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If you haven’t heard already I recently announced the birth of what I have dubbed “The Cherry Wine Project“.

I thought I’d begin by explaining what it is and answering a few questions you might have about it.

What Is It?

The purpose behind The Cherry Wine Project is to help teach people how to make fruit wine - plain and simple!

I figured why not arm myself with a digital camera and take pictures while I make a batch of cherry wine explaining what I was doing as I did it.

Why Cherry Wine?

Good question but the answer is simple … my wife and I were in British Columbia (where some of the best fruit in Canada come from) a few weekends ago, drove by a fruit stand and saw that they were selling 20 lb boxes of fresh, juicy cherries. So how could we resist!

I’ve also tasted my ski patrol buddy Brian’s cherry wine and it was excellent so I thought why not give it a try.

The other reason I wanted to make it was for my wife Michelle as she makes probably THE BEST French Onion Soup known to man (I’ll see if I can get the recipe from her for you), which is typically made with port or sherry (i.e. Harvey’s Bristol Cream). She likes to make it though with this cherry wine I brought back from Holland … some might say in fact it was the “secret sauce” in her soup. Unfortunately she ran out so I guess you can say I was given some incentive if I ever wanted to have some French Onion Soup again …

What If I Don’t Want To Make Cherry Wine - Can I Make A Different Kind Of Fruit Wine?

Absolutely! If cherry wine isn’t your bag baby then no worries! Wine making is simply a process that is pretty much the same regardless of the type of fruit you use so you can definitely use what you learn here to make your own wine. In fact, consider combining fruits! It’s really up to you.

Is There A Cost To Participate?

This is the best part actually. There is no cost to be part of The Cherry Wine Project. That’s right - zilch, nothing, nada!

So Why Are You Doing This?

Why not! I’m doing it anyways and I love to share my love and passion for wine making. I’m really just like that guy you know who lives next door or down the street who enjoys making wine and having people over to sit and talk wine making.

I’m a student of wine making myself and gain to benefit from your wine making experience as well. Have I messed up wine batches before? Hell ya! But the thing is you learn from your mistakes and improve your techniques from there.

How Do I Particiapate And Stay In Touch With The Project?

Two things you should do:

1. Sign Up To My Free 5-Part Wine Making Course: If you haven’t done so already of course! You’ll not only get 5 lessons emailed to you, you will also receive updates when new posts for The Cherry Wine Project and put up on this blog. There is a sign up form on the right side of this page.
2. Become A Member Of The Cherry Wine Project Community: Additional posts, comments and forum discussions where you can actively participate can be found at: http://thecherrywineproject.ning.com. It’s FREE TO JOIN!

I think that pretty much explains it but if you have any questions certainly don’t hesitate to give me a shout by going to www.AllWineMaking.com/WordPress/contact/.

My goal is to release one post per week but check back often as you never know when I’ll add several posts in a row if things get really exciting.

Thanks for reading and I really look forward to connecting with you!

- Scott “The Wine Making Guy”

P.S. If you haven’t checked it out already you can start by reading the recipe I’m following for the cherry wine by going to www.allwinemaking.com/WordPress/2008/07/19/cherry-wine-recipe/

Here’s the cherry wine recipe that I am following for my batch wine that will be featured as part of The Cherry Wine Project (as found on page 8 of the “Winemaker’s Recipe Handbook” by Raymond Massaccesi):

CHERRY, Sweet:

>> Please note that this recipe produces 1 gallon of wine so multiply as appropriate to the size of batch you would like.

6lb Mixed Cherries

1/2 pt Grape Concentrate (we used both red and white)

7 pts Water

2 3/4 lb Sugar (granulated)

3/4 tsp Pectic Enzyme

1 tsp Yeast Nutrient

1 Campden, crushed

1 pkg Sherry or Port Yeast

Starting S.G. 1.100 - 1.110

Method:

1. Wash, remove stems and leaves, and remove pits (use a pitter — either mechanical or a couple of extra hands from around the house). Be careful not to break the bitter pits.

2. Using a nylon straining bag mash and squeeze out juice into straining bag, tie top and place in primary.

Note: We used an actual fruit press to press the cherries and to remove the juice. We then added the cherry skins to a cheese cloth “sock”, which we then put into the primary.

3. Stir in all other ingredients EXCEPT the yeast. Cover primary.

4. After 24 hours add the yeast.

5. Stir daily, check S.G. and press pulp lightly to aid extraction.

6. When ferment reaches S.G. 1.030 (about 5 days) strain juice from bag. Syphon wine off sediment into carboy (secondary). Attach airlock.

7. When ferment is complete (S.G. has dropped to 1.000 — about 3 weeks) syphon off sediment into a clean secondary. Reattach airlock.

8. To aid clearing syphon again in 2 months and again if necessary before bottling.

Cherry Varieties:

Most cherry trees do not adapt well to a mild winter climate. The handsome trees, the crown of flowers in spring, and the fruit, whether sour, sweet or crosses, make them highly desirable.

Sour varieties include: Montmorency, North Star, Early Richmond and Meteor.

Sweet varieities include: Bing, Royal Ann, Van and Lambert.

If you’re interested in reading more blog articles on cherry wine (and other related recipes) consider reading the following articles in the blog-o-sphere:

What kind of yeast do you use to make your wine? Ever thought of using liquid yeast instead of dry yeast?

In my latest video I discuss the pro’s and con’s of using dry yeast and liquid yeast to make your wine.

Would love to hear what your thoughts are on this so please do leave me a comment!

