White Grape & Peach Nectar

[pelican]

I recall someone commented they did a white grape and peach (juice blend) wine from the Welches frozen concentrates and how good that turned out. at the small grocery store in town they had the Old Orchard 100% white grape juice concentrate on special, but no white grape & peach in the welches section. The did also have some canned Nectar drinks in the produce section as an Unadvertised Special - and my daughter on that trip had asked me to get canned peaches too.

So, I bought the white grape juice concentrate, some of that Nectar drink - it only has water, peach puree, high fructose corn syrup and ascorbic acid - and mixed up a batch this morning with also the syrup from one of the large peach cans darling daughter had asked for.

Recipe:
3 cans 100% White Grape Juice frozen concentrate
2 cans Jumex Peach Nectar drink
6 juice cans of water
the syrup drained from 1 - 29oz can sliced cling peaches in heavy syrup
1 c. simple sugar syrup (that I had on hand from making too much another wine batch ago)

added 1 campden, 1/4 tsp tannin, 1/2 tsp acid blend to the must

I'll add 1 tsp Pectic enzyme tonight, along with the yeast nutrient and energizer and pitch EC1118 tomorrow morning.

The initial taste was pretty grapey, understandable given it's primarily grape

but had a back taste of the peach.

The SG was around 1.092 but there were also a lot of bubbles from stirring it up when I took the sample. I am planning to retest the sg later today, and am open to just a bit more water if this level stays that high and could run the wine too hot when it finishes, or leave it as is and have a bit of breathing room on topping up along the way.

Any particular tweaks or additions to give the taste a bit of "interest" along the way? I don't know whether oak would be appropriate, or whether a bit of spices could pump it up a bit. Would love to hear any ideas, even the ones I might not use this time around

Thanks

Mrs. Pelican




Edited by: pelican

 

[Wade E]

SG is maybe a little high but nothing I would worry about, otherwise everything sounds pretty good to me.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Sounds good to me....The Niagara tend to be pretty sweet and fruit forward...pretty Foxy. But makes some nice blends.

If your going to dilute it maybe open the other can of peaches and use that juice too...unless that was really sweet, then you'd just be raising the S.G..

Then a peach pie or cobbler would be nice.....

Keep us Posted on this one....I love experimenting....

Are we having fun yet?????



Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[pelican]

We are indeed having fun!

I added 1 tsp pectin, 1 tsp yeast nutrient and 1/2 tsp energizer and started a yeast starter with the EC1118, a bit of acid blend, a pinch of nutrient and 1 tsp of the yeast (being frugal), a bit of sugar and about 1 cup of water.

Both the yeast starter and the bucket of must are out in the living room by the fireplace to get up to a nice fermenting temp.


The Old Orchard didn't say it was definitely Niagra - just white grape juice. If I wasn't so worried about the wine being hard to clear, I'd throw in some of those peaches to round out the flavor some more. If I put them in a straining bag, would that contain some of the pulp and help when clearing comes along, or are peaches just really tough ??

 

[Wade E]

It surely would help with holding most of the pulp but will make it a little harder to clear with real peaches in there. Worst comes to worst just throw some SuperKleer in there and that will clear it.

 

[pelican]

Ok then, in goes almost a whole can of 29 oz peaches into a straining bag...a few fell out of the can into my daughter's cereal this morning.

There's already bits of peach that got in with the can syrup, plus what was in the nectar, so whatever clearing problems might result are probably already in the mix.

I am wanting some peach flavor in the end result after all!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Sounds like dessert....

 

[Waldo]

Looks like a prety good recipe pelican. The only thing I believe I would have done differently is perhaps used some pectic enzyme on the front end. Even that peach puree drink could cause a nice pectin haze that is tough to get rid of.

 

[pelican]

Waldo, I did put in pectic enzyme on the front end...

Must was made, with campden tablet for good measure -- pectic enzyme added 12 hours after the campden --

(why can't you use pectic enzyme at the same time as the campden in the must?? I haven't figured that one out)

-- added the peach slices about 2 hours after the pectic enzyme went in, then the yeast was pitched about 12 hours after that.

As for the haze, I'll maybe have to roll up my sleeves and fight that one out when it comes to it. I'm in with both feet (so to speak) now. Fermentation is ticking along nicely in the bucket!

