Sloe cherry wine?

[chrissyteacup]

So I already have the sloe wine in the primary which I'm going to rack today (just a 1 gallon batch) I have about 800g of morello cherries in my freezer and about 300g of sloe's was thinking of putting these in with the leftover pulp of the sloe wine (with water sugar yeast nutrient some tea for tannins and a squeeze of lemon juice) should I put in some raisins or red grape concentrate as well as the recipes I've found with cherries suggest 1.8kg to 3.6kg which is a lot more fruit then I have! I don't want to end up with a weak/watery wine. any suggestions will be gratefully received. (I also have some mulled wine teabag things with spices in was thinking about chucking in one of those for to make it Christmassy ready for next year any thoughts??)

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

Yes to the raisins, but leave out the tea - the sloes will provide far more tannin than is needed as it is! The spice idea sounds great, but it probably won't be at its best until Christmas 2015 at the earliest because of the tannin from the sloes. I'd also add a carton of apple juice.

 

[chrissyteacup]

Thanks Tim.
I'd not thought about all that tannin in the skins so left out the tea ended up leaving out the lemon juice too as the morellos were so tart I didn't think it would need anymore acid (I don't have an acid testing kit I'm still new to this in case it didn't show lol) I just brewed the spices in some of the water on the hob before adding as I didn't want them to be overpowering just a subtle extra flavour. and chucked in some raisins (will these add more tannins too??).

Think I'm going to have to do some wow's in the summer once I've bottled this lot as have nothing drinkable as there all hedgerow wines cant wait for testing them.

I didn't quite have enough white sugar so added 250g of soft brown (which was meant for the xmas cake will have to go buy some more now!!) any idea how this will affect the flavour? I've been out to it this morning and it seems to be bubbling away so those little yeasties are clearly happy with it started out with a sg of 1.090.

 

[chrissyteacup]

thought I'd share some pics of my sloe cherry wine I hope the pic's work as this is my first attempt.




as you can see the sloe cherry has considerably more sediment


the one on the left is sloe cherry the one on the right is just plain sloe

both looked almost clear but definitely need more time to mature as were not nice to drink... especially the sloe cherry :sick: I hope they improve!! they smelt lovely tho definitely can smell those sloes

 

[divingdavey]

I was inspired at the weekend by another forum member to have a go at tinned peach wine... While at the supermarket I also got some tinned peaches and cherries.

Anyway I put the peach and strawberry on yesterday and having read this thread I'm thinking about using the tinned cherries with the sloes I'll have left over from my sloe gin... Anyone think it's worth a go?

Cheers! :

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

The almond flavour of the sloes will compliment the cherries very well. Sloes can be overpowering, so use two to three times as many cherries to avoid them being drowned out. You shouldn't need tannin as sloes contain very high levels - it's one of the reasons why they're unpleasant to eat raw.

One possible issue is that you'll get some gin flavour in the finished wine. It might only be a hint, but you can't be sure until it's finished.

 

[divingdavey]

Thanks again Tim, this is the alternative I have to making the 'Port' as I've only enough sloes to do one or the other....

I'm leaning towards the Port though :

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

I'd go for the port.

 

[chrissyteacup]

To be honest it's still bulk ageing so cant review it yet but. I have racked it since last updating this and it's definitely improving but still needs more time. Mostly the smell and flavour of sloe is coming through with a hint of cherry but we'll see how it mellows as still young at the mo. I have high hopes for it. Hope it turns out well for you. :thumb: let me know how you get on.