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- Aug 1, 2015
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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
------------
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
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.
------------
My Process
------------
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