I'm always interested in trying new recipes so please post if it's not too much trouble. I make mostly meads and melomels and I'm aging out 5 gal of Blackberry and 3 gal of Ginger mead at the moment so planning the next batches are all the rage. Thanks for the offer.

The recipe is one I have never found on a website..A friend of mine and I started experimenting years ago..Yeast...sugar..yeast.. sugar..= more alchol..we thought and then tried every thing..Neither of us was into dry wines..Tasted to much like shoe polish smelt...lol..

Finally we hit on it..but it was with a bland pear fruit..The old timey field tree brand , not the sweet, soft kind . and what we discovered was a sweeter and more alchol..but the taste was awful..we called the batch "Frog Water"..lol.. but it was a start..we even distilled some of it with a mini still and made some "White Lightin" Which was better than the wine..lol

Then it was time for black berry season..(and for you who that have never picked wild berrys with thorns) they do make a better wine than the domesticated thornless variety..but since I planted my own thornless variety..I don't pick the wild anymore..

The rule of thumb with me and my experimentation is to use three gallons of fruit for a five Gallon carboy..The more fruit the more fruity the taste but for my recipe leave at least one and a half gallons to add water to make a five gallon carboy..I use a 6 gallon plastic food safe bucket with each gallon marked with a permanent majic marker for each gallon up to the six..

Explaining the three gal. rule..Grapes..strawberrys,blueberrys or small fruits count as a gallon...but peaches, apples, means cut up to total three gallons..

I just realized that I am rambling more than I should..and should get to the recipe..I will do it in another post in this thread..

My wife has had a hip replacement recently and I do have other duties..Be back shortly..Feel free to comment on anything you agree or disagree with..

Now the recipe.. For a 5 gallon carboy...Using the same preparation for your fruit as you normally would..24 hr before yeast if using campden tablets etc...Put the fruit into your plastic container...(I always use a straining bag)..dissolve five pounds sugar with one to one and a half gallon water, make sure you have at room to add at least one to one and a half gallon water left to fill you five gallon bucket later..Add a pack of yeast into bucket and stir..

Wait until your sugar and yeast has dissolved the fruit.. help by squeezing you bag daily (softly).. this usually takes from five to seven days, soft fruit such as strawberry, peaches usually 5 days and grapes seven days.

After the fruit had been reduced to nothing but seeds or hulls and peels.. and after straining put the juice into a measured five gallon container. You should have between three to three and a half gallons juice by this time.

Now comes the tricky part..and experience will help in the future..But not to worry if you waste up a quart or so.. you will have a good wine.

The water is which ever you are used to doing..(water without clorine is best even if you have to let it set for a couple days..) like I said before, use your usual method when making this wine....

It is Hydrometer time!! And what I feel is the fun part and being able to accomplish the next step with out wasting any of your juice! What your're trying to do is melting sugar with warm water by either stove heating or hot out of your spigot..to fill the remainder of your primary to exactly the five gallons while coming up with a reading on the hydrometer to the sweetness you desire.

Ok..it is getting late..Tomorrow I will explain the hydrometer reading which is very important..

BTW...Since I got no response on my post yesterday.. Is any one reading this??

Yep ... I'm curious as to what you're going to get as a hydrometer reading at this stage. Usually, I take an original gravity reading prior to pitching the yeast and go to some tables in order to estimate the sugar contribution from the fruit so I expect that your readings will be much lower than mine (normally hovering around 1.090 or so).

Makalu,what I am going to expain next will surprise you..The sp.gr. reading really has no bearing in this recipe..Well it does in a way..but you need to read the other side of the hydrometer..The Brix or Balling scale..I have 3 different hydrometers and one does not even say what the scales mean..but to clarify this..It is the scale that starts with 0::::5::::10::::15 etc...

