Advice for Making Peach Wine?

The peaches on my trees are getting closer and closer to maturation, and as they grow I too grow more and more tempted to attempt to make peach wine, though the more I research the more I realize that fermenting wine using peaches could potentially be very different in technique to what I'm used to fermenting, in particular the must of the peaches. Wine musts I've previously fermented were of a liquid consistency; mead contained no fruit so no fruit solids, hard cider I just pressed raw unwashed, unprocessed apples into cider and fermented with the wild bacteria and yeasts naturally found on the peels and contained no apple solids, and raspberry wine containing only raspberries and honey, though the raspberry solids sink to the bottom of the fermenting vessel, making sample taking and siphoning to another vessel relatively easy.
Though from what I have seen in researching is that the peach must is typically thick and "pudding" like in consistency. I'm unsure of how I could measure the specific gravity with a hydrometer and collect an accurate reading, or how I would siphon to a secondary. Thus, I am asking for any general advice and wisdom from an experienced Peach Weinbrüher (What is the term for a wine-brewer in English?) for techniques, what to expect, or even problems I can expect in my venture, anything you believe would be helpful for someone entirely new to making peach wine like myself.

 

We make 6-10 gals of Peach wine most years. First we leave the skins on &use K. Meta to kill wild yeast then usually E1118 yeast. We have diced the peaches into small pieces, some years ran thru a processor, we DO add water to help with the issues you mentioned. Usually it’s min of 10 lbs to a gallon of water. Yes the wine is a little less “ Peachy “ but we love it. We don’t press the must, but after fermentation we pour the must into a straning bag and squeeze out the juice. Realize you will lose a lot of volume due to the solids that remain, so if your shooting for 6 gals of wine start with at least 10 gals of must or more. Because you’ll lose more on first few rankings. Lastly use extra Bentonite in the must to help clearing, Peach Wine can take up to a year to clear. Hope this helps! Roy

 

The "pudding" condition resolves in 2-3 days for me. That's in a batch with 7lbs per gallon and water only used make my sole syrup.

YES Aim high on volume to allow for loss due to Lee's.

 

Thank both of you. So if I was to measure a sample, I should do so after two to three days/when the consistency i.e. surface tension lowers enough to obtain a realistic-looking reading? I guess I could use my cider press to press the peaches after I pit them to be left with peach juice, but that method seems highly unrecommended, as the crushed peels could add bitterness and the yeast would not obtain the nutrients from the disposed peach solids. Or is an original specific gravity reading just not possible using a hydrometer with peach must? Again, thank you for spending the time to answer these questions.

 

I always take an original S G reading. While the must is sitting there with K Meta I dip out a bunch & put it thru a strainer to get the sample, little time consuming but it works. Roy

 

I just keep testing the thickness of the must until I can get a fair reading. You will know when you drop the hydrometer in if it's broken down enough. And long as you've added k-meta and kept it covered with a cloth or loose lid it should keep fine for a few days. As to peals/skins I always leave mine in to get all the peachy flavors. No bitter issues yet. The other reason I wait on the SG reading is so that as much sugar as possible is released from the pulp.
If this is your first peach wine be ready for a great wine. The aroma alone is something that makes me want to just keep my nose over the wine glass.

 

Yes the aroma & taste is unbelievable!! We have some Peach Wine that is 7 yrs old & better than at 2 yrs old!, All our friends Love it. Roy

 

Impatiently waiting on a batch of peach - vanilla wine to age and clear. If if proves to be good I may be doing two batches next year, a straight and a peach-vanilla.
If you want idea of the target flavor (peach-vanilla) take some sliced peaches a little white wine and put that over Vanilla ice cream.

 

Sure does. 1 x 3 gallon batch 12;mos. Old As of next week, & 2 x 1 gallon carboys (peach vanilla) 11 mos. Old. All 3 containers are seriously hazy, still. Flavors are good but clearing ver slowly.

 

IIRC, pectic enzyme is supposed to be helpful in nudging peach wine down the clearing road. Course if you’d just as soon let it do it’s thing and bottle it when it wants to be bottled, perfectly understandable, I do that sometimes too......

 

I've hit mine with pectic enzyme before fermentation and after as well as bentonite. Still clearing - I am learning patience...... That's what I keep telling myself.

 

What did you use for your vanilla flavoring, and how much?

