First batch ... suggestions/feedback please.

My first wine & I'm making it with fresh peaches. I don't want to mess this up so I'm posting to invite constructive criticism. Also, I have a couple of questions at the end. Not sure if this is too much detail.

I read a lot of recipes online for making fruit wine. Most were very similar so I finally just chose one with these recommended ingredients:

6 lbs peaches
1 lb golden raisins
3.5 lbs sugar
3 tsp acid blend
2 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp pectic enzyme
2 gals water

Final goal is a dry peach wine with about 14% ABV.

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My Process
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I use OneStep for sanitizing anything in contact with must. I use filtered well water so no additives in my tap water.

6 lbs of fresh peaches from farmer's market
washed off fuzz & destoned them
placed in freezer to freeze thoroughly
after 2 days, removed from freezer & brought to room temp
boiled one gal water with 3 lbs sugar
added peaches and 1 lb chopped, golden raisins to brew bag & into boiling water
brought water back to boil (to kill wild yeast)
removed from heat and placed pot in sink filled with water & ice to cool
when cooled to 100 F, poured into 5 gal primary, keeping solids in the brew bag
added another gallon of warm water & checked SG
added another 1 lb sugar and checked SG, now at 1.080
I wanted to shoot for about 14% ABV, so added another 1/2 lb sugar
checked SG, now at 1.100, temp 73.4 F

added 3 tsp acid blend, 2 tsp yeast nutrient, 1 tsp pectic enzyme
stirred throughly (sanitized spoon) and set aside for 24 hours at about 70 F

Next day pitched yeast, Lalvin EC-1118
warmed 4 oz water to 100 F
mixed in yeast & wait 20 mins
added 4 oz must from primary & wait 20 mins
poured as evenly over the surface of must as possible
rinsed remaining yeast into primary with must in sanitized baster
covered and set aside in about 70 F room for primary ferment
stirred vigorously twice daily with sanitized spoon & re-covered primary
(also tasted each day to see how it was changing ... interesting transitions)

Today is 6th day in primary and SG= 0.992 @ 70.5 F; pH= 3.39 @ 73.5 F

I also tasted it. Has a bit of a sharp taste. Definite taste of alcohol with no real "peachy" flavor, but I don't really know what I should be looking for in taste, at this point.

I think that tomorrow it will be ready to rack to secondary.
I'll be racking to 2, 1-gal narrow-neck glass jugs
I'm expecting arrival of a vacuum pump tomorrow that I'll use for (falling film) degas during the racking.

So, any insight/feedback regarding my process would be appreciated.

My questions are, should I add bentonite when I rack, to settle fine solids at that time?
Anything else I should be aware of at this point? I'm still scouring the forum but I don't feel confident that I've investigated everything about the initial racking to secondary.

Side note: I'm trying to stay as close to "organic" as possible so I don't plan to use metabisulfate. If anyone knows of an organic alternative, I'd love to hear about it. Can't find much of anything about making organic wine on the interwebs.

If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading.
cheers,
Gary

GaryNC said:

Side note: I'm trying to stay as close to "organic" as possible so I don't plan to use metabisulfate. If anyone knows of an organic alternative,

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I think your two options are:
1) Pasteurization; or
2) Filtering with a very fine filter to remove microbes.

Both of which have their downsides.

From what I read, you have to pay extra attention to sanitization, and the wine does not age very well (drink it early).

richmke said:

I think your two options are:
1) Pasteurization; or
2) Filtering with a very fine filter to remove microbes.

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What about using UV, any thoughts or information about that and how it would affect the final product?

In 2000, the FDA approved UV-C for pasteurization. How it is done, I have no idea.

This company makes equipment for it:

http://surepure.net/sure_pure_technology.html

Here is my .02

As far as the non-peach flavor, you will need to add an fpac or some concentrate. You probably needed 5-6lbs. of peaches per gallon of wine, not for 2 gal.

If you plan on drinking this wine within 6-12mos., you can probably get away with not using kmeta, as it won't have time to spoil/oxidize and with the ABV that high.

wineforfun said:

Here is my .02

As far as the non-peach flavor, you will need to add an fpac or some concentrate. You probably needed 5-6lbs. of peaches per gallon of wine, not for 2 gal.

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I guess I'll just wait an see if any of the peach flavor comes through. Best I can remember, all of the peach wine recipes the I researched called for 2-3 lbs per gallon, so that's what I was going by. I think for sure that, on my next batch, I'll go with what you said, 5-6 lbs. Live 'n learn. As I said, this is my first attempt.

wineforfun said:

If you plan on drinking this wine within 6-12mos., you can probably get away with not using kmeta, as it won't have time to spoil/oxidize and with the ABV that high.

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Since this is my first attempt, I decided to go ahead and not buck the trend regarding the meta. I transferred to secondary today and added a little bit of metabisulfate. I've decided to stick with what's typically done before trying to venture out on my own. Eventually I'll try some straight-up organic batches but I need to get a couple of successes down first to try to set a baseline.

richmke said:

In 2000, the FDA approved UV-C for pasteurization. How it is done, I have no idea.

This company makes equipment for it:

http://surepure.net/sure_pure_technology.html

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. That looks like some high-dollar equipment. I was thinking more along the lines of an inline UV, like I have on my RO water filter system.

But, Ive done a little more reading on it and it looks like it would take more than I expected. Maybe I'll look into as I get more experience. For now, I've decided to bite the bullet and go with the accepted method of using meta. If I can get a couple of successful batches I may try to do a more organic batch.

GaryNC said:

I guess I'll just wait an see if any of the peach flavor comes through. Best I can remember, all of the peach wine recipes the I researched called for 2-3 lbs per gallon, so that's what I was going by. I think for sure that, on my next batch, I'll go with what you said, 5-6 lbs. Live 'n learn. As I said, this is my first attempt.



Since this is my first attempt, I decided to go ahead and not buck the trend regarding the meta. I transferred to secondary today and added a little bit of metabisulfate. I've decided to stick with what's typically done before trying to venture out on my own. Eventually I'll try some straight-up organic batches but I need to get a couple of successes down first to try to set a baseline.

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Sounds like a good plan. I think you will find alot of recipes out there call for lesser fruit, like you mention. Most of us have found to add more but only after making a few batches do we realize this.

I usually add the kmeta too, I was just stating that if you really didn't want to, and were planning on drinking early, you could get away with it.

Just keep on moving forward, the fun has just begun.

where is the definition of organic wine preclude use of K-Meta. Sulfur is a natural compound found in fruits and grapes. Used moderately, no more that a 1/4 tsp per five gallons, should not be a problem. this is small payment for the work effort to to make wine with some longevity.

salcoco said:

where is the definition of organic wine preclude use of K-Meta.

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"organic" cannot have ADDED preservatives.

In the US,

wine containing added sulfites may be labeled “made with organic grapes”

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richmke said:

"organic" cannot have ADDED preservatives.

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That's interesting - I thought "organic" food had to be grown 'organically' (no pesticides, herbicides, etc.), not packaged in a certain way. Where would you find that certification requirement?

Bartman said:

Where would you find that certification requirement?

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Bart, I linked to the rules in my post, under the hyperlink "In the US."

Here it is explicitly: http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=6f623e1de5457587ccdfec12bc34ed1c&rgn=div5&view=text&node=7:3.1.1.9.32&idno=7#7:3.1.1.9.32.7.354