Potato Wine Feb 2019

I saw this on a you tube video while searching for how to extract sugar from the starch in potatoes. That process was too involved and time consuming so I decided to try wine instead.  According to the video it's supposed to have an earthy taste reminiscent of scotch whiskey.  I decided to make 2 gallons.

• Bag of potatoes
• 4 lbs brown sugar
• One banana
• Golden raisins

I boiled the chopped potatoes in a large pot for about 40 minutes until very soft. We had them for dinner that night 😀. I pulled the potatoes out with a slotted spoon. There were a few small leavings in the water.  I put the brown sugar in the same water which was good since it melted the sugar quickly. I cut the banana into pieces about an inch long and peeled after cutting. I put the pieces in my gallon jugs along with the peels and poured the sugar water in. I put a healthy unmeasured amount of raisins in. After the water cooled enough I put the proofed yeast in. By the next day it was bubbling like crazy. 

A note on the amount of sugar. I figured that since the starch water didn't have much free sugar I needed to account for all of the free sugar with the brown sugar.  A gallon is eight pounds so two pounds is 25%. That should make the final product around 17-20%. It's not a science yet to me.  I just like stronger wine.

Feb 9 - After two weeks it is still bubbling pretty well but I don't like the looks of the bananas so I decided to take it off of the fruit.  After doing so I found that the banana actually wasn't so bad so a lesson learned for next time. I put it into my new two gallon jug. I need a new airlock that fits better. I had a taste and it has a slightly fruity taste thanks to the raisins and banana. It's fairly strong and does have an earthy flavor. I'm thinking this will be tasty when it's done.

April 17 - Bottled this today .It stopped bubbling a month ago but I let it sit to settle. It's very tasty even now while it's raw.  The color in the glass is similar to whiskey. Can't wait to see how it  ages. I put some in 4 standard bottles and the rest in grolsh style bottles.  Should be good with winter root stews.

September 21 2019 - Had a bottle of this this weekend.  I really like it.  Great flavor.  Kind of a dark flavor.  Lyric said it tastes masculine, I agree and I like it.  I'm going to expand on this and add more banana next time to improve the sweetness.  Fun, good times.

Cherry Cranberry Jan 2019

This is one of the first wines I dreamed up two years ago and it was delicious. So I took the original and tripled it to make three gallons.

• 2 bags of cherries
• 3 cans of cherry pie filling
• 9 cups of sugar
• 4 cups cranberries

I cooked the frozen cherries lightly to get the juice out while mashing them with a potato masher. I took the juice off a few times to try to get more juice out. Then I put some water in the pan with the cranberries. I cooked and mashed them lightly too.  I poured that juice in. Then I cooked the sugar to melt it. This isn't necessary because the yeast will eat it without it being dissolved but I wanted to be able to check the gravity.

I topped it off with the yeast and the water and checked the sugar. It's at 23%. Same as the first time. I also put the cranberries in to float around. Now to wait to see if the yeast starts. I used 116 yeast which is what I've typically used.

Early Feb - took this off of the fruit. Gravity was almost zero. Tastes very nice. Still bubbling and settling. Should be a delicious winter wine this Christmas.

March - Stopped bubbling.  Just been too busy to bottle it.  Hopefully in the next week or so.  Posting this so that I can remember the "bottled" date.

May 26 2019 - Bottled on Sunday.  Absolutely beautiful and so tasty even though its only a couple months old.  Can't wait to have it next year.  I only got 9 bottles out of the batch plus a half bottle of dreggy stuff, still very tasty.  I enjoyed it in the back yard with Mary B and a nice Davidoff cigar to relax and celebrate a good day of working together before firing up the grill for brats at the in-law's.

December 27 2019  Had a bottle while watching  It's a Wonderful Life with the family .So so very good.  I kept thinking I smelled hints of  cinnamon .  Mary B smelled it too .Made me wonder if this might be a neat thing to try next time.

Bottled May 26 2019