Mango wine conclusion and epilogue

I couldn't wait any longer.  I am thirsty.  Time to see if the mango wine is spoiled or successful.  I cracked it open.  It fizzed and is bubbly as soda pop.  I am amazed by this bit of magic and will probably be amazed for a while.  The nose was a bit sour.  The same sort of sour that my first batch of pruno had.  The taste is ok.  It has the mango flavor.  The apples came out really strong.  It is a bit too dry.  Maybe next time I will actually measure the sugar?  Hey, before you sass me my grandmother never measured the sugar when she baked lasagne and it tasted great.  Measuring isn't how it's done.

So was it contaminated?  Possibly.  It is just a hint of sour, lingering in the back, probably coming in from the nose.  There is some acid from the apples, and of course the mango notes that dance on the back of your tongue.  As it aired out and "breathed" the sourness dissipated a bit.  Still a bit too dry and acidic for what I hoped to achieve.  The fact that it wasn't too sour and it seemed to air out suggests that it might have been from the heat, but I can't say for sure.  Maybe I've just drank too much rotgut wine to really tell?

I will admit that this mango juice wasn't the best mango juice I've ever had.  It was a blend, and I recall mangos were second on the list of ingredients behind apples.  Again I probably should have used the white wine yeast.  Oh well; I learned a lot from these experiments as I look to make the best tasting and cheapest pruno possible.  Contamination can add sour notes to the hooch and one should take as much care as possible to sterilize every piece of equipment.  Also brewing is affected by the heat, and you should either avoid brewing when it is 95 degrees or find some way to mitigate the heat like pack it in and icewater bucket or move the project to the storage locker in the basement.  I think the flavors would have mellowed if I would have let it sit longer, but time is not on my side.

If you can do me a favor, please steal all the sugar packets you can from restaurants and the like and mail them to me.  Thanks.