mikelachelt
Junior
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2016
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
Hi all,
I've made a lot of cider and now want to make some plum wine. But I'm confused about the process. Here are a few simple questions that would really help me. I now have a tonne of plums. (Actually, more than a tonne...)
1. I don't understand how to take the SG (or brix, or however you want to measure sugar content). I've removed pits and crushed the plums. It's now a thick stew of plums, in a 200L (or 250 gallon) barrel. Surely, one can't just add SO2, or pectin enzyme, etc, to this stew. It would just sit on the top. So, I should add water and mix it up. and then add these. Right?
2. But, I'd like to know how much water to add in order to get the right SG! How do I measure that? I could add some water and stir, and then pull some of the water/plum mixture out with a wine thief to test the SG (provided the plum doesn't plug up the opening of the wine thief). But the problem here is that the plum won't have released its sugars into the water sufficiently to give a correct reading. So, again, how does one take the SG?
3. One possibility would be to strain some of the plum juice out of the plum puree into a hydrometer tube, and test it that way. Is this the correct method?
4. If that's the correct method, then should I add water to the strained plum juice until the SG is where I want, and use THAT as my guide as to how much water to add to my barrel?
5. But, the problem here is that I have no way of knowing how much plum juice there is in the barrel of plum puree.
So, as you can see, I'm at a total loss about how to get started. Apples are so much easier, because you just deal with the juice...
Thanks for your help!!
Mike
I've made a lot of cider and now want to make some plum wine. But I'm confused about the process. Here are a few simple questions that would really help me. I now have a tonne of plums. (Actually, more than a tonne...)
1. I don't understand how to take the SG (or brix, or however you want to measure sugar content). I've removed pits and crushed the plums. It's now a thick stew of plums, in a 200L (or 250 gallon) barrel. Surely, one can't just add SO2, or pectin enzyme, etc, to this stew. It would just sit on the top. So, I should add water and mix it up. and then add these. Right?
2. But, I'd like to know how much water to add in order to get the right SG! How do I measure that? I could add some water and stir, and then pull some of the water/plum mixture out with a wine thief to test the SG (provided the plum doesn't plug up the opening of the wine thief). But the problem here is that the plum won't have released its sugars into the water sufficiently to give a correct reading. So, again, how does one take the SG?
3. One possibility would be to strain some of the plum juice out of the plum puree into a hydrometer tube, and test it that way. Is this the correct method?
4. If that's the correct method, then should I add water to the strained plum juice until the SG is where I want, and use THAT as my guide as to how much water to add to my barrel?
5. But, the problem here is that I have no way of knowing how much plum juice there is in the barrel of plum puree.
So, as you can see, I'm at a total loss about how to get started. Apples are so much easier, because you just deal with the juice...
Thanks for your help!!
Mike