anyone have a good/tried fig wine

[jamesngalveston]

just started getting ripe figs today, got maybe 4 lbs...I figure in a week, i should have enough for a batch of wine.
anyone have a real good recipe that they have made, and liked...
thanks.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

We have made fig + date wine, all from preserved dried fruit, it ended up tasted exactly like fruit cake, a very good fruit cake without all those colored plastic pieces of fruit. We used it to cure our own fruit cakes made without plastic fruits but with dried elderberries, real dried cherries and nuts. We had a fig tree that gave us fruit one year and then never again, that was very good but the taste between the fresh and preserved is so different. I would blend them up in a blender in warm water, dilute out to a gravity of say 1.10 using just the fig sugars and figure on loosing a LOT of wine to sediment, I know that is one of your favorite parts to winemaking, balance the acid out since they are low acid and go from there. WVMJ

 

[jamesngalveston]

thanks jack...will do...i have heard that a fig wine is really good.

 

[Downwards]

Here is one that I haven't used, but likely will soon. Our fig tree is producing too, though it's a turkish brown and only does two or three at a time. I'm just popping them into the freezer as they get ripe, hopefully will be trying one soon! http://www.winemakermag.com/stories...inemaking/2-10-cant-miss-country-wine-recipes

 

[jamesngalveston]

thanks for that...

 

[Bacci]

Here is one that I haven't used, but likely will soon. Our fig tree is producing too, though it's a turkish brown and only does two or three at a time. I'm just popping them into the freezer as they get ripe, hopefully will be trying one soon! http://www.winemakermag.com/stories...inemaking/2-10-cant-miss-country-wine-recipes

I made a gallon of (brown turkey) fig wine last fall and just bottled it a couple of months ago. Add bit more fruit/water for a gallon to topp up, since there was a lot of lees on both first and second fermentations. I used the same recipe, except added brown sugar instead of white sugar, which gave it a nice caramel color. Backsweetened with a little homemade cane syrup which gave it a great natural flavor. My other advice is to rack at least 2x then a small bentonite addition before final racking and bottling. I added extra pectin enyzme after secondary fermentation instead of bentonite, though it cleared nicely, still had some sediment after bottling. Also needs some bottle ageing, if you can get 12+ lbs., make 3 gallons you'll wish you had.

 

[jamesngalveston]

im shooting for a 3 gallon batch for sure.

 

[LAgreeneyes]

Our fig tree has figs and we are wanting to make fig wine. I'm glad that I found this thread. Will be our first time making fig wine.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

I am really curious to see how these turn out, fresh vs the dried ones we all buy at the store. Do you guys dry some of them to keep over winter? WVMJ

 

[jamesngalveston]

mountaineerjack,
I started my 5 gallon of fig wine today.
I had 40 lbs of fresh figs frozen.
I added 3 gallons of water to a 10 gallon carboy, along with the fruit, to thaw.
After thawed i mashed the heck out of them and added 5 crushed campden tablets.
In the am, I will add pectin,yeast energizer, yeast nutrient and acid blend.
I will let all this sit overnight and then pitch the yeast.
As of now...the water is a amber green in color, and not very pretty.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

No reason to add the nutrients until you add the yeast, you dont want anything else to have a chance to eat that stuff before you yeast gets to it. It would be interesting to see if the green color persists, I doubt if it will, possible you will end up with a green hue to your white wine. You are probably not going to get 5 gallons of wine from this by adding only 3 gallons of water to ~4 gallons of figs since they are not that juicy and you are going to get a TON of sediment. Did you have to add sugar or did the figs themselves have enough? Good Luck, WVMJ

mountaineerjack,
I started my 5 gallon of fig wine today.
I had 40 lbs of fresh figs frozen.
I added 3 gallons of water to a 10 gallon carboy, along with the fruit, to thaw.
After thawed i mashed the heck out of them and added 5 crushed campden tablets.
In the am, I will add pectin,yeast energizer, yeast nutrient and acid blend.
I will let all this sit overnight and then pitch the yeast.
As of now...the water is a amber green in color, and not very pretty.

 

[jamesngalveston]

im going to add 2 more gallons of water once the figs thaw...
40 lbs of anything in a muslin bag is hard to handle.
i will be checking sg today and adding sugar.

 

[LAgreeneyes]

mountaineerjack,
I started my 5 gallon of fig wine today.
I had 40 lbs of fresh figs frozen.
I added 3 gallons of water to a 10 gallon carboy, along with the fruit, to thaw.
After thawed i mashed the heck out of them and added 5 crushed campden tablets.
In the am, I will add pectin,yeast energizer, yeast nutrient and acid blend.
I will let all this sit overnight and then pitch the yeast.
As of now...the water is a amber green in color, and not very pretty.

Ooh, I am SO stealing your recipe. :') THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!

 

[jamesngalveston]

you my lady friend....better use that hydrometer...lol

 

[LAgreeneyes]

you my lady friend....better use that hydrometer...lol

LOL

Hey, I was trying to use it last night but guess what? Now you know I am so new to all of these tools, whistles and bells. Well, little did I know is that the guy at the store did not sell me the "cylinder thing" (is that what it's called) to pour the wine in. He only sold me the hydrometer. Now why would he do that to me? I guess he thought that I already had the cylinder. So, now I have to go and get that.

 

[LAgreeneyes]

How is everyone's fig wine coming along. I added more yeast and moved mine to a warmer room and it's sounding better already. I'm relieved.

 

[Downwards]

I'm still gathering fruit. My tree gives them to me one and two at a time. Lots of green figs on the branches still, and a couple of bags in the freezer!

 

[LAgreeneyes]

I checked on my fig wine a few minutes ago and the ABV is reading 17% but I'm not tasting 17%. My hydrometer has got to be off. No way 17%.

 

[jamesngalveston]

well what was your starting sg and what is it now.

 

[jamesngalveston]

put the numbers here in this link and you will know.
http://www.davesdreaded.com/homebrew-calculator/