Anyone ever make a good raisin wine?
- Thread starter keepitlow
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Raisin Sherry Recipe
Terry Garey's Joy of Home Winemaking has a Raisin Sherry recipe which I mostly followed, it's a bit of work and a lot of raisins. I started it in 2007 and it's not bottled yet (it's on the list though and I'll let you know how it tastes when I do bottle it/rack it next, it hadn't oxidized enough last time I tried).
From my brewlog: 8 lbs raisins, 1 tsp yeast nutrient and 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme, 1 gallon water. I forgot to write down which yeast I used but I'm pretty sure it was Lalvin 1118 because I wanted a higher tolerance and the only other yeast available to me at the time was 1116.
I boiled the water, added the raisins, brought it back to the boil (they were from Bulk Barn and you never know who's had their hands in the food), soak overnight, adding more boiled water if it was required to keep the raisins covered so I could skim off the oily film from the vegetable oil they use to keep the raisins from sticking to each other. I think I added a considerable amount, like another half a gallon, but then, some of my raisins were really old and very dry. You can skip this step and get a stronger sherry if you use the wine store raisins that haven't been oiled. More raisins would boost the alcohol content too. I skimmed off what oil I could and then kept stirring it up to keep the oily bits around the edge while I was ladling the stuff out into the blender.
I ran the mess through the blender and then poured it into my mesh bag in my sanitized fermenter, added the pectic enzyme, waited 24 hours, got a SG reading of 1.110. I think I missed an entry in the brewlog when I racked it out of primary but at T = 4 months the SG was down to 1.002 and it smelled really nice. I racked it again a year later and that's when I noted that it needed to oxidize more, and I don't think I aerated it much when it was in primary.
If I did it again, I would aerate it a lot more in primary. A LOT. And then also some in secondary after racking.
[edit: Also, I find for my wines that have oxidixed, even when they're dry, the oxidation leaves the illusion of sweetness even when there's not much residual sugar, this might be why I rather like the effect of oxidized wines]
Terry Garey's Joy of Home Winemaking has a Raisin Sherry recipe which I mostly followed, it's a bit of work and a lot of raisins. I started it in 2007 and it's not bottled yet (it's on the list though and I'll let you know how it tastes when I do bottle it/rack it next, it hadn't oxidized enough last time I tried).
From my brewlog: 8 lbs raisins, 1 tsp yeast nutrient and 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme, 1 gallon water. I forgot to write down which yeast I used but I'm pretty sure it was Lalvin 1118 because I wanted a higher tolerance and the only other yeast available to me at the time was 1116.
I boiled the water, added the raisins, brought it back to the boil (they were from Bulk Barn and you never know who's had their hands in the food), soak overnight, adding more boiled water if it was required to keep the raisins covered so I could skim off the oily film from the vegetable oil they use to keep the raisins from sticking to each other. I think I added a considerable amount, like another half a gallon, but then, some of my raisins were really old and very dry. You can skip this step and get a stronger sherry if you use the wine store raisins that haven't been oiled. More raisins would boost the alcohol content too. I skimmed off what oil I could and then kept stirring it up to keep the oily bits around the edge while I was ladling the stuff out into the blender.
I ran the mess through the blender and then poured it into my mesh bag in my sanitized fermenter, added the pectic enzyme, waited 24 hours, got a SG reading of 1.110. I think I missed an entry in the brewlog when I racked it out of primary but at T = 4 months the SG was down to 1.002 and it smelled really nice. I racked it again a year later and that's when I noted that it needed to oxidize more, and I don't think I aerated it much when it was in primary.
If I did it again, I would aerate it a lot more in primary. A LOT. And then also some in secondary after racking.
[edit: Also, I find for my wines that have oxidixed, even when they're dry, the oxidation leaves the illusion of sweetness even when there's not much residual sugar, this might be why I rather like the effect of oxidized wines]
