Brewlog - Wine Beer & Beer Wine (and a pyment)

[SilentJimbo]

About to start a pyment using a merlot wine kit, so I'm going to do a couple of experimental brews with the remaining grape juice. One is a beer with some grape in it (Wine Beer) and the other is a low-alcohol wine with some malt in it (Beer Wine).

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Wine Beer
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1/5 Merlot Wine Kit
250g Light DME
2oz Special B
0.3oz Galena Hops (14.1% AA)
Water to 1 (UK)gal
Yeast: Nottingham

Estimated SG: 1.039
Estimated FG: 1.005
Estimated ABV: 4.5%

Steep Special B at 80C for 30mins.
Add DME and bring to boil.
Add hops (in hop bag) and boil for 5mins (~15 IBUs).
Remove hops and continue boiling for the 15mins.
Cool, then add to grape juice. Top up with water.

For the hops, I want some bitterness, but little aroma, so continuing the boil after removing the hops should evaporate off most of the hop oils. I'm also considering switching the Light DME for Wheat DME.

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Beer Wine
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2/5 Merlot Wine Kit
4oz Carapils Malt
Water to 1 (UK)gal
2g Oak Chips
Yeast: Nottingham

Estimated SG: 1.039
Estimated FG: 1.002
Estimated ABV: 4.9%

Steep Carapils at 80C for 30mins.
Cool, then add to grape juice. Top up with water.
Add oak chips to primary.

I was originally considering just doing a low-alcohol, sparkling red wine, but thought it might be a bit thin. The Carapils should add body and leave it slightly off-dry, and at about 3L, shouldn't contribute too much colour or flavour. I'm going to decide whether to carbonate it at bottling.

And I may as well include the pyment...

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Merlot Pyment
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2/5 Merlot Wine Kit
1.25lb Mexican Honey
1.25lb Greek Honey
Water to 1 (UK)gal
3g Oak Chips
Yeast: VR21

Estimated SG: 1.111
Estimated FG: 1.006
Estimated ABV: 13.8%

The exact recipe might vary slightly, as I haven't measured yet how much Mexican honey I have left. The above-zero FG is because the Greek honey never finishes dry. The Greek honey is strong and dark. The Mexican honey is also quite dark, and has a Shiraz-like spiciness to it.

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I plan to start these next week, once the final ingredients have arrived. In the meantime, any suggested alterations are more than welcome.

 

[Riverat]

Sounds interesting, I may have to borrow that idea.

 

[SilentJimbo]

Started these last Thurdays.
Two changes to recipes. Added 1oz Crystal Malt to the Wine Beer, and swapped 2oz Mexican honey for 2oz Greek in the pyment.

Original gravities:
Wine Beer - 1.042
Beer Wine - 1.040
Pyment - 1.110

Day 4
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Wine Beer - SG 1.007, pH 3.30. Fermentation has slowed greatly. Tastes a little sour. Added 1/3tsp calcuim carbonate to raise the pH. Slight flatulence-like smell (though I don't think it's H2S). Generally just tastes a bit dull. Wondering if I should have used twice as much DME, making the grape an addition, rather than a substitution. Hopefully it'll improve with conditioning.

Beer Wine - SG 1.005, pH 2.85. Far too acidic. Added 1/2tsp calcuim carbonate.

Pyment - SG 1.050, pH 3.35. Obviously still has a long way to go, but I'm really liking the flavour of this one. Seems to be a good balance between the honey and the grape. I may consider splitting the batch in two, and back-sweetening one half.

 

[MourneMead]

Hi,

You probably already know this but there is a homebrew podcast which has a few mead related episodes, one of which relates specificially to using wine kits for making pyment - I can't remember which one, but it's in there somewhere

http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=basic-brewing-radio-2007

Best of luck

MM

 

[danr]

Hi,

You probably already know this but there is a homebrew podcast which has a few mead related episodes, one of which relates specificially to using wine kits for making pyment - I can't remember which one, but it's in there somewhere

http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=basic-brewing-radio-2007

Best of luck

MM

Link:
March 5, 2009 - Wine Kit Pyment
Mead maker Mike Lozano walks us through making a pyment using a wine kit as a shortcut. Also, Douglas Wawrzynski fills us in on the victory in Utah.


Thanks. I was looking for info on this process last night. I will give it a listen.

Dan

 

[SilentJimbo]

Thanks for the link. Gave it a listen and I think the guy made it seem far more complicated than it needs to be, although that's partly become the programme's primary audience is beer brewers. Essentially, you just need to follow your normal mead making procedures, making some reductions to the nutrients and buffers, as there's already some mixed into the juice.
To determine the amount of the concentrate you need, find out the OG or ABV of a batch made to instructions, and from that you can estimate the total amount of sugar contained in the concentrate and replace honey with concentrate accordingly.

Anyway...

Day 5
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Wine Beer - pH 3.50. Sourness is gone. Stirred up the lees in the hope that the yeast resolve the aforementioned flaws during their cleanup phase. Still tastes rather lacking, but hopefully it'll turnout drinkable, and I'll know what changes to make next time (more DME).

Beer Wine - pH 3.15. Still too acidic to tell whether it'll be any good. Another 1/2tsp calcium carbonate added.

Pyment - pH 3.30. No drop in pH, so I'll probably just leave it be now, until it's finished fermenting.

 

[SilentJimbo]

Day 7
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Wine Beer - SG 1.008, pH 3.60. No change in smell or taste.

Beer Wine - SG 1.003, pH 3.45. Now more sour than acidic. Think it's going to need backsweetening.

Pyment - SG 1.016, pH 3.35. This is starting to taste acidic as well, but hopefully it'll turn out ok.

 

[SilentJimbo]

Day 12
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Wine Beer - SG 1.007, pH 3.75. No change in smell or taste.

Beer Wine - SG 1.003, pH 3.50. Tastes very watery, but not unpleasant. Could be nice if sweetened. Has acquired a similar smell to the Wine Beer.

Pyment - SG 1.006, pH 3.40. Youth aside, tastes quite nice. Perhaps still a fraction too acidic.