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Krækiberjavín 2010-2011

Posted: 8. Aug 2011 23:23
by Mano
Hi,
Krækiber season is getting closer. Last year I made a batch of Krækiberjavín. At the moment the wine is ok but not great, perhaps it’ll get more character in the bottle. In any case it has been a lot of fun making it and I will definitely make another batch this year but this time using an improved recipe.
I post my first recipe and results. I also comment on the improved recipe I’m going to use in the fall.
The recipe bellow produces between 25 and 30 liters of wine (I don’t remember exactly). When you rack first time to a secondary fermenter, you will fill it to the top and rack the left over to a smaller container. Later you will use the wine in the small container for topping up next rackings. I ended up with 25 liters of finished wine. After mixing all ingredients, the specific gravity (SG) was 1.085, which means potential ABV= 11.6 % if ferment down to SG=1.000. I ended up with SG=0.999 which means ABV=11.7%


Recipe:

6.8 Kg krækiber
5.8 kg white granulated sugar
20 liters of “Icelandic” water
1 packet pectic enzyme
1 lemon
yeast Nutrient
wine yeast (Lalvin EC1118)
Crushed Campden tablets


Bring 8 liters of water to boil (I used 8 liters for not specific reason so you may use a more or less). While you are waiting, wash krækiber and put them in primary fermentation vessel. Crush the berries: I did it with my hands but krækiber is a hard skin berry it is a bit difficult to crush them all manually. Add the boiling water to the primary. Dissolve the sugar in the rest water and add to primary. When cool to room temperature (20-25 oC) add all other ingredients except yeast. Cover the primary and set it aside for 24 hours. Then add yeast, I did a starter: I re-hydrated yeast an added it to 10% of juice for 24 hours (until you see fermentation signs) then pour the starter in the primary. Stir daily for 5-6 days or until specific gravity is 1.040. Strain out berries pulp and press it. Siphon into secondary fermentation vessel and fit airlock. Rack in three weeks and again in three months. When wine is clear and stable, rack again and bottle.

My Records:
20/09/2010 => SG=1.085 Mix ingredients
27/09/2010 => SG=1.040 Rack1 to secondary fermenter under airlock
17/10/2010 => SG=1.022 Rack2
23/01/2011 => SG=1.001 Rack3
06/03/2011 => SG=1.001 Rack4
23/07/2011 => SG=0.999 Rack5 Degas + Blended

As you can see in the records this wine fermented very slow. I blended with blueberry wine to achieve 12% ABV and more complexity and some berry juice to add some sweetness. After mixing I ended up with 30 liters of wine, one carboy 25 liters capacity and other smaller carboy 5 liters capacity. I stabilized with potassium sorbate + Potassium metabisulfite only the 25 liters carboy and did not stabilize the 5 liters… guess what!! Fermentation started again only in the 5 liters carboy (of course). Pretty amazing the yeast was reactivated after 10 months.

This year I will use:

More Krækiber and substitute the lemon juice (citric acid) by acid blend (tartaric+malic+citric). I will adjust sugar to SG = 1.095 and also have more control over the acidity. I will add some wine tannin. I will definitely use the same yeast (that guy was very strong..) And very important make another wine in the side to blended with, to improve character and flavor. I am not sure yet whether I will use raisins or not, they give body to the wine.
Finally I can recommend you to visit Jack Keller website. It is a brilliant website and you will find a lot of recipes (not for krækiberjavín) and learn a lot there: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If somebody out there have done krækiber wine we can interchange a bottle, or do something similar, to allow us to taste each others wine. What do you say??
Cheer
Mano

Re: Krækiberjavín

Posted: 9. Aug 2011 10:18
by FriðrikH
Thank you Mano for this detailed post, I'll try to make a batch when the berries are ready and this will help alot. I'll take note of what I use and the progress and post it here. It would be great to start a krækiberjavín tradition.

Re: Krækiberjavín 2010-2011

Posted: 1. Oct 2011 15:23
by Mano

A week ago, I finally bottled the krækiberjavín. From now I'll wait 1 or 2 months to open the first bottle. Since I don't have a cellar to properly store my wine I don't think it will improve very much in the bottle. Anyway I will post some notes when I taste it.
On the other hand, I have already pick up enough krækiber for my next batch. The berries are frozen, waiting for me to have the time and to make more space in my kitchen to place some more fermenter.
Kv.
Mano

Re: Krækiberjavín 2010-2011

Posted: 14. Jun 2012 21:20
by Mano
Hi everyone, my krækiber wine (2010) is now almost 21 months old, and it has been bottled for almost 9 months. As I said, I'm going to post how this wine has developed so far...at the moment, there is only one or two bottles left hmm...

