Vanilla and possibly Strawberry Wine

[Tapo90]

Just made a very VERY basic wine, about 500-700g of sugar, 1gallon of water and some Vanilla flavoring. I have no idea what its gonna taste like.
Thinking about putting some strawberry flavor in towards the end of fermentation.
Any advice?

I'm fairly new to home brew by the way, so go easy

 

[Moley]

Welcome to the forum :

I would use the word “wine” very loosely, that's a flavoured Kilju, but you should end up with something drinkable.

There's nothing much for your yeasties to get excited about, give it a mug of strong black tea and the juice of a lemon.

Strawberry flavouring sounds good to me :thumb:

 

[Tapo90]

Thanks for the welcome :
I use the word wine as thats pretty much what I planned to make, but thats as far as I got, planning.

What would the tea and lemon do to it?

The strawberry was just an idea to go with the vanilla flavoring, kinda like a strawberry and cream type of flavor.

Its my first own idea brew.

 

[Moley]

Sugar, water and yeast will give you alcohol but it will be very bland and uninteresting. There's nothing in there to give it any body or ‘vinosity’.

The tea will give it some tannin, and a bit more bite or astringency.

The lemon juice for some citric acid will make it more appealing to your own taste buds, and will also make it more interesting to the yeasts, giving you a healthier and slightly quicker fermentation.

 

[Tapo90]

Ahh, well that I did not know, I've seen many recipes that say use tea, but I never understood why.

If I do add the juice of a lemon to it, will that do anything to my idea to add some strawberry flavor to it in a later stage?

 

[Moley]

No, I'm only talking about the juice of one lemon or a teaspoonful of granulated citric acid to give it the right sort of balance that humans and yeasties both prefer, there wouldn't be a lemon taste left by the end.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Sugar, water and yeast will give you alcohol but it will be very bland and uninteresting. There's nothing in there to give it any body or ‘vinosity’.

.

Would that be a bad headache alcohol ?

BB :hmm:

 

[Tapo90]

Oh right, well, I shall do that tomorrow maybe, if i can get hold of a lemon

I will keep posted on how it turns out.

Thanks for the help, much appreciated :thumb:

 

[Tapo90]

.[/quote]
Would that be a bad headache alcohol ?
:[/quote]


Depends how much you drink :lol:


That quote failed...

 

[Tapo90]

Instead of a lemon, is there and other fruit I could use for the citric acid?

 

[Moley]

Not really, unless you want to start adding other flavours.

For the equivalent acid content of one lemon you'd probably need 2 limes, 2 grapefruit or 3 oranges.

 

[Tapo90]

Lemon it its then.

Gonna put a strong black tea in when its cooled down, made with 2 teabags.

My 'wine/kilju' is fermenting away nicely now.

 

[Tapo90]

If I put the tea in this, will I need finings to clear it or will it clear itself?
Also what will it do to the flavor?
Thanks.

 

[Moley]

It shouldn't affect the flavour or the clearing time.

 

[Tapo90]

I've now put both tea and lemon into my brew, it would seem it has made the yeast happy anyway. Its fizzing away at quite a pace now.

Thanks for the help. :

 

[Tapo90]

NOTE: The lemon juice has made it ferment like crazy!
Its now 'fizzing' more than a shaken bottle of lemonade.
Does citric acid do this to all wines?

 

[Moley]

It takes a day or two to get going properly, a hint of acid is just one contributory factor to a healthy fermentation, and it sounds like yours is up to speed now.

Take a look at the Wurzel's Orange guide, when you start adding some fruit pulp that gets carried around the jar too, and that is what has been termed the ‘lava lamp effect’.

 

[Tapo90]

Just found a bottle of strawberry flavoring used for cakes and such, I am thinking about maybe putting this into my brew. I'm also thinking about starting a new Kilju and put the bottle in at the start of fermentation to make a strawberry flavored Kilju. Thought?
:

 

[Moley]

If you want to retain the full flavouring, add it at the end.

 

[Tapo90]

Whoops :whistle:
LOL, I suppose I could always buy some more and add it at the end if it still doesn't taste too good.
I'm on a journey to make a flavored Kilju that is cheap and easy to make, then I plan on making my mates get into brewing with it.