Starting a batch of carrot wine!

[Oneoffcustom]

Well after seeing

 

[Oneoffcustom]

Whoops... After reading the carrot wine thread i figured i had to do it. I tried to read between the posts for more specifics but this is what I ended up doing.

4# organic carrots ran through food processor.
2# organic light brown sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 pound raisins

Boiled carrots for 20 min with nutmeg and cinnamon sticks, then racked over raisins. Will cover with towel and pitch yeast tomorrow. Any input welcome.

 

[Yooper]

Looks good! Let us know how it comes out, and how you like it.

 

[Descender]

What yeast?

 

[Oneoffcustom]

I used red star. Little worried haven't seen any bubbles yet.

 

[cpesko]

How long you plan on fermenting this?

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

Interesting!

And i thought yoopers tomato wine was different!

 

[MycoBrew]

I have made several batches of carrot mead (dry) in batch sizes ranging from 1-6 gallons. If allowed to clear completely (use pectinase), it tastes champagne-like. Do not expect carrot flavors unless you use carrot in the secondary.

 

[Oneoffcustom]

Well, I'm not sure how long i plan on fermenting. Probably let it got till bubbles slow way down and test it. Currently there is a definite carrot taste but I'm sure it will fade. This is a first for me so I'm in uncharted waters. Thinking that around .99 to 1.00 i will rack off the raisins and start letting it clear up. Any pointers or advice welcome.

 

[Oneoffcustom]

Well this is the second time in two days I have went up to check wine and found my airlock full of wine and overflowing. Yesterday I poured a bit out till it was about 2" below rubber stopper and today it's completely full again. What should I do to fix this.

 

[MycoBrew]

Oversized carboy (at least 30% over) or a bucket for primary fermentation. If I do a six gallons batch, I fill to 4 gallons and top up 1/2 gallon every week until it's full. Or you can top up when you rack to glass for secondary.

 

[Oneoffcustom]

Well racked off of raisins and into a fresh sterile carboy. Had a little taste and man it's a potent alcohol taste right now lol. I do however get hints of carrot. Gravity is sitting around 1.015 currently. I will let it go dry and back sweeten to taste. I will also play with some extracts if not to my liking when done.

1 question though. Is this to much headspace?

 

[MycoBrew]

That's appropriate for primary. After that, you will want to top up provided the foam is not prohibiting it. As long as it's not past the first month of ferment and first racking, it will be just fine without topping up. Is your ferment producing many small, fine bubbles or developing large bubbles and building a foam head?

 

[Oneoffcustom]

Not much foam as of yet. Still fermenting a bit but nearing the end as the airlock is bubbling slowly.

What would you top off with? Water? White wine? I don't really wanna diminish the taste to much.

 

[Yooper]

Not much foam as of yet. Still fermenting a bit but nearing the end as the airlock is bubbling slowly.

What would you top off with? Water? White wine? I don't really wanna diminish the taste to much.

You can rack to a smaller container if you don't want to dilute it. Sometimes people add glass marbles to reduce headspace, but you'd have to add a billion marbles with that much headspace so a smaller vessel would be better.

 

[Oneoffcustom]

Well there hasn't been much to report. After only a few rankings this wine was crystal clear and sediment free. It does have a bit of a hot taste to it, but hopefully age will cure that. I did back sweeten this to about 1.01 and add in some spice extract along with a cake extract and a hint of vanilla. This stuff turned out crazy good.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Texconsinite]

Looks amazing!!
What do you mean by "spice extract" and "cake extract"?