[gnug]

copypasta from homedistiller.org:

i started a batch of persimmon wine and it's my first try at making wine. HELP! well, no major problems yet except that no one told me this stuff expaaaands. it blew off the lid and spilled out over night and made a huge mess!

i don't know how many lbs of persimmons (hachiya) but it was enough to fill a 5 gallon bucket
i used 5 tsp of pectic enzyme let it rest for 12 hours then pitched the yeast, lalvin EC 1118
i added half a stick of cinnamon and 1 tsp of nutmeg
i only added 1 cup of maple syrup for now because i couldn't get a hydrometer measure yet since it's a thick soupy goo. i'll get a reading asap when it separates a little and probably add a lot more syrup

UPDATE: i just measured a sample and got a reading of S.G. = 1.075
i started the ferment about 24 hours ago, how much do you think the specific gravity would have changed since yesterday? i'll add a little more syrup when i strain the pulp in about a week. how much should i raise s.g. then? what's a good target alcohol content for persimmon wine?

let me know what you all think so far. tips tricks and general advice is welcomed and very appreciated

[winemaker_3352]

It' hard to tell - there is not set calculation to determine how much the yeast metabolizes sugar.

But with that said - within the 1st 24 hours - i usually see mine drop about .0022 @ 74* - .0039 @ 78*.

And that is just an avg for me - like i said before - these values vary a lot on temp, yeast used, etc.

[gnug]

i still can't get an accurate reading with the hydrometer but this stuff smells reeeaally alcoholic. super dry. is that normal? will it mellow out?

[Runningwolf]

Why can't you get an accurate measurement? Do you have a Cylinder to put your hydrometer in with the wine to take a reading or is it another issue?

[gnug]

the issue is that the must is highly viscous. the hydrometer sticks in and stays at what ever level you put it in. the pulp and juices separated at one point and after a day of fermentation i got a reading of 1.075 but there's a lot of margin of error there. i've been mixing it daily and it's stopped separating since then. the ferment is still moving along though

[gnug]

i transferred everything over to the secondary last night. it was a mess. it was really hard to separate the juice from the solids. i ended up straining it through some cheesecloth then pressing the huge ball of pulp to squeeze all of the juice out. this took a loooong time. i'm afraid that i may have exposed it all to too much air and oxygen during that whole process and while funneling itinto the carbouy. what will this do to the wine? will it be ok?

i added another cup of maple syrup and dash of mace and nutmeg. the S.G started at 1.075, it was 1.02 before the transfer, and the added syrup brought it up to 1.03

[sly22guy]

that has alot of head space in it. you should top it up or move to a smaller container.

[sly22guy]

How did you transfer it over? kinda sounds like you poured it through a funnel? You should go to the local hardware store and get some clear tubing and use that to rack over. then you won't transfer the lees off the bottom. As far as the oxygen as long as its active ferment it shouldn't hurt it.

[gnug]

i did use a funnel for about half of it. when i was squeezing out the bag of persimmon mush it would only fill the bucket a few inches at a time before it started soaking back up into the bag, so not enough to siphon. it was rough going. would there be any problem if i juice more persimmons and top it off?

[sly22guy]

Nope that is what i would suggest doing. do that and then give it a few weeks to settle then rack it over to another container and be careful not to disturb the lees.