Enhancing flavor

[tcavan01]

I had some commercial peach wine. I didn't feel it really tasted much like peach. I'm making some of my own right now. If it doesn't taste enough like peach could I enhance the flavor with a packet of peach Kool aid? Has anyone ever done this?

 

[SouthernChemist]

I had some commercial peach wine. I didn't feel it really tasted much like peach. I'm making some of my own right now. If it doesn't taste enough like peach could I enhance the flavor with a packet of peach Kool aid? Has anyone ever done this?

I think you can buy some peach extract to flavor it with from a brewing store. Out of curiosity...was the peach wine sweetened? I've heard from more than one person that some fruit wines taste a little more like the fruit if they're sweetened versus if they're dry.

 

[Deezil]

I would stay away from kool-aid, myself.

But a pretty common practice here, is something known as an F-Pack.

Say you're making 5 gallons of peach wine, with 8lbs/gallon. Thats 40lbs for the batch. An F-Pack would call for an additional 10lbs +/- to be mashed into a 'soup' of sorts, and put over low heat on the stove (another way is to freeze them and mash while still 50% frozen) .... Basically you evaporate/remove as much of the water as you can, taking the "juice" and turning it into a "syrup".

You make the wine, per normal. Then you stabilize it after its done fermenting (additions of k-meta & sorbate) - wait a week to ensure its mixed in well.

From this point is when you make the F-Pack & add it. Keep in mind it'll cloud up your wine & need time to clear after an F-Pack so dont wait for the wine to clear completely in the first place.. It does need to be stabilized, but not clear.

The F-Pack will help bring back more of the original flavors found in the fruit itself, and bring out that peach flavor you're looking for after some aging.

 

[Luc]

I had some commercial peach wine. I didn't feel it really tasted much like peach. I'm making some of my own right now. If it doesn't taste enough like peach could I enhance the flavor with a packet of peach Kool aid? Has anyone ever done this?

Problem is that you just did not use enough fruit.

Think apple juice it is made from pure pressed apples. Grape juice and wine are also made from pure juice.
Pear is a very delicate flavor so this wine should also be made from pure juice.

Luc

 

[robie]

Yep, lots of the commercial fruit wines use a minimum amount of fruit. Always try to up the amount of fruit and use little or no water. An F pack is a good idea, too.

 

[Luc]

Robie,

When using enough fruit even an f-pack is not needed.

Luc