 

[Wade E]

The sulfites can negate the added pectin just like it will kill off the yeast so that is why we wait 12 hours till most of that sulfite is dispersed.
Edited by: wade

 

[Scott]

Pelican,


Is 1 tsp the usual amount of yeast you use for 1 gal batches?

 

[pelican]

I have been successful with 1 tsp of yeast (in a starter) and also with a whole packet.


I also started a batch of "very experimental" wine this weekend as well and used the rest of the packet of the EC1118 sprinkled dry onto of that one - it was about 1 tsp again. That started off fine too, if a little less vigorous than the grape/peach with the rehydrated yeast.


Since a packet is good enough for 5 gallons (or maybe even 6 gallons), you can skimp and get a good ferment going with less than a full packet. Depends on how frugal you feel you want to or have to be. To save a partial packet of yeast, the recommendation is tape it shut securely and use it as soon as you can... viability will drop if it's left open a long time. Though that being said, I had two partial packets for 4 or 5 months that I eventually used and they worked fine for me, you just run the risk of a poor start if the yeast is open and old.

 

[Scott]

Thanks,
This one does call for a yeast starter have to learn that process also, will give it a try tonight.

 

[pelican]

Thanks for that information about pectic enzyme and sulphites - makes sense and is good to know. Now I can sleep at night! LOL

The White Grape Peach has now moved to it's new home in the secondary (4 ltr jug). I transferred leaving as much sediment in the bucket as I could, and there is already a very thick layer of sediment in the jug - glad I've got it in the 4 litre jug and can downsize to the 1 gallon on the next racking.

Still going though - glug glug goes the airlock

 

[pelican]

As for the haze, I'll maybe have to roll up my sleeves and fight that one out when it comes to it.

Update on this one !! The haze and I duked it out and I was ultimately victorious.

It would not, just would not clear, although it did drop sediment etc it still stayed hazy.

My first step in the battle was yet some more pectin.
...waiting... waiting... ... nothing...

Sigh. that didn't make any difference. Still hazy.


Next step was breaking out the sparkalloid ~ I've never used that before.

I mixed up a small amount by ratio to the instructions (this is 1 gallon, and the bottle has dosage per 5 or 6 gallons). I couldn't measure the exact amount needed, so I used what would be good for 2 gallons in about 1/2 cup of water (heated, simmerred the sparkalloid in water), and then dosed half of what I had there to the gallon jug.

... waiting... waiting... ... sigh... WOW! all of a sudden it was haze-be-gone

After nearly 3 weeks, I racked it off the lees (ooh they were fluffy and it was hard to move that jug withough stirring them all up!) and then filtered the wine, because I read if you use Sparkalloid you should filter (not sure where I read that).

It took 2 filter pads (vinbrite gravity filter) - both got completely clogged!
It was as if I hadn't even racked before I filtered it.

But Oh Boy was it sparklingly clear.

Here's hoping it's taste down the road will live up to the appearance.

 

[Scott]

Glad it worked out for you, did you put on the Rocky music and run up the stairs for your victory dance?

 

[pelican]

Ha ha! I would have if I had any stairs! But I did torment my oh-so-not-interested kids by saying, every day, LOOK HOW CLEAR THIS IS NOW! NO! REALLY!! LOOK! ... YOU AREN'T LOOKING! HEY, IF YOU DON'T LOOK I'M TAKING YOUR IPOD UNTIL YOU LOOK AT HOW CLEAR THIS IS!...

 

[pelican]

Picture!

Here's some in a clear beer bottle, with the label affixed to the other side -- you are reading the label through the wine (the date was the filtering date, it's the label that was stuck on the carboy) ... Any bluriness in the picture is from my hands trembling holding the bottle ...

(I wish I had a before picture)

 

[Scott]

That is nice and clear, do doubt it will be a good tasting wine.


Maybe it will stop your hands from trembling!

 

[pelican]

I am happy to report a quick update on this batch! I opened a split sized bottle of this on Friday to go with some Salmon the most wonderful Mr. Pelican picked up ... he made the call for what wine, it was either this, the tomato, or dandelion. I think he made a good choice but even better was he said this was The Best wine I've ever made ...

I don't know if I'd go quite go that far - but he's very objective in his assessment of my wines and is not especially fond of whites - so Whoo Hoo! It turned out GOOD

And it's only just reached the 1 month in the bottle.

Next time on this mode of wine I do want to use the Welches White Grape and Peach, but I have to say if that Jumex Nectar goes on special again I'll be gathering a few for a repeat run.