Big peach score on the way.

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So I was drinking some of my strawberry last night with a friend who's father is a farmer. The have a lot of peaches right now, and she asked me if I wanted any for wine. I was talking tough and told her I could use as much as they could give me. Just got a text from her that they are on the way with a couple hundred pounds. I think I'm ready to try an all fruit recipe if someone has one handy!

 

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Also a little bit scared right now. Peach is the first wine I ever tried and it stunk to high heaven. Advice on that would be helpful!!!
I am flying to Hawaii to get married soon, so I'll just be washing pitting cutting and freezing today, will tackle this wine when we get back next month. Point is I have lots of time to consider any peach advice!! Thanks.

 

[dralarms]

Juice them ( I used a steam juicer), add pectin enzyme ( think it's 1/2 tsp per gallon), check pH ( mine was low 3.2, adjusted it to 3.54), add sugar to 1.085 to 1.090, add yeast and have a blast.

 

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Juicing sounds like a great idea less sediment to deal with. Did yours have the funky odor that I experienced? Seems like I've read where others have had the same trouble. I'm sure it wasn't an infection, maybe yeast nutrient related?

 

[jamesngalveston]

I have a 3 gallon batch of peach, started with juice, it just went into the secondary, I have about 5 inches of lees.
My mango is in a secondary and I had almost 6 inches of lees.
Its something about the fruit, I guess.

 

[Deezil]

Personally, I'm not one for steam juicing. It makes the fruit easier to handle by removing the pulp, but it adds water to the liquid - the steam part. Not to mention, that pulp has 'goodies' in it both for the flavor of the wine and the health of the yeast.

My first batch of wine was a Peach made from 150lbs of Cali peaches. Made 12 gallons, because I added water; it should have only made 8 gallons, from pure juice.
It's coming up on 3 years old, in August.. Semi-sweet when i bottled, semi-dry now.. But the peach keeps coming out more and more and more as time goes on. I added 2lbs of golden raisins to my first batch.

I made a second batch of Peach this last fall, using about 40lbs of peaches. Because I didnt have access to the freezer, I added water. Since you're freezing your peaches, I'd skip both the water addition & the steam-juicer.

If those peaches are "Farm-ripe" AND you freeze them, a steam juicer is overkill. They'll be mush when you pull them out of the freezer anyway.

I made additions of Booster Blanc & Opti-White to my second batch of Peach wine, and have been comparing it, as it ages, to what I remember of the first batch of peach I made. This second batch has more color, more peach aroma earlier, has more body/mouthfeel, and a longer finish.

Booster Blanc/Rouge & Opti-White/-Red are must-have additions to my fruit wines these days.

The funk you're talking about, is just 'fermenting peaches'. Nothing wrong, it just stinks to some. My sister swears it smells like puke and she physically gags when in the same room as fermenting peaches. I just accept the smell for what it is, and 'look through it' to try to find signs of H2S or other, real funk.

Peach lees are also pretty fluffy in comparison to a lot of other fruits. Following advice that Turock preaches pretty often, will help you with that. Thaw the fruit, add pectic enzyme while it thaws, when room temp pitch your yeast/starter. after another day or two, add bentonite to the fermentation. Bentonite will help firm up the gross lees, as well as removing some haze-causing particles, when you rack to a carboy..

So..
Day 1
Thaw + Pectic enzyme

Day 3-4
Measure SG & TA - adjust to 1.080 - 1.085 & 0.6 - 0/65 % TA
Make/Add yeast starter
Add Opti-White & Booster Blanc

Day 5-6
Add 1/2 total yeast nutrient
Add bentonite

Day 7-12
Monitor fermentation
Add other 1/2 yeast nutrient, before half-sugar break
(Original SG of 1.080 puts '1/2 sugar break' at 1.040)

Day 13-15
When dry, rack to carboy


Rack off gross lees
Degas
Add K-meta
Rack off sur lees

Age for 12-18 months
Drink, and amaze yourself

 

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Well that sounds great! Thanks for the tips. My first batch that I talked about NEVER stopped stinking, even when it cleared. Maybe I did have a bigger problem with that one after all. I've just been thinking since I hear other folks talk about smells from peach that it was the same- but it seems like in actuality they are talking about the ferment and I'm just equating the two because of my bad experience. I will look into those products you recommended!

 

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So the first batch of peaches have just arrived, about 60 lbs. They are sweet, but still have bite. If I was eating them I would ripen first. Is that necessary for wine also or can I just process these for the freezer? I can't remember if something will happen in the ripening process to sugar, or if it just affects texture and all the sugars they will ever have are already present.

