heat damage to fruit flavor

Shop deals on ebay
Support your community
shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
K

Ken914

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2010
Messages
137
Reaction score
1
Being overseas with no opportunity to make wine, I've been reading a lot.

In my last several f-paks, I simmered the fruit juice down to a concentrate. One of the issues that meadmakers encounter is the loss of delicate flavors when heating honey. Do you think that we lose the subtleties of fruit flavor when we simmer them down or even when we steam-juice fruit?
 
I keep the heat way down and simmer gently. As far as I know aromas are lost in honey when they boil off trying to rid the hney of that scum layer that can form but I deal with that by jut racking through and leaving it behind, I never boil the honey. Another thing to do is cool ferment fruit wines to retain the fruity esters.
 
Like Wade mentioned it's not even a simmer. Just steam coming off of the juice. Stir frequently. It takes me about 45 minutes to get a half gallon down to half volume, then let it cool off that burner @ half hour.

The flavor is very pronounced in the wine.
 
By cool fermenting,I assume you just mean cooler fermenting temps...right?Which in turn will determine the appropriate yeast,fruit,nutrients,etc?
 
I do some of my musts around 60 degrees. It still ferments well and only adds an extra day or two. I do keep them off of the floor and stir frequently. Watch carefully as it would be easy for a yeast to get stuck just below that temp which could happen overnight in small primaries. I prefer Lalvin yeast. Good for ferms. below that.
 
Wade E said:
I keep the heat way down and simmer gently. As far as I know aromas are lost in honey when they boil off trying to rid the hney of that scum layer that can form but I deal with that by jut racking through and leaving it behind, I never boil the honey. Another thing to do is cool ferment fruit wines to retain the fruity esters.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Wade. I was more thinking about losing the delicacy in some of the lighter fruit flavors when doing reductions and steam-juicing.

I haven't tried any melomels yet, but I will. When I return home, I my bees will be ready for pick-up. I don't anticipate a huge honey harvest this fall, but there should be enough for me to experiment with. :h

Fermenting at 60 degrees, huh? I would never have though to try it.
 

Similar threads

NorCal
Heat spikes and harvest timing....do it now or wait it out?
2
Replies
39
Views
4K
user 38734
U
S
Sorbated Cider Successful So Far (55+ gallons)
Replies
2
Views
1K
Rice_Guy
Rice_Guy
Scooter68
Getting Started in Country Fruit Wine Making ?
3 4 5
Replies
88
Views
15K
Rice_Guy
Rice_Guy
Scooter68
Pectin or Before you get "Jammed Up"
Replies
2
Views
908
wpt-me
W
Scooter68
Wine From Juice ?? Read the Labels Before you Buy!
Replies
0
Views
927
Scooter68
Scooter68

Latest posts

Back
Top