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.