- Scott “The Wine Making Guy”

Here’s some further reading on yeast I found for you:

When you Rate this:

Did you know that you can easily calculate the alcohol content of your beer or wine if you know your specific gravity (S.G.) readings at the beginning and end of the beer/wine making process?

To calculate the approximate value of the alcohol content in your beer/wine use the following formula:

Approximate Alcohol Content (%) =

Starting S.G.- Ending S.G.

0.0074

For example:

Starting SG = 1.090
Ending SG = 0.995

% Alcohol = 1.090 - 0.995 = 12.84

0.0074

> You can therefore say that the approximate alcohol content of this batch of wine is 12.84%

Note: This method assumes that difference in specific gravity is solely due to the conversion of sugar into alcohol

Did you know that sulphite is not strong enough to kill bacteria and therefore is of no use in beermaking?

I typically make wine and therefore use a metabisulphite solution to clean my equipment and to date have had no issues with my batches. I should point out though that I’m pretty fussy about keeping my equipment clean, especially when storing it between batches!

I was surprised to read in the cleaning instructions that came with the Brew House beer kit from RJ Spagnols that sulphites shouldn’t be used to clean beer making equipment as they can’t kill bacteria, which will alter the taste of the beer and also opens up the possibility that you’ll get sick from your beer - not good!

I have to say though that I was quite impressed with the cleaning instructions that they included with the kit as they give four cleaning options: Trisodium Phosphate (aka T.S.P. - i.e. the stuff you clean your walls with before you paint them), Diversol (aka Sani-Brew - i.e. the pink solution commonly used in beer/wine making), Bleach (i.e. aka the stuff you use to whiten your shirts) and Iodophor (aka Iodine).

My personal preference is Sani-Brew as it has bleach in it (so I know it’s a good disinfectant) and works well when removing stains from your equipment (especially for your primary - great when you are brewing several different types of wines/beers out of the same container).

Here’s a the page on RJ Spagnol’s website that goes into greater detail about cleaning your equipment as well as the differences between four types of cleansers that they recommend. Definitely worth checking out (even if to serve as a refresher):

www.RJSjspagnols.com/resource_view.asp?HandoutID=44

I realize that cleaning your equipment is one of the least favourite jobs when making beer or wine but consider this interesting thought from RJ Spagnols:

“If you get tired of scrubbing and sanitizing, remember: lapses in sanitation are responsible for 90% of all homebrewing failures. You can avoid them.”

- Scott “The Wine Making Guy”

Ever had difficulty opening one of those wine kit bags?

This video will show you a tool that will make this finger nail breaking task so much easier!

I spend much of my time degassing my wine, however, one of my readers asked me today how she can add carbonation to her wine so that she can make a sparkling wine.

Here are some quick suggestions that I gave her:

1) Champagne and beer are actually carbonated in the bottle (for champagne it is called “methode champenoise”) so if you wanted to go the natural route so you could add corn sugar to your wine must just before you bottle your wine. This will restart the fermentation thereby naturally carbonating your wine/beer. I make beer in addition to wine and this definitely works.

For example, for a 23 litre batch of beer I would prepare a “primer syrup” by dissolving 3/4 cup of dextrose (corn sugar) in 2 cups of boiling water. Pour the syrup into a primary then rack the beer/wine must into the primary then gently stir the mixture together. You can then rack the must into your bottles and allow 2 weeks carbonation from there. If you want more carbonation add more sugar, add less sugar for less “bubbly”.

2) You can also use a carbonation system such as the Tap-A-Draft that carbonates your wine/beer in the container by adding pressurized CO2 similar to a beer kegging system. I’ve actually seen this one in one of our local wine supply stores and it’s pretty slick. Basically it adds a tap with two carbonation “taps” where you insert a small CO2 cannister (or one CO2 and one Nitrogen cannister if you’d like to have finer bubbles for say a stout style beer). Instead of a metal keg you get an oversized slender plastic bottle (similar to a two litre pop/soda bottle) They are sized to fit nicely in your fridge so that you can easily “tap your keg” and get a drink, while keeping the whole system cold. Typically takes about 5 days from the time you fill your bottle and add the carbonation tap to fully carbonate your beer/wine or wine cooler.

It’s a cool system but isn’t cheap. Expect to spend $50+ on the tap and then another $20+ per bottle.

You can go to http://www.sturmanbg.com/products/beverage_dispenser.asp to learn more.

If you have a different sneaky trick to carbonate your wine, beer or wine cooler please do let me know!

Scott “The WineMaking Guy”

P.S. Here’s an interesting article from WineMaker Magazine that goes into greater detail on how to make sparkling wine that is worth reading if you’re interested in learning more:

www.winemakermag.com/departments/288.html

Well I certainly thought so until I received an interesting email from one of my readers the other day, which asked if you had to add ingredients (such as yeast, bentonite and a clearing agent) to a pail of juice like you do with a typical wine kit.

The reason why he was asking was that he has made several batches of wine using pails of juice, which turned out really well (was nice and clear plus had great “legs) and he didn’t have to add anything to it. He did note though that he left the lid slightly ajar during the primary stage so that leads me to believe that the fermentation was caused by natural yeast in the air (which, incidentally was how monks invented wine in the first place).

I asked him to make another batch using a juice pail and add the extra ingredients to see what kind of difference that will make. I’m curious what the results will be!

Have you had any experience with making wine the “natural” way? If so, I’d love to hear from you on how it turned out!

- Scott

Here’s the vacuum pump you’ll want if you’d like to give this a try:

http://www.fermentationtrap.com/cb6346.html

You’ll also want to get a size 10 bugger with a hole drilled in the middle.