I'm looking for a quick universal recipe

I am looking for a quick universal recipe that could be used with almost any type of fruit. Somewhere I had seen a 4 week recipe that used frozen fruit and a bag of sugar, but I can't find it anymore. Anyone willing to share?

Don't know any wine that is ready in 4 weeks but if you ferment any fruit juice (from apple to mango to pineapple to cranberry)... and add enough sugar to raise the gravity to about 1.090 (could be about 1 lb of sugar for each gallon) and add pectic enzyme, nutrient, perhaps Campden tabs then pitch yeast 24 hours after adding the campden) then allow to ferment dry (about a week) and then rack off the sediment the wine will clear over time. You may want to add additional acidity before bottling (if the wine has insufficient bite), Ditto tannins. Perhaps ditto oak... You may want to back sweeten before bottling too but to do that you need to stabilize the wine (by adding K-sorbate and K-meta)..

HarvestWine said:

I am looking for a quick universal recipe that could be used with almost any type of fruit. Somewhere I had seen a 4 week recipe that used frozen fruit and a bag of sugar, but I can't find it anymore. Anyone willing to share?

Click to expand...

Look for the Dragon Blood recipe on here. It can be fermented and bottled in approx. 4 weeks.

Here it is.
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41825&highlight=dragon+blood

Thanks. I think that is pretty close to the one I was looking for. Will try for sure!

HarvestWine said:

Thanks. I think that is pretty close to the one I was looking for. Will try for sure!

Click to expand...

I would add a few suggestions for this recipe.

1. Bump the SG to 1.085, this will give you a final ABV around 12%.
2. Use 9# of fruit, this will give you a little more fruit flavor.
3. Don't add the sorbate until you have cleared the wine.

I'm kinda new at this, but I've found that a good yeast culture will speed up the fermentation process. The purpose of the culture is to have a vigorous yeast colony that is adapted to the must environment before it is pitched in to the must.

They last three batches I have made fermented from around 1.080 to 1.005 in 2 to 2 and a half days. Two were made with D47 and one with Montrachet.

The night before I start the culture and the must I take the yeast out of the refrigerator and put it on the cabinet so when I'm ready to start the culture the yeast are well acclimated to the temperature. FWIW, we keep our thermostat at 72 during the day and 68 at night.

The next day I prepare the must in a 6.5 gallon primary bucket, including the nutrients, acid, pectic enzyme etc..

Into a sanitized 2 cup sized Pyrex measuring cup I ladle two cups of must and cover tightly with aluminum foil and set aside.

Then I start the culture. Into a 2500 ml tapered flask, I pour 1 cup of distilled water. Then I pour in the yeast and cover loosely with aluminum foil. I let the yeast soak in the water until all of the yeast has fallen to the bottom which takes about an hour. I swish the flash mixing the yeast into the water.

About 2 hours later I add 1/2 cup of the must and swish the flash as before then cover it as before. I repeat this step every six hours until all of the must from the measuring cup has been added.

About six hours after I add the last of the must to the culture I swish it one more time and pour it into the must. After I pour the culture in the must, I stir it vigorously. When finished stirring, I cover the must with a piece of cotton cloth held on with a piece of elastic.

I try to vigorously stir the must at least 4 times a day. In 2 to 2 and a half days the must has been fermented dry and I strain the must into a glass carboy and cap it with an air lock.

HTH