Wines With Good Flavour And High Alcohol

Feb 28, 2007 6 Replies

Hello,



I bought a gervin high alcohol tolerant yeast which, in conjunction with their nutrients is stated to allow alchohol production over 20%. I bought it on a whim and thought I'd make a 5 gallon of country wine when I had the right idea.



A friend recommended a strong apple wine, but it isn't one of my favourite fruit to make into wine. Has anyone other any fruit or vegetable recommendations for a still wine at 20% ish strength which tastes particularly good?



Many thanks for any ideas.



Jim


we've gotten a peach and pear/raisin wines into the 15-18% range with lalvin ec1118; 2 batches of the wines stalled at the end of primary & (fortunately) never restarted in the bottles. both had a sweet edge to them that was pleasant. one batch of peach (17%) finished @ .999 & was bone dry like an entre deux mer and had a noticable peach aroma. all were great & packed a wallop! wish i had more! hope this helps. regards, bob

Yes thats a good start thanks Bob, it sounds divine!

Jim

ec1118; 2 batches of the wines stalled at

sweet edge to them that was pleasant.

and had a noticable peach aroma. all

their nutrients is stated to allow alchohol

of country wine when I had the right

fruit to make into wine. Has anyone other

which tastes particularly good?

fruit to make into wine. Has anyone other

which tastes particularly good?

At that alcohol you are approaching a brandy style so if you like a particular fruit brandy you might want to go that way. I made a 12% apple and thought it was awful as a dry wine, i wouldn't suggest that. most country wines are 10% or less to preserve the fruitiness. The best way to get high alcohol is to feed the sugar, start with enough to do 12% and once it's most of the way fermented add in more sugar 1% at a time.

Joe

Thanks for the tip Joe.

Yeah it's has to be down to personal taste. He likes apple wine a lot more than I do so far. The tip about thinking about what fruit brandy you like is useful as it gives me a direction to consider. I had wondered about making a wine which might be like a sherry in nature but still a wine.. I have just started a banana wine which has a high OG and was thinking that if I liked that, I could try to do a heavy banana / sultana / raisin wine, though I won't know - till I have tried the banana wine whether that's even vaguely sensible.

The only time I tried adding extra sugar after the fermentation had begun was with my beetroot wine. I added in the extra sugar, stirring to dissolve (as instructed after 3 weeks) instead of feeding it progressively after that point. As it was, I dropped the extra sugar into the fermenting wine and it stuck fast despite 4 or 5 attempts to restart it. I think had I fed it progressively, the wine would have worked well...

I will feed the high alcohol wine I make progressively next time rather than all at once!

Jim

fruit to make into wine. Has anyone

strength which tastes particularly good?

Yes you are down to personal taste. I would recomend trying to make a port. Plums with raisons for vinuosity and bananas for body might be nice. If you can come ome with a copy of one of C.J.J. Berry's books he has a recipe for Peach Perfection where you use some brown sugar and aim for 18%. I made it years ago and it was very nice.

Ray

Actually, I've almost decided to make a 5UK gallon of 19% rice wine as (if it is anything like saké) the flavour should seem natural enough at that volume. The amount of sugar required is horrific, but it's an interesting idea.

Presumably it would be a good idea to feed this fermentation with sugar rather than starting it off with all up to 12 KG of sugar in one go?! I am using Gervin GV26 yeast, but it sounds prudent. I'm still guessing what OG to aim for if I work this way...

Jim

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required