Ginger, Zinf And Shiraz
October 21st, 2005 | 
Author: It’s amazing how much work time takes away from play and hobby time! I’ve been wanting to rack my ginger wines for a few weeks now, but haven’t had a chance. I’ve also had a couple of kits sitting in my winemaking room, waiting for me to start them.
First, the Ginger Wine. I started some ginger wine according to this recipe, and doubled it to make two gallons instead of just one. I wanted to make one sweet, and one dry.
I made some time today to rack the two, and added the half cup of demerrara sugar to the one that will be sweet. It will also be higher in alcohol content – a nice after dinner wine on a cold winter night here in Central western Ontario. Well, I hope it will be nice! It certainly smells interesting – the ginger is unmistakable. And I like ginger.
A few weeks ago, I purchased two kits from Winemakers here in Orangeville – a Cru Select “Platinum” kit consisting of Australian Shiraz juice, and a Grand Cru Zinfandel.
The Zinfandel is a four week kit, while the Shiraz is a six week. Costs were CDN$55.00 for the Zinfandel, and CDN$85.00 for the Shiraz. The Shiraz contained 16 litres of concentrated juice (so only 7 litres of water added) while the Zinfandel only contains 10 litres of concentrate.
I’m interested in aging the Shiraz for at least a year, while consuming the Zinfandel quickly. How quickly? I guess that depends on how many friends come over to help drink it! Both kits will make about 30 750 ml bottles though.
I was a little disappointed in the Specific Gravity of the Zinfandel, only coming in at 1.064 after adding the water to bring it up to 23 litres. That is quite low. The Shiraz was 1.072 – again, a little on the low side, but close enough to the range I’d like it to be in.
I also have a couple of new articles I want to write for the main Home Winery site, as well as do a quick one with pictures of my three year old son David, when he went with me on our “Daddy And David Adventure” trip to the Niagara Wine region to pick up fresh juice.
More on that soon.
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I am surprised at the S.G. you report on these kits. A few comments. Hydrometers vary. They are calibrated for different temperatures depending on the purpose they were designed for, so they are only accurate at those temperatures. Common reference points are 4 degrees C, 15.5 degrees C, and 20 degrees C. Most wine hydrometers are set to 60 or 68 degrees F. Correct for temperature by adding 0.0002 for every degree Celsius warmer than the reference temperature, or subtracting for every degree cooler. Also potential alcohol scales are usually a differential so don’t forget to factor in how far under 1.000 your must drops to between day one and the last day. Also, I don’t have to mention that sugars may drop to the bottom of your must if not well mixed on day one, significantly affecting the starting S.G. Bobby C.
Thanks for your comment, Bobby C. The temperature in my room was about 21C – and when I checked the hydrometer against water out of the tap, it seemed to be right on 1.000.
As far as stirring goes, they both got a good stir! I used the drill whipping thing to get it all stirred up. Much easier than a plastic spoon
Best article,thanks for your sharing ,anthor!
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