Pour 8 cups boiling water over the dates and one campden tablet. Cool. Remove the dates, chop them roughly and pour another 8 cups boiling water over them with the other campden tablet. Leave overnight.
Strain the liquid from the dates and discard the pulp. Combine the two batches of liquid in the primary fermentor. Add pectic enzyme, sugar, prepared honey, nutrients and lemon and orange juice and rind. Add any other fruit, if using. Add water to make up to 1 gallon. Add yeast.
In 3 to 5 days, when the frothing ceases, strain the wine and place it in the secondary fermentor and attach air lock.
For a dry wine, rack in six weeks, then every three months for one year. Bottle.
For a sweet wine, rack at six weeks. Add 1/2 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup wine. Stir gently, and place back into secondary fermentor. Repeat process every six weeks until fermentation does not restart with the addition of sugar. Rack every three months until one year old.
Bottle the wine when it is 6 to 12 months old, when you are sure it is stable. I like to continue racking for a whole year to ensure the wine is as clear as possible. Wine is ready to drink one year after the date the batch was started… enjoy
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