 

Bought a whole vanilla bean. Cut off 1/8 of the bean for 1 gallon. Sliced length-wise and added after fermentation completed. During one of the racking (3 months in) I added another 1/8 of the bean. Total blended volume is now 2 gallons. Vanilla flavor is good, not too strong. I started a second gallon along with the "beaned" one to have to blend if the flavor was too strong- that has not been an issue. Hope bottle in next 3-4 months if it clears enough. That would be at about 14 months of aging.

 

I need fruit wine makers to put on their thinking caps and give me some comments and or advice about my peach wine. I made 4 batches of wine, all at the same time and I am concerned about 2 of 4 carboys of peach wine that is presently stabilized and clearing. Look at the attached photo and you will see 1 carboy has a caramel color to it and a 2nd carboy is similar but not as much darkness. I have never had this happen so I don't know what it might be. All four batches smell fine, there are no unpleasant odors. Googling questions I sometimes read it may be oxidation, but if it is why that 1 carboy and not all of them as they were made from the same peach juice I got from using a juice press to get the peach juice into 1 pail and then the pressed juice was divided into 4 equal amounts.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. NOTE... The recipe called for white sugar and brown sugar which I did for all 4 batches. I also used golden raisins soften in a pan of water and condensed
peach juice from a can, which I also did to all 4 batches. All 4 batches were made at the same time, from the same juice, all the same way.
There are 2 pictures, one shows the wine on the floor clearing, with an obvious difference in color and the 2nd picture was right after the wine was transferred to the carboys for secondary fermentation.
What would you do in my case........................ thank you in advance.

 

For whatever reason your carboys 'B' and 'D' are clearing faster that A & B the color appears darker because you don't have all that light colored pulp reflecting the light. With no other indications of an issue I'd not worry about it.
I have a peach that I would love to have looking like that one but it's now 11plus months and still clearing despite 1 filtering and 1 treatment with Bentonite. Consider yourself fortunate to have one carboy that will be ready to bottle when it's adequately aged. The golden raising probably contributed to that slightly darker color. It will far less noticeable in a standard wine bottle. I've made 5 batches of peach wine with batches 4 & 5 still aging and clearing.

 

Thanks for your reply, it is very reassuring. Yes carboys labeled B & D are clearing faster than the other 2 with B being the quicker of the 4. You don't think it is an oxidation problem so that is good. I have never
dealt with an oxidation problem so I would not recognize one when I saw it. Thanks again.

 

More good, reassuring information about my peach wines that are presently clearing. I drove into the city to a business where you can get wine made from kits to pick up wine making chemicals.
While there I showed the owner pictures I have on my cell phone that I took this morning showing the peach wine in the carboys clearing. I explained the ingredients added to the wine and asked her for her
opinion and she told me that the caramel color is normal and nothing to worry about. She said the caramel color is coming from the 2 pounds of brown sugar that was added to each batch of wine.
So with what she said and what Scooter68 told me about the caramel color showing thru as the wines clear as being normal and that the wines will be fine I am very relieved

 

Here's my peach wine batches 1 x 3 gallon (Peach) and 2 x 1 gallon batches (Peach Vanilla) the 3 gallon batch was started July 11, 2017. The Peach Vanilla was started August 3, 2017
The wines are, from the left to the right Tart Cherry (3 gallon), Peach Vanilla, Apple, Peach Vanilla, Mango/Pineapple (small bottle), Mango Pineapple(10 days old) , Peach 3gallon & Plum 3 gallon. The plum was started Mid June and is already crystal clear.

 

Interesting combination of different fruit wines you have. I got a big smile when I saw the color of the one that is 2nd from the right, the 3 gallon peach wine, it is very similar in color to the wines I have clearing. Your peach/vanilla wine combination might be something to try down the road. Did you make you apple wine from apples or did you use an apple juice/cider of some kind. I would like to try making a 6 gallon batch of apple wine from apples at least once to see what it is like. I would have to find a tried recipe with step by step instructions as I have never made one. I did buy this summer a fruit press and a crusher/masher.
You are right about the pulp in the carboys, as it is settling towards the bottom all 4 batches of wine in the carboys are slowly getting that caramel color. I included another picture and this one I took about 2 hours ago and you can see the other 2 batches starting to look like the quicker clearing ones.