Siberian apricot (PrunusSibirica)

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tedpoppke

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Hi,

I'm looking ahead to next summer and access to fruit from a Siberian Apricot.

www dot fruitipedia dot com / siberian_apricot_prunus_sibrica dot htm

Any experience using this small fruit for making a fruit wine? This is smaller and tarter than the commonly seen apricots.

I'm new to brewing and understand that wines should be fermented to completion and then sweetened later. My wife has sulfite allergy issues and I plan on leaving the wine as a dry wine or maybe adding some sugar at bottling to make it sparkling.

Thanks,

Ted
 
Ted,

If you want to lessen the amount of sulfites you use in your wine, keep the following things in mind. Sulfur dioxide is used for two reasons: its anti-microbial ability and its antioxidant capacity. Therefore, if you want to use less of it, minimize the amount of microbes and oxygen that contact your wine in every stage of its life. Cleaning and sanitizing effectively is one of the easiest ways to knock down populations of spoilage bugs. Make sure your fruit is clean and free of visible mold or bacterial colonies before inoculation. Use a strongly-fermenting commercial yeast for your primary fermentation in order to out-compete spoilage organisms in the first few weeks of a wine’s life. Make sure your wines are fermented to dryness so there is no residual sugar left as a carbon source for spoilage bacteria. Gas your empty containers with carbon dioxide during transfers and rackings so that there is minimal contact with oxygen.

Natural wine components that inhibit organisms are alcohol and acid. High pH (low acid) wines are more prone to microbial attack, so keeping the pH lower than 3.5 will help retard infection. The lower the pH, the more unhappy most sorts of spoilage bacteria will be. Similarly, the higher the alcohol, the more unhappy the organisms. Alcohol levels over 14% can help to keep bugs at bay.

:sm
 
I agree with LJ on what to do for a sulfite alergy. I am very algeric to sulfite to the point of emergency room, there fore I keep an eppy pen on me at all times. Comercaly dried fruite is a no no I also do not use rasons in any of my fruit wines insted I use white grape juice frozen concentrates for body. I also make sure all of my wines are between 12 & 13% ABV. I use sulfite in all my wines with no problem when used as instructed 1/4 tsp per 6 gallons. Sulfite disapates with time so be patient with it. When I back sweeten I use K mete and sorbate but I let it set for about 2 weeks before adding the sugar, then I let it set for at least 2 or 3 months before bottling. Sulfite flashes off with time. Comerical wineries use more sulfite than the hobbiest winer does. The signs of a sulphite allergy is not a head ache but respitory distress. I owned a winery for 11 years and practised sanitation and sulphite regiment and never had a problem and could drink any of my wines in any amount I wanted. Just rember patience is definetly a virtue in wine making. This way the sulfite disapates.
 
More questions

Thanks for the feedback and info. My wife's sulfite allergy isn't epi-pen serious, but it will cause asthma; we've found the commercial wines that work for her.

It looks like it will be easy to keep this proposed fruit wine at pH 3.5 or less. Will pH change much from the must to bottling? I don't think so, but have no experience and haven't seen this spelled out anywhere.

Will oxidation be an issue with the taste of this type of wine? I won't mind darkening, but will it affect flavor?

For cleanliness with beer, I use Star San. I assume this will work for wine making.

I'll get a proper yeast, probably dry, and build a starter, probably with the fruit I'll brew with. I'm familiar with pitching rates for ales and lagers, and I assume wines have standard pitching rates also.

My first plan was to ferment the fruit and take the ABV that the natural sugar would give me, like a cider. It sounds like adding sugar and shooting for 14% ABV or more would be a good idea. What would be the best way to add sugar to apricots? Cane sugar, commercial fruit juice concentrate, or a sweet raw fruit?

I plan on fermenting to dryness and bottling with a small amount of sugar to carbonate. I probably won't back sweeten. Dry, tart wines will discourage most folks from asking for a second glass....
 
You won't likely see a noticeable change in the pH level from must to bottling unless you are using MLF. Not something you have to worry about with apricots.

I would remove the pits from your apricots... consider saving a portion of the pits; you could dry roast them, and add them to a bulk age... info on the Siberian Apricot said the bit has a bitter almond flavour to it. Take the pitted fruit, about 6 pounds or so per gallon, and combine it with sugar water or inverted sugar... use whatever kind you want, but cheap white table sugar is the most economical and works just fine, although a lot of people seem to be into mead... I've never tried it. Honey here, is about $8/lb... a bit much to be using for wine, IMO. :sm
 
Apricot Pits

Roast and add the entire pit, stone and fruit? Or dry the pit, remove the fruit, and roast the nuts?
 
Remove all the pits, and use the fruit for your wine... keep a small portion of the pits, and dry roast in the oven to be added to secondary for flavour... this is only a suggestion though, as I do not have actual experience with the fruit in question.

When you talk about the nuts, are you refering to the pit?
 
nut 'n such

It's all in the words.

The fruit has a hard seed shell or pit. Inside of this is the kernel or seed.

Some of the inside seeds are edible.

Almonds (prunus dulcis) are a close relative of peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, etc.
 

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