation locks.

Wine had a vinegar taste.

[jvs]

I have never used plastic for anything in wine making.  I have either used Glass Jugs or Crocks.  I tasted wine made in plastic once, and I could taste the plastic.

It sounds like you used a grape recipe for blueberrys.  Blueberrys are all together different.  14 pounds of Berrys for 3 gallons of wine is alot of berrys.  You probably could have made anywhere from 8 to 10 gallons of wine from 14 pounds of blueberrys.

If you want to try a different recipe, I can give you a shopping list for making a gallon.  It shouldnt cost you more than $7, as long as you have a GLASS jug.  If you dont have glass, get some.   Even if you have to go to the Liquor Store and buy a Gallon of Wine and drink it first.

After looking at your procedure, my guess is that possible unclean hardware and the length of time that it sat before you pitched the yeast had alot to do with the way it turned out.  If your wine is going to fail by turning to vinegar, it will happen within 10 days after fermentation starts, which should tell you that the problem existed before the yeast was added.

I made vinegar already, more than once when I started out.  Nothing is sadder than when a jug of wine stops fermenting after a week.  Experience at the hobby will eventually teach you what you can get away with and what you cant.

[Star1pup]

I'm learning a lot from this thread.  I especially like the idea of drinking the store bought wine to get jugs for making my own.  That's my kind of recycling.

The glass jugs we use were usually from cider.

I thinkwe might have some blueberries in the freezer.  Is there any wine we can make from them?

[jvs]

Even though I prefer wild berrys for making wine, using frozen fruit is a good second choice.  Providing that no insectcide of other chemicals were used.  Commercially available frozen fruits is what I sometimes use.  I made an excellent Blackberry Wine using frozen fruit from the Supermarket.  The Ladies like Raspberry Wine from frozen berrys when the wild crop isnt that great.

Your frozen blueberrys should make a good wine, if you have the right basic recipe.  If you make Rhubarb wine you should have no trouble making any other kind.  The acid content of Rhubarb is extreme.  One thing to discover early when making wine is that the better wines come from fruits and berrys that make you pucker when fresh.  Wild Cherry is another one.

Making wine can be a trial and error exercise because each fruit has its own chemical make-up.  The best thing to do is make one gallon batches, keep notes on what you used and how much of each ingredient went in.  Then make adjustments as necessary to suit your individual taste.  

Blueberry Wine can come out too thick or too sweet, so you may have to either look on the net for a recipe or experiment on your own.   If it were me, I'd be doing it on my own.  You won't learn much by following somebody else's 'how to' guide.   Learn the basics and move forward.  Mistakes will teach you more than success will.  Just don't get disgusted with failure.