"Greg Cook" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"1234xx" wrote:

What recipes and tips can someone offer on making chokecherry wine. I've
never made wine myself but my father has done a good job on raspberry
and
local apple wines. I picked about 5 gals today and would like to freeze
them
for use later. They are excellent this year with the unusually hot
summer. I
haven't the time, equipment or skills to tackle it at the present
myself.

Thanks in advance.



I made chokecherry last year and it turned out ok. I used 3 pounds per
gallon and did a pulp fermentation. It has a nice flavor, but is a bit
light (color and flavor). I have a friend that makes a really delicious
robust dry chokecherry that is deep red and has a terrific body. He uses
about 5 pounds per gallon. He adds boiling water to the room temperature
cherries, and whirs it up with a 5-gallon paint mixer - this breaks the
chokecherries but does not break the pits. He lets this steep for about
24 hours then strains it and ferments the juice without the pulp. I am
going to do something like that with this year's crop. I notice all the
recipes call for about 2.5 pounds per gallon. I suppose it depends on
how ripe the cherries are, but I found 3 pounds to be too little.
Boiling water will help to extract the color, so I may do this also.

Please let us know how it turns out.

Update on the chokecherry wine.

I'm into the second batch. I divided the berries into 1/3 and 2/3. I started
the first 1/3 on Sept 25th. The second 2/3 is very nearly ready to transfer
into the carboy. Both are looking good. For the second I used half of red
grape concentrate the recipe called for and substituted the 1/2 the
alternate of raisins. I have access to a digital battery hydrometer (very
expensive, about $4000 CDN) which reads to .001. The present batch started
at 1.149 sg and is now at 1.024 sg so perhaps this afternoon it will each
target of 1.010. I couldn't resist a taste of the liquid withdrawn by the
hydrometer this morning. Expect it to be a tasty wine, better than the first
go around.

I took your suggestion of the paint mixer. The first I built myself modeled
after one in Walmart. It worked so so. I ended up crushing many berries by
hand. I then went shopping and found one for $10 CDN that was built
differently. It worked somewhat better and I just left the berries that
didn't disintegrate. The berries were picked a few day late. Some were
starting to get quite dry. Another person who makes fine rhubarb wine
freezes the fruit twice. He claims it tends to break down better. It might
be worth trying this with chokecherries. The mixer did a fine job on the
raisins. What might work well a mixer along the design of an egg beater made
from a hard rubber, something that would avoid breaking the pits.