Another stoopid question....

[Old Philosopher]

I extracted the juice from 26 pounds of peaches. It came out just shy of 2 gallons. I was unable to continue at that time, so the 2 gallons of juice sat in a 5 gallon bucket overnight. I added just a pinch of K-meta to kill any wild yeast.
The SG of the fresh juice was 1.034. Today, the SG was 1.026. There was foam on top.
So I'm guessing my "pinch" wasn't enough and, wild yeast + natural sugar in the juice = beginning fermentation and about 1% alcohol content!

So my question is, does anyone care to speculate what would have happened if I had just walked away and let nature take its course? No extra sugar, no water. Any guesses on how far down the SG might have gone?

 

[winemaker_3352]

My wife's grandfather makes wine that way - except he does add sugar - a whole lot - so the ABV was like 24% - moonshine basically.

i used to drink that 5 years ago - until i started making wine and reading about the wild bacteria's and wild yeasts that form to make the alcohol - i just don't trust it.

 

[Old Philosopher]

Of mice and men, and other wild critters....

Yeah, early beer and wine relied upon insects and other critters to promote fermentation. I'll pass, thank you! But it raised the question about how effective K-meta was for killing this stuff.

 

[JasonH]

I wouldn't be surprised if it fermented dry. A lot of the old people around here make their wine that way. I ask them about chemicals and yeast strains and they look at me like I'm crazy. They are very fond of sharing what they make and sometimes its strong or sweet or pretty much vinegar.

 

[Old Philosopher]

Call me a control freak, but after investing time, effort and money into a batch, I like to have some idea of how it's going to come out.

 

[JasonH]

Call me a control freak, but after investing time, effort and money into a batch, I like to have some idea of how it's going to come out.

I'm the same way. When I have a batch in a primary, I really fuss over every little detail.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I am the same way - perfectionist - i am also my own worst judge when it comes to the taste of the wine.