Usually after working the fruit and when I get rid of the seeds, hulls etc..I then take a reading before adding sugar melted in water..On the last bottle of strawberry it read a little above 5 on the brix/ball or 1020 on the gravity..But in most cases you may not even get a reading..pay NO attention to that reading..As what you are going to do now is make wine to your taste..If it tastes good..then use the same recipe as you did now... next time..If you want it sweeter or not as sweet use the Ball scale to do it!! You will always end up with the same sweetness as before even thought the fruit may be sweeter or sour...as my strawberrys were.. A local food store that I have a friend working there will call me if he has a batch of anything he is going to trash can..The strawberrys were quart size containers..And maybe 2 or three in each had started mold..I threw them away any washed the rest of them and had almost 4 gallons left to make the batch of wine..THEY were so sour my wife had to sprinkle salt on them to taste a few..Came from Calif. I think.LOL certainly was not the local berrys I pick from the sandhills in North Carolina..

Ok back to the recipe..(sorry about the rambling).I have taught this class at wine classes so much that I feel I must take up the whole hour talking because the recipe only takes a few minutes..LOL

What you are trying to do now is melt sugar in a pot with the smallest amount of water as possible. I use a 6 qt pot..and add 2 qts. water and stir and stir and stir until I get a 5lb bag of sugar dissolved..You CAN use more water if you have more space to fill the 5 gal carboy..But remember your are trying to fill the carboy without wasting any fruit juice! After experience you will be able to tell just how much you need to add..

Pour the sugar water into the juice in your primary..take a hydrometer reading and see what your reading is..Example.. my strawberry told me after the first reading of 5 on the ball scale I would not need much sugar as some wines..After I mixed the first pot of water (with 5 lbs sugar)..I had a reading of 13..And was just a little under 4 gallons in the primary..Make sure you rinse the hyrdometer after each time to get a true reading..

From experience.. I like to come up with final reading of 18 1/2 to 20 1/2 before putting in carboy...HOW do you like your sweet wine.Sweet..Simi sweet??

Mix another 5 lb sugar and water..as done before..Add a little...take a reading...My sugession for beginners is to start with a carboy of a reading of 20..If you want it sweeter add sugar with the chemical to do it later..If it is too sweet for your taste.. make it less next time..Or use more sugar next time for sweeter..BUT use the Brix/Ball scale ..

Remember using sugar water and the ball scale keep adding more sugar water or just plain water to adjust the scale to reach a 20 on the hydrometer..to have exactly five gallons for your bottle..

I hope I have explained this enought..for you to try the recipe..BUT NOW IS THE most important part to the
recipe, before putting into carboy.. ADD another pack of yeast.. Yes I said ANOTHER PACK OF YEAST...

I take the carboy and swirl it around for the first few days to rinse the residue that builds up at the top of ring..No reason really, except it make cleaning the bottle more easily and looks a lot better while working..You should know the rest..It usually take 2 months before it dies down from working..You can sample a little by using a meat baser?? I think it is called..the little thing with the lille rubber squeezer on top..but you will get a yeast taste until the wine is ready.

The first time we did this method,we made it on a 22 ball..My friend makes his on that scale today.I found out it was just to sweet for my taste..I had one guy that bottled one at a 30..And he said it was un-drinkable..but his wife loved it.LOl It is all about your palate..

But on thing for sure you will FILL the alchol..You will not believe the war stories I have with this wine...

Please ask questions...and let me know how yours turned out ....If you like sweet wine...Then this recipe is for you...Jerry

Jerry,

Thanks for the recipe ... I'm going to wait a couple of weeks and hope the cherry crop is plentiful (and inexpensive) and I'll start with around 20 lbs and give it a go. One initial question - for the second batch of yeast, do you use a champagne type yeast (like a Lalvin EC-1118) to account for the increased alcohol tolerance? Joe

i don't but you can..If your recipe calls for it ..then yes.. I made a couple batches using a sherry yeast..I could not tell the difference..but then again I am not a wine drinker..just ocaisionally