Mano

Re: Krækiberjavín 2010-2011

Posted: 14. Jun 2012 21:40
by Mano
Even when I know my Krækiber wine is not the best one, I do like the way it tastes. I was, mainly, concerned about it been a bit fizzy so it seams that I did not degas it properly. Anyway I decided to enter this wine in the WineMaker International Amateur Competition 2012 (see the link below), which was hold in USA. I enter it mainly to get some feedback from the judge. The results were published few days ago. Guess what!!…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WineMaker_ ... ompetition" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Krækiberjavín 2010-2011

Posted: 14. Jun 2012 23:08
by hrafnkell
Looks like 2012 isn't there yet..

Re: Krækiberjavín 2010-2011

Posted: 14. Jun 2012 23:55
by Mano
Hey unfortunately my krækiber wine did not get any medal. But I have received a good feedback from the judges and in any case Im happy with the score of this wine (my first ever..).
Nevertheless I did win a Gold Medal with my Orange-Spicy wine hmmm that is a good one. But I will make a new post for that one. You can see the results of the competition (2012) here:
http://www.winemakermag.com/competition/past-winners" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I will post the notes of the judges about krækiber wine soon.
Cheers!!

Re: Krækiberjavín 2010-2011

Posted: 16. Jun 2012 21:36
by Mano
Hæ!!
My Krækiber wine scored average 11.3 out of 20 points. It makes this wine be between Pleasant and Good (not excellent nor extraordinary).
Here are some judge notes:
Appearance: Excellent, brilliant with outstanding characteristic color (I knew that, it looks really nice).
Aroma and Bouquet: Pleasant, nice berry aromas. (Aromas must come from the blueberry wine I used for blending or from the berry juice I used to back-sweet, krækiber has almost not smell.)
Flavor: Acceptable/pleasant, slightly out of balance, has minor off flavor. (It make sense, I did not care about controlling acidity (TA) among others things beyond my possibilities)
Aftertaste: Little or not distinguishable aftertaste, needs improvement (hmm, I also knew that…)
Overall impression: Good wine. (Might be true, it is almost finished)

Well, that is it!
My last kraekiber wine (2011-2012) is now 8 months old so we’ll see how that one turns up. I have also begun planning for the 2012 season. This year I will focus on fermentation temperatures. I have not a temperature-controlled fermenter yet. Perhaps I’ll try to build one. Also I will try a controlled malolactic fermentation, only in a small batch to see if the wine get any better.
Cheers
Mano.

Re: Krækiberjavín 2010-2011

Posted: 16. Jun 2012 23:43
by sigurdur
Well done!
Congrats!

Build a fermentation chamber .. it's cheap to build and makes such a difference!
(look for a cheap fridge on bland.is and buy one controller from brew.is)

Re: Krækiberjavín 2010-2011

Posted: 17. Jul 2012 11:17
by gunnarolis
Nice writeup, and please write a post about the other wine.

The wine part of this forum has been a little slow through the years, and these posts will certainly improve it.

Re: Krækiberjavín 2010-2011

Posted: 26. Dec 2012 20:37
by Mano
Hi, my krækiberjavín is almost 15 months old. It is still in bulk, I'm planning on bottling it soon (perhaps January...) Few weeks ago I tasted it, and guess what.... I was surprise by how good it is. Hopefully I'll be on time to have it ready and send it to competition, it would be nice to get some professional opinion about it.
Cheers!

Re: Krækiberjavín 2010-2011

Posted: 3. Sep 2014 17:57
by helgibelgi
Hi Mano

My coworker and I have some juice made from krækiber that he picked a few summers ago (I think 2-3 years ago) and we're gonna try turning it into wine.

I have not yet measured the gravity of the juice, but if my taste buds can be trusted it probably doesn't contain much sugar.

I have sugar to add and some yeast (EC1118 and K1-V1116). I don't have the pectic enzyme, is that important?

