What is the purpose of the black tea? I have seen this more and more recently but I cannot figure out the purpose. Is it just for flavor?
Arpolis said:The tea is dropped in loose. It will fall with the sediment just fine. It adds tannins and a little body to the wine. Just rounds it out is all.
Does it matter what type or flavor of black tea ? Also does it change the color of the wine using tea in it ?
Arpolis said:There may be a color change but I do not notice it really. Purple concentrate is still purple. Peach is still peachy... The tea does effect the flavor and the level of tannins is effected from tea to tea.
For instance black tea provides high tannins and better mouthfeel but can be more bitter. Earl grey has bergamot oil in it and I think that helps to soften the bitter tastes. Raspberry zinger tea from celestial sesoning is an herbal tea that has most of the "tea" coming from raspberry and blackberry leaves with hints of real raspberry, sweet orange peel and licorice root. That will give less tannin and mouthfeel but will accentuate some fruity character.
Just use what you like to drink and it should come out fine.
Thanks for the info. One last question, would this be the same as just using powdered grape tannin from my LHBS? Or is there any benefit of using tea over tannin powder ? Or vice versa ?
Yooper, I would love to try the rhubarb wine. Unfortunately that stuff when available is expensive down here in Texas. Definitely going to try a small batch!
The simplest wine I ever made that had the least fuss was my Welch's wine. Here is the recipe:
1 gallon Welch's wine
4 cans of 11.5oz Welch's frozen concentrate (I like white grape peach)
1 TBS of black tea (I like Earl grey)
Water to 1 gallon
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp yeast energizer
Yeast (lalvin 71B)
This makes a great dry young wine. Aging helps and it could be easily stabilized and back sweetened if you like but I think the white grape peach is awesome dry. Just let it ferment dry over 2 weeks. Put the jar/carboy in the fridge and wait another 2 weeks. Should be crystal clear. No need for secondary just siphon off the top. Should get 4 750ml bottles worth without disturbing the lees.
Just started this tonight. I only had K1V on hand. Can't wait to see how this turns out. Now I have to get the items for Skeeter Pee and use the lees to start a batch with it.
The K1V should hold up nice through this for the Skeeter Pee right?
I have never used k1v in skeeter pee but I imagine that it would kick skeeter pees but, ferment through and produce a nice wine. I like k1v for many things so can't imagine things going wrong. For this concentrate wine if left dry should be very nice, crisp and refreshing chilled. Also wines and meads made with k1v seem to really benefit from long time aging so a year from now this wine should be spectacular. If you can wait that long... I couldn't with my last batch.
Since you are using a processed juice the pectic enzyme will not make the biggest difference but I think the wine clears more quickly with it. Yea 6 weeks should be good. Just in that second 3 week section cold crash the wine and that should drop out any leftover sediment. It should taste fine after that.
Since you are using a processed juice the pectic enzyme will not make the biggest difference but I think the wine clears more quickly with it. Yea 6 weeks should be good. Just in that second 3 week section cold crash the wine and that should drop out any leftover sediment. It should taste fine after that.
Can a novice like me get away with making a basic wine without the additives called for in most of these recipes? Will the wine be too nasty if I don't have access to tannins, pectin enzyme, yeast nutrients, or energizers? I mean just grapes, water and yeast?
No, it should be fine. Just like if you make a stew and leave out the onions and salt and pepper, it will be fine, but better with some flavor seasonings.
Tannins and things are for flavor, while the pectic enzyme helps with clarity. Since the juice is already clear, that's usually no issue. Sometimes the yeast nutrients can make a difference in wine when the wine is nutrient starved, but not really a big problem with juice wines from grapes and many other fruits.
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