 

[dralarms]

You can ripen them, I didn't. Watch very close cause a peach goes from ripe to rotten in a nanosecond.

 

[Deezil]

Allowing them extra time now wont increase sugar levels, but it will help with the things that can cause a haze in peach wine - the pectins break down as the peaches soften, which is why they seem to become juicier

The 'bite' makes me wonder... Are these peaches from cold storage? Are they peaches that the farmer usually picks, for cold storage? Just makes me wonder if the pickers are in the habit of picking fruit that isnt quite ready yet..

Thats why i quoted "farm-ripe" earlier, because when you tree-ripen fruit, it continues to increase sugars and change acids, and when allowed time to become eating-ripe while on the tree, its superior fruit than anything else, hands-down. But if they picked the fruit like it was going to cold storage, then going to a grocery store shelf, and finally to your house, then it's not getting the full benefit of the tree for the full duration..

This is why, sometimes, U-pick fruit is superior (up there with the grocery store frozen fruits)

 

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You're right to wonder. When she got here she let me know that they are actually picking these early because the trees are really weighed down and they are trying to save some branches. So they are not exactly as ripe as they could be. Taste, even with some bite, is better than what I usually find at the grocery store, but not as good as I get off of my own little tree. The good news is there's lots of them and they are definitely full sized even if not fully ripened. Not to mention FREE! I am thinking of adding peach puree now however to add to flavor. What do you think?

 

[Deezil]

I'd let them sit around a bit, soften up and see what happens to the flavor. If they come out good as ever, skip the puree, but if they soften up and leave something to be desired, maybe consider it.

The biggest thing that'll blow your batch of peach wine is adding (any/too much) water. If the fruit is good by itself, the wine will be too

 

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Using this method to ripen-( http://tallcloverfarm.com/74/the-best-way-to-ripen-peaches ) but on the carpet in a fairly cool room we never enter and covered with a sheet. I'll check them daily!

 

[Turock]

Yes, if you think they aren't really high in flavor, a couple cans of peach puree will go a long way to helping the flavor. We did this same thing last year on some peaches we got that were low on flavor---then did another batch with very delicious peaches. The batch with the puree came out with more flavor than the batch done with really good fruit. So we think adding the puree is always a good idea.

Our peach smells really GOOD when it's fermenting. So you might be on to something when asking about nutrient. You should always split your nutrient into 2 or 3 batches--not pitch it all at once. This keeps the culture fed properly thru the whole ferment and then you aren't stressing the yeast.

Yes--don't add water. You'll be shocked how much juice you have after they've been thawed. Be sure to layer in a good dose of meta on thawing fruit. If you get biological growth, you'll end up with a stuck ferment.

Oh, be sure to bentonite the primary---peach really suffers from pectin haze and bentonite will prevent that from happening. Bentonite heat stabilizes wines also, so that you don't get sediment and haze when you chill the bottles.

Really good info from Deezil too. Booster blanc and opti white sound like good ideas--especially if you think it preserves the aromatics. And speaking of that, be sure to do a cool ferment--no more than 72 degrees in order to preserve the aromatics.

 

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Ok, peaches were all soft today. I've processed them and they are in the freezer waiting for time, empty carboys, and cooler fermenting weather. There may or may not be another batch of peaches arriving shortly, I won't push it because they were free, lol. For right now, I'm looking at more than 60 lbs of peaches (probably closer to 63), plus whatever my own tree winds up producing. I'll post more when this gets started.

 

[Turock]

Consider 10# per gallon, in order to figure chemistry additions. Use no water. Adjust the PH pre-ferment to about 3.3

I think you're smart to wait for cooler weather--which may not happen for you in Calif until FALL!!! I feel sorry for you Westerners--not sure how you do it. I'm uncomfortable as soon as temps go above 60 here. I hate summer because it's always so humid. Winter is my favorite season of all.

 

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We actually have pretty mild weather here.Mostly in the 60-70s range. Our current heat wave has been in the 80s which only puts my wine room at 72! I'll probably start in about three weeks and before long I'll be complaining it's too cold!

 

[Turock]

Oh----------it can NEVER be TOO cold!!!!!!! 60's and 70's--now I'm jealous. We have 65% humidity here today--and that's low compared to what it's been. I live in the north---I should NOT have to deal with Florida-type conditions!!! Not fair!!!

 

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Ok, so I've started this batch and have one question! How the heck do you check the SG with an all fruit batch? My hydrometer just stays at any depth I push it into because all the fruit is holding it in place. I'm due to add sugar tomorrow and I'm not sure I'll know how much to put in.

 

[jamesngalveston]

add the liquid to a test tube that is longer then your hydrometer.