Sunday, April 8, 2012

Great Fake White Wine Experiment

We're off on another Great Fake Wine Experiment as of March 2, 2012. This experiment is to make a white wine easily and cheaply. I have a problem with the tannins from red wine - they have a tendency to give me a headache. So I thought I'd try a white wine.

After tasting the Great Fake Red Wine, it was far too dry for my tastes. After decanting the peach wine, it was sickeningly sweet. Four pounds of sugar for the red grape wine; 10 pounds of sugar for the peach wine. This white grape wine will get 5 pounds of sugar.

It generally follows the original Great Fake Wine Experiment recipe:
4 cans of frozen white grape juice
5 pounds of sugar
1 package of yeast
4 gallons of water

Before beginning defrost the frozen juice.

Put the sugar in a big saucepan; I used my pressure cooker. Measure out one gallon of water and pour enough of this in the pan to cover the sugar well. Pour the rest into the container in which you're going to make the wine (5-gallon carboy/water jug). Heat the sugar just enough to get it all melted; it melts better with as much water as you can put in your pan without sloshing over.

While stirring sugar and waiting for it to dissolve, in a small container, cup measure, bowl, whatever is easy for you, put about 1/4 cup warm water, not over 115° F, and add the package of yeast and stir in. Let this set and bloom while you're melting the sugar and doing other things.

Pour the grape juice into the carboy. Add 1 gallon of water. Add the dissolved sugar water. Add the yeast; don't worry about this extra 1/4 cup of water - it won't break the recipe. Add the last 2 gallons of water. Put the lid on and give this a shake to mix everything up. Take the lid off and tape the balloon to the top of the carboy. Electrical tape is the best as is doesn't leave tape goo on the carboy.

Set aside somewhere that doesn't go below 70°F until the balloon deflates and falls over, usually 4-6 weeks. When the balloon flops over, the fermentation is done, and it's wine.

The Great Fake White Wine Experiment
Due sometime after May 2, 2012

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