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MKG wrote:Acid - very possibly. It serves three purposes. One is the final taste - if there's not enough acid, the wine can taste insipid. Another is the yeast - it likes an acidic environment, so the fermentation may be sluggish if there's not enough acid around. The third is the danger of infection - much less likely if the acid levels are correct. But no worries - you can add the acid now.

Cool Thanks :)

MKG wrote: Tannin serves two purposes. It gives the wine a bit of "bite" - all wines should have at least a little bit of tannin. Secondly, it helps with maturation - a low-tannin wine will not age particularly well. Again, though, you can stick it in now.

The wine doesn't usually stay around that long to age :)

Thanks for the pointers!

How do you make cherry brandy then? Is it the same but using a diferent name? Or is it something else?

i half fill large jar with cherries you surpose to prick them but i find if you freeze them does a better job and far quicker
add about 500GMS sugar and cover with 4 bottle of brandy and leave in cupboard for a year
but still very good to drink after 3-4 month but a tender to make loads and only bottle up when next lot of cherries are ripe
it well worth it

Thanks Wabbit.

strom could of waited until after i picked all me cherries
well at least i got enough dry to put on first batch of wine
cherry brandy will have to until weekend

why do you need red wine concentrate for the cherry Wine?????

The received knowledge is that the addition of concentrate gives you a finished product with more of the characteristics of a grape wine. Well ... it would, wouldn't it? In fact, it does - but it also increases the basic cost of the wine you're producing. A cheaper alternative - at the rate of a pound to a pint of concentrate - is the use of sultanas (for whites) or raisins (for reds). Chop 'em, boil 'em for five of your Earth minutes, allow to cool, strain, and use the resulting liquid. BUT BUT BUT allow at least half their weight in sugar in your recipe calculations.

I do use this method - but only when I think it really is necessary. You can make perfectly good wines without ever going anywhere near a grape. I've never seen the point of turning the world over to make an apple wine taste as if it was made in the vineyards of northern France.

Mike