I now have eighteen 375 mil and four 185ml bottles of Mojave Spirits (my
brand) Pomegranate Wine. The final numbers going into the bottles a
SG:1.011
pH: 3.67
TA: 0.7%
Maybe by the next batch I'll have a kit and know how to measure SO.
The final product came out just on the sweet side of dry or the dry side
of sweet depending on your perspective. For those who might not have read
the first couple of reports I put out, I started with 2.5 gallons of
unadulterated, i.e. straight pomegranate juice. Unlike the published recipes
that all seem to want to make "white concord grape" or "Sun Maid Raisin"
wine flavored with pomegranate juice. I hope that doesn't offend too many
folks.
My sweetie-pie said, "I like it." Can't get it better than that for me.
It finished up with a nice tangy pomegranate flavor.
Instead of using shrink-on caps, I used red dipping wax I bought from
Midwest. About half-way through I figure out how to get a nice cap over the
top. I was hoping for something resembling the wax cap on Maker's Mark but
the wax wouldn't stick to the glass bottle. Anybody know the secret to that?
I hope to put it away for at least three months before I open a bottle.
Thanks for all the help you guys have given me.

--
Regards,

Casey Wilson
Freelance Writer
and Photographer

[... and now on to the Australian Shiraz.]

In my first attempts at winemaking, I followed Metja Roate's book. 40 some years
ago!

She suggested a small patch of cloth over the cork and extending down the sides
an inch or so, held with a string or elastic. Then dipped in wax. It worked.
Quite well, in fact. Her rationale for the cloth - it makes it easy to peel off
the wax, leaving no residue around the bottle top to fall into the glass as the
wine is poured.

I opened the last of the batches this spring, cleaning out bottles for my
current efforts. Some of the corks were quite loose - small, second-hand when I
made the original batches, but 3 of the 4 batches were MAGNIFICENT! The fourth
one (apple) got poured out.....

I can't help but think the wax sealing contributed significantly to the quality.

Jack Wetmore in NB Can.

Casey Wilson wrote:

> I now have eighteen 375 mil and four 185ml bottles of Mojave Spirits (my
> brand) Pomegranate Wine. The final numbers going into the bottles a
> SG:1.011
> pH: 3.67
> TA: 0.7%
> Maybe by the next batch I'll have a kit and know how to measure SO.
> The final product came out just on the sweet side of dry or the dry side
> of sweet depending on your perspective. For those who might not have read
> the first couple of reports I put out, I started with 2.5 gallons of
> unadulterated, i.e. straight pomegranate juice. Unlike the published recipes
> that all seem to want to make "white concord grape" or "Sun Maid Raisin"
> wine flavored with pomegranate juice. I hope that doesn't offend too many
> folks.
> My sweetie-pie said, "I like it." Can't get it better than that for me.
> It finished up with a nice tangy pomegranate flavor.
> Instead of using shrink-on caps, I used red dipping wax I bought from
> Midwest. About half-way through I figure out how to get a nice cap over the
> top. I was hoping for something resembling the wax cap on Maker's Mark but
> the wax wouldn't stick to the glass bottle. Anybody know the secret to that?
> I hope to put it away for at least three months before I open a bottle.
> Thanks for all the help you guys have given me.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Casey Wilson
> Freelance Writer
> and Photographer
>
> [... and now on to the Australian Shiraz.]

"Jack" > wrote in message
...
> In my first attempts at winemaking, I followed Metja Roate's book. 40 some
> years
> ago!
>
> She suggested a small patch of cloth over the cork and extending down the
> sides
> an inch or so, held with a string or elastic. Then dipped in wax. It
> worked.
> Quite well, in fact. Her rationale for the cloth - it makes it easy to
> peel off
> the wax, leaving no residue around the bottle top to fall into the glass
> as the
> wine is poured.

Now that I've read what I wrote, I see I didn't say it correctly. First,
it is interesting that the wax helped the quality in Jack's case but I did
the wax dipping more for the aesthetics -- just to see what it looked like.
When I tried to get the wax to make decorative "streamers" down the
sides, the ends of the streamers simply detached from the glass and curled
up toward the top. The wax cap, resembling a plastic shrink-on, is firmly
stuck to the glass.
I fiddled a bit with embossing a sort of seal into the warm wax but the
only thing I could make a good impression with was a finger or thumbprint.
The little stamps I used, starting with my hanko, seem to be too elaborate
and clogged up all the small spaces. Something like a hanko, but made from
metal would probably work after the wax has set a bit.
Anyway, it was mostly for fun even though I'll probably do it now
instead of plastic sleeves. In my opinion it was actually easier than the
sleeves, once I figured out how.

Regarding someone's question in a different thread about using plain old
parafin, That works well. I did it with some empty 180ml bottles. When I
scavenged the bottles I kept the screw on lids since I couldn't find corks
to fit properly. I just haven't figured out how to color the parafin. Hint:
food coloring won't work. I guess I need to Google that, huh?

Go Drink!

Casey

Couldn't you extend the sealing wax w/the parrafin?

"flat skunk" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Couldn't you extend the sealing wax w/the parrafin?

I don't understand your question. Extend what, how?
I bought the red, and the gold waxes from Midwest after I had fiddled
around with plain old paraffin bought at the grocery store. Feel and texture
of the two types are the same. The main reason I bought the red and gold
stuff is I couldn't find any way of coloring the paraffin with anything I
had around the house. And the plain paraffin had no pzazz.
Blame it on "old-timer's disease" (or a brain fart) that I didn't think
of looking for candle crafting stuff until my post before this one. After
that I dove into Google and found a bunch of sources for color additives.
With a basic kit, a person could make up just about any color variation
imaginable -- including adding metallics, glitters, and stripes.

--
Cyfarch Gwinllan Cwm Deri!

Casey

Congratulations on the Pomegranate. No you can not do better than pleasing
your sweety. But if you like the wine, my suggestion is not to plan to age
it. Go ahead and drink it now. Your pH is a bit hight and it is not going
to keep indefinately. It maight keep for 2 or 3 years or it might start
decining after only 1 year. I am not criticising, just suggesting that you
drink it while you enjoy it.

Ray

"Casey Wilson" > wrote in message
news:Cl%Lh.15864$O_5.13021@trnddc03...
>
> I now have eighteen 375 mil and four 185ml bottles of Mojave Spirits
> (my brand) Pomegranate Wine. The final numbers going into the bottles a
> SG:1.011
> pH: 3.67
> TA: 0.7%
> Maybe by the next batch I'll have a kit and know how to measure SO.
> The final product came out just on the sweet side of dry or the dry
> side of sweet depending on your perspective. For those who might not have
> read the first couple of reports I put out, I started with 2.5 gallons of
> unadulterated, i.e. straight pomegranate juice. Unlike the published
> recipes that all seem to want to make "white concord grape" or "Sun Maid
> Raisin" wine flavored with pomegranate juice. I hope that doesn't offend
> too many folks.
> My sweetie-pie said, "I like it." Can't get it better than that for me.
> It finished up with a nice tangy pomegranate flavor.
> Instead of using shrink-on caps, I used red dipping wax I bought from
> Midwest. About half-way through I figure out how to get a nice cap over
> the top. I was hoping for something resembling the wax cap on Maker's Mark
> but the wax wouldn't stick to the glass bottle. Anybody know the secret to
> that?
> I hope to put it away for at least three months before I open a bottle.
> Thanks for all the help you guys have given me.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Casey Wilson
> Freelance Writer
> and Photographer
>
> [... and now on to the Australian Shiraz.]
>