First time plum wine: please double check me!

[bchains]

Hi all, I've learned a lot by reading the forums and have decided to give my first batch of cherry-plum wine a go. Cherry plums are a little smaller so relatively more pit and peel than typical plums, and I'm not sure how that changes things. I've developed a hybrid recipe/process (see below) from a bunch of sources, and I'd very much appreciate any feedback on this. I'm looking to make a sweet wine typical of Japan/Thailand, but not as sweet as say port.

A few questions off the top:
1. I'm aiming for 2 gallons final ending volume. Should I add the 2 gal water plus fruit juices to result in a total starting vol of 3-4 gal? Or top up to 2 gal (water + juice)? If I've done the former and now have 3-4 gal, am I in trouble?

2. When fermenting in the primary for the first 3-5 days, should I cover with a towel or tightly with lid? I'm pretty sure an airlock is bad (yeasties need to breathe). My plan is to use a towel.

3. When do I add my sugar? Folks seem to add it at various times. When is best? It seems like yeast should reproduce and make their goodness over time, rather than all at once, so sugar should be split up. So maybe 1/2 when the yeast go in, then 1/2 when going into the secondary for 6 mo? If I'm not adding it all at once, do I just do 1/2 then determine SG (target 1.085) later when I add the rest of the sugar (or enough) into the secondary?

Thanks, all! - Bryan


[double this except for yeast]
7-8 lbs ripe cherry plums
8 oz chopped raisins
4 lbs sugar (get the OG to 1.085 for 12% EtOH)
1 gallon water
3 Campden tablets
1 tsp pectozyme
1 tsp acid blend
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient (fermaid-k)
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient (go-ferm)
1 pkg wine yeast does 5 gal (multiplies so doesn’t matter)


Day 1:
Use only fresh unblemished fruit. Wash and destem and freeze.

Day 2:
1. Add boiling water. Put the fruit and raisins in nylon straining bag, tie closed and crush in the primary fermentation bucket. Pour hot water over berries to set the color and extract the juice. Add acid blend. Allow to cool to room temperature and stir in dissolved and crushed Campden tablet. Cover primary with towel.
2. After 12 hours, add pectic enzyme and recover with towel.
3. After additional 12 hours, add fermaid-k. Add ½ sugar. Prepare wine yeast using go-ferm, then when temp is ok sprinkle on top. Cover loosely.

Days 3-5:
1. Allow to ferment for 3-5 days. Stir daily, press, recover. Notice the liquid fizzing as it releases carbon dioxide gas - especially when stirred. Should be done fermenting before going to next step. SG should be around 1.015-1.02 when going to secondary (?).

Day ~8:
1. Remove nylon bag and allow to drip drain (do not squeeze) for 1 hour. Return drippings to primary.

Day 8-Month ~5:
1. Siphon into secondary, add remaining sugar to reach SG of 1.085, and fit airlock with vodka inside. Use dark secondary or wrap to block light and preserve color. Store at 65-75F.
2. Ferment 1 month, then add 1 crushed Campden tablet, rack (= transfer to clean secondary and leave sediment behind). Refit airlock. SG should be 0.990 and fermentation complete.
3. Rack again every 1-2 months until wine clears (can take 3-4-6 months).
4. Once clear, sweeten to taste (if needed), wait 2 more weeks
5. Rack again, stabilize with ½ crushed Campden tablet, and bottle in dark glass or store in dark place.
6. Drink after 1 year.

 

[Turock]

I would not add water. Water just sucks for fruit wines. Get your poundage up, freeze the fruit first if you can because this yields more juice. Use only the plums for a true plum wine. If you add juice, use it instead of water. Water not only dilutes the flavor, but increases the PH and then you usually have to acid adjust even further because of the water.

Get the pectic enzyme in on the first day--second day, stir it up very well and take a PH reading. let your PH meter tell you what you need to do. Lower PH than you want, add calcium carbonate---PH too high, add acid blend. Don't just blindly use acid blend unless you need it.

Plum wine can be hard to clear--might want to bentonite the primary.

We always do open ferments, with a towel over the vat to keep fruit flies out of the must.

 

[fivebk]

Make sure you add K-Meta & Sorbate before sweetening. Put your fermentation bucket inside another tub (mine foamed up and ran all over the place during fermentation). I agree with using juice only!! otherwise you may have to add an F-Pack later. I would remove the nylon bag and squeeze all the goodness out of it don't let it sit and drip for an hour. Plums have a lot of acid in them. You may have to cold stabilize it to let some acid fall out of suspention

BOB

 

[fivebk]

Add all the sugar up front so you can be sure of your SG

BOB

 

[UBB]

My plum cleared on it's own after about 6 1/2 months.