why do all my wines taste salty?

[fatslob]

First time posting, but I've been a creepy lurker for a long time. I've been making a gallon every month, and when I rack for clearing or bottling whatever, the wine just is super salty sorta flavor almost bitter but no, just salt. Is this something that goes away after a few months of conditioning in bottles? I'm starting to get discouraged.

 

[bmd2k1]

What kinds of vinos ya making? Yeasts used? Typical protocol?

Tough to provide any feedback w/o some more background info [emoji111]

 

[fatslob]

What kinds of vinos ya making? Yeasts used? Typical protocol?

Tough to provide any feedback w/o some more background info [emoji111]

Here's my last recipe/method. I like doing my own thing and figurin it out. I use whatever fruits get gifted to me, mostly citrus. Have access to a ton.
1gal recipe
2lbs Buddha lemon fingers
1lbs banana
4lbs white sugar
1cup raisins
1 apple
1 parsnip
2gals water
black tea bag
chop all fruits/veg add all + water to large kettle. bring to boil, add sugar. boil for 1 hour to reduce, checking brix shoot for 25. after 1 hour shut off heat, cover let cool overnight. strain everything take final brix (it was 31). dump into primary bucket, pitch yeast. after a week rack and add tea bag. (brix reading was 24 when I racked). I just racked again this morning been about 2 weeks brix was 5. definitly salty just like all the other ones.

I just realized after typing this out, that it might have something todo with the tea bag? I just do that because that happy homestead guy on youtube said to for that flavor I can't think of the name right now. Thanks bud

 

[CodeSection]

Here's my last recipe/method. I like doing my own thing and figurin it out. I use whatever fruits get gifted to me, mostly citrus. Have access to a ton.
1gal recipe
2lbs Buddha lemon fingers
1lbs banana
4lbs white sugar
1cup raisins
1 apple
1 parsnip
2gals water
black tea bag
chop all fruits/veg add all + water to large kettle. bring to boil, add sugar. boil for 1 hour to reduce, checking brix shoot for 25. after 1 hour shut off heat, cover let cool overnight. strain everything take final brix (it was 31). dump into primary bucket, pitch yeast. after a week rack and add tea bag. (brix reading was 24 when I racked). I just racked again this morning been about 2 weeks brix was 5. definitly salty just like all the other ones.

I just realized after typing this out, that it might have something todo with the tea bag? I just do that because that happy homestead guy on youtube said to for that flavor I can't think of the name right now. Thanks bud

My guess is the raisins are salted. Try soaking them in water first to remove the salt....

 

[AzOr]

Try using spring or ro water. Your municipal water may be the culprit.

A minor concern could be your produce. I’ve noticed with celery etc that it can be very salty depending on where it’s been grown.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hiya fatslob, and welcome.
I would think that the teabag is not a likely culprit. First assuming that this is not herbal tea but tea leaves this is to add tannin to your wine. Tannins have a drying effect in the mouth (the sensation you get when eating an unripe persimmon). Tannins don't taste salty - but if that bag of tea tasty salty most people would not drink it and would complain to the company that packaged it. You make no mention of adding nutrients or DAP. DAP can taste salty.
Have you asked others to taste your wines to see if they detect any saltiness? I ask because (coincidentally) I just heard back from two judges at a competition I sent a bottle of a date mead I made that they detected saltiness but a third judge made no comment about that and folk I have shared the wine with also made no mention of any salty taste...

 

[fatslob]

Hiya fatslob, and welcome.
I would think that the teabag is not a likely culprit. First assuming that this is not herbal tea but tea leaves this is to add tannin to your wine. Tannins have a drying effect in the mouth (the sensation you get when eating an unripe persimmon). Tannins don't taste salty - but if that bag of tea tasty salty most people would not drink it and would complain to the company that packaged it. You make no mention of adding nutrients or DAP. DAP can taste salty.
Have you asked others to taste your wines to see if they detect any saltiness? I ask because (coincidentally) I just heard back from two judges at a competition I sent a bottle of a date mead I made that they detected saltiness but a third judge made no comment about that and folk I have shared the wine with also made no mention of any salty taste...

Okay now I'm thinking it's either the water or my taste buds. I don't add any nutrients or anything. I decided not to use anything unnatural in my winemaking from the getgo. no idear what dap is. I'll have to ask my wife what she thinks. It's a sort of bitter saltiness on the back of my tongue too. Not really anything I've experienced before. maybe it's just me

 

[CodeSection]

Okay now I'm thinking it's either the water or my taste buds. I don't add any nutrients or anything. I decided not to use anything unnatural in my winemaking from the getgo. no idear what dap is. I'll have to ask my wife what she thinks. It's a sort of bitter saltiness on the back of my tongue too. Not really anything I've experienced before. maybe it's just me

While it may be your water, but if you had that much salt in your water that you could taste it, any plants that you watered with the that same salty water would be dead....

 

[Blacksmith1]

I'm curious as to why you boil everything for an hour. Most recipes I have or have seen say about 20 minutes. Then let the fruit/veg sit in the must. Could this be your culprit?
Just spitballing here, I honestly have no idea.

 

[fatslob]

I'm curious as to why you boil everything for an hour. Most recipes I have or have seen say about 20 minutes. Then let the fruit/veg sit in the must. Could this be your culprit?
Just spitballing here, I honestly have no idea.

I figure it'll concentrate everything down to bring the gravity up, but maybe it's the reason. Next time I'll try 20m max maybe that's it

 

[Seamonkey84]

I figure it'll concentrate everything down to bring the gravity up, but maybe it's the reason. Next time I'll try 20m max maybe that's it

With most recipes, boiling is to sanitize the fruit. if you want to up the brix, use less water or more sugar. If you want more flavor, use more fruit, or again, less water. What’s the point of adding two gallons of water to boil it down When your adding the sugar anyway.
Also try not boiling the fruit, it’s a completely different taste. I mostly work with berries. I Just freeze and thaw them to make them mushy, I then squeeze the fruit to really break it up. The yeast will break it up themselves too. You can also freeze concentrate your own juice. that way you up flavor and sugar and you can add it back into more juice to bulk it up.

 

[fatslob]

Okay I'll try that next. The freeze thaw is smart, was going to say boiling helps break down the fruits too, but I'll try freeze thaw instead

 

[nug420ster]

Sodium Bisulfate? https://blog.eckraus.com/a-simple-guide-to-metabisulfites

 

[bernardsmith]

Sodium Metabisulfate could perhaps taste salty but I recently medalled in a wine competition and two of the judges said they could detect saltiness in the wine. The wine this was detected in was a date tej (mead) and there was no obvious source of saltiness except that someone noted that dates for example are high in sodium and when you remove much /all of their sweetness the sodium can be detected. This may apply to the fruits you use, fatslob. In other words, the saltiness may not be anything that you are doing except using fruit that when fermented highlights a salty presence...