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

Peach Wine Updates

At the beginning

The peach wine has been merrily fermenting away since January 7th. It took about a week for fermentation to begin and the balloon to begin to expand. It got bigger and bigger. In fact, it got so big I began to fear for it's life. It finally died an explosive agonized death last night. It was buried with due dignity in the trash can and replaced with a new one.

At the beginning all of the peaches were at the bottom of the jug. About a week later it was odd in that there was a bit of peaches on the bottom but the majority was in the middle of the jug. By about 5 days ago, the majority of the peaches moved to the top of the jug with some still in the bottom. If you sit and watch, you can occasionally catch a piece of fruit either falling or rising in the handle of the jug. Things to do when bored.

While replacing the balloon, I could see the peach mash, err, correctly called mast by real wine makers I think, gurgling and bubbling. Fascinating.

January 18, 2012

Kablooey - January 20, 2012

In looking at the pictures, you can also see the balloon on the Great Fake Wine jug getting smaller and smaller. One of these days it's supposed to fall over which marks the end of fermentation and the finishing of the wine. Impatient.

The Great Fake Wine Experiment

The Great Fake Wine Experiment has begun. Stay tuned for future updates on the results.

Lemme 'splain here. I call it "Fake" for a few reasons. Foremost is that it uses not real grapes but frozen grape juice concentrate. Almost foremost is that it's incredibly simple and doesn't putz about with things like actually knowing what you're doing and having a goal of a particular type of wine. Another is that it doesn't use wine specific equipment like, say, a glass container and a real airlock.

For some reason, about 30 years ago, my normally teetotaler dad decided he wanted to make wine. The basement is still full of wine he bottled no telling how long ago. Some of his wine actually didn't have a bad taste, and some of it was only good for pouring down the drain. Through the years, he got concerned about his body's sugar levels and started making drier wines. Those are the ones that make me shudder. Then, again, I'm not a big wine aficionado.