I could have driven to Western Michigan, but that would have taken all weekend. Instead, I went to the Eastern Market, which is a local Farmer's Market in Detroit. Cherries were hard to find, but I came home with six pounds of tart Michigan Cherries. I also got some California Black Cherries there and at the grocery. I also got ten pounds of frozen tart cherries from GFS -- these are pitted, so much easier to use.
I bought the different cherries so that I would get a "broader" flavor profile. I think that the Black Cherries are the best though. They seem to be the most flavorful.
I boiled the cherries, and added eighteen pounds of sugar.
2011 Cherry Wine Recipe
Michigan tart cherries 6 lb
Black Cherries 24 lb
Rainer Cherries 5 lb
Frozen Tart Cherries 10 lb
TOTAL 45 lb, all boiled than then broken open with a potato masher
Sugar 18 lb, added as syrup
Water to make 8 gallons; density is 1.14, 1.33 Brix - perhaps too high
Pectic enzyme 6 g
Yeast Energizer 3 g
Red Star Curvee 1 packet
This is a little more sugar and cherry concentration than last year's 36 pounds of cherries. The plan is to make a desert wine, and that is why it is so strong.
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3 comments:
This fermentation ran quickly, and I filtered it at six days. The must was pasty and hard to filter in my grape press.
July 2012:
The 2011 Wine turned out well, but it is sweet. So sweet that I worry about getting fermentation in the bottle. Right now it is really good.
July 2012:
The 2011 Wine turned out well, but it is sweet. So sweet that I worry about getting fermentation in the bottle. Right now it is really good.
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