Any help you could give me will be greatly appreciated!

Re: Krækiberjavín 2010-2011

Posted: 3. Sep 2014 20:13
by Mano
Hi H.

A 2-3 years old juice can certainly be used in winemaking perhaps it doesn’t turn up into a great wine, due to juice potential oxidation, but in any case it will be fun!

How have you conserved the juice for so long? Is it frozen? Did you add any preservative when you made it? Which preservative? Did you pasteurize it?

If the juice has been frozen all this time, maybe its oxidation will be minimum and in case you used preservatives, make sure they won’t prevent fermentation (such as Potassium Sorbate E202). You might want to taste very well the juice and if it taste good and has correct color (dark black) you are probably safe to go.

The first thing you want to do when preparing the must (all the juice to be fermented) is add the recommended dose of potassium sulfite (this is to address the oxidation issue and also in case there are some bacteria or unwanted yeast in the juice). I think the easiest way for you to go is buying Campdent tablets (you can buy them in vinkallarinn or aman).

Regarding the sugar content of Kraekiber juice, you are right, it is low. You will have to add sugar to bring specific gravity (SG) up. How much sugar per liter of juice? It will depend on the current SG. There is plenty of information about how to calculate sugar additions online but I could also tell you, if you like.

Peptic enzymes are beneficial because it helps break down the skin of the berries therefore more juice and goodies are extracted from the fruit into the wine. Since you already have the juice you may not use any enzymes. However other advantage in using peptic enzymes is that it helps the wine to clear once fermentation is finished. But in case your wine refuses to clear with time, you could always use any fining agents.

Either yeast you mentioned could be used and EC1188 is recommended for fruit wines.

One more thing, do not forget to add nutrients to the must, that is important for keeping happy yeast.

Hope it helps.

Cheers!

Re: Krækiberjavín 2010-2011

Posted: 3. Sep 2014 21:10
by helgibelgi
Mano wrote:Hi H.

A 2-3 years old juice can certainly be used in winemaking perhaps it doesn’t turn up into a great wine, due to juice potential oxidation, but in any case it will be fun!

How have you conserved the juice for so long? Is it frozen? Did you add any preservative when you made it? Which preservative? Did you pasteurize it?

If the juice has been frozen all this time, maybe its oxidation will be minimum and in case you used preservatives, make sure they won’t prevent fermentation (such as Potassium Sorbate E202). You might want to taste very well the juice and if it taste good and has correct color (dark black) you are probably safe to go.

The first thing you want to do when preparing the must (all the juice to be fermented) is add the recommended dose of potassium sulfite (this is to address the oxidation issue and also in case there are some bacteria or unwanted yeast in the juice). I think the easiest way for you to go is buying Campdent tablets (you can buy them in vinkallarinn or aman).

Regarding the sugar content of Kraekiber juice, you are right, it is low. You will have to add sugar to bring specific gravity (SG) up. How much sugar per liter of juice? It will depend on the current SG. There is plenty of information about how to calculate sugar additions online but I could also tell you, if you like.

Peptic enzymes are beneficial because it helps break down the skin of the berries therefore more juice and goodies are extracted from the fruit into the wine. Since you already have the juice you may not use any enzymes. However other advantage in using peptic enzymes is that it helps the wine to clear once fermentation is finished. But in case your wine refuses to clear with time, you could always use any fining agents.

Either yeast you mentioned could be used and EC1188 is recommended for fruit wines.

One more thing, do not forget to add nutrients to the must, that is important for keeping happy yeast.

Hope it helps.

Cheers!
Wow, thank you so much for a really good and quick answer!

I think I actually have everything ready to go. I do have some campden tablets and some yeast nutrients (for beer yeast, but I guess it's better than nothing) and I have some DiAmmonium Phosphate (DAP) for extra nutrients. And yeah, I think I'll use the EC-1118. If it finishes to dry (as I've heard elsewhere that this yeast tends to do) then I could always backsweeten later? (or is this not usually done with wine?)

The juice was made originally in a juice press made for home kitchens (don't know what kind or brand name). It's got no skins, but maybe some of the seeds could have been mixed in. It was just kept at (mostly) room temperature or cellar temperature in a plastic soda bottle for all this time (2-3 years). It' tastes just fine! very thin and not sweet at all, but plenty of krækiber taste and aroma (pungent).