Grapefruit wine

[tucker2974]

Has anyone made grapefruit wine and if so how did it turn out. Any pointers I need to know ?

 

[GreginND]

Yes. I've made it twice. The first time it was incredible. Arguably one of the best wines I've ever made.

It was super silky and balanced.

I tried to repeat it and the second batch was not the same.

I don't have any pointers to give you other than use the fresh squeezed juice and don't let the pith get in the wine or it will be bitter.

 

[Arne]

I'm betting you could use the skeeter pee recipe and sub. grapefruit juice for the lemon. Mite take a bit more juice than it does with the lemon. I have never tried making it, tho. Looks like Greg mite be your best bet on how to make it. Arne.

 

[GreginND]

Well, here are the logs for my 2001 and 2002 batches of grapefruit. Haven't made a pure grapefruit since then but I have made some mixed citrus wines.

Don't hold me to my winemaking practices back then. I have learned a lot in the last 10 years. I don't know that my acid measurements were done properly.

The 2001 batch was really excellent. I have one bottle still socked away. I wonder how it has aged?

View attachment 2011grapefruitlog.pdf

View attachment 2002grapefruitlog.pdf

 

[snowgirl812001]

I have never made it either, but am planning on it. I have the same question too, hope you don't mind if I tag along

 

[tucker2974]

Not at snowgirl. My recipe is completely shooting from the hip. I didn't count the grapefruit but I had 2.5 gallons of pure squeezed juice, 8# sugar, 2 Camden tablets, grape tannin, yeast nutrient, and enough water to make up 5 gallons. OG was 1.090. Oh and 71b 1122 yeast .

 

[snowgirl812001]

Can't wait to see how it turns out

 

[BernardSmith]

Is there a reason for adding water other than to increase the volume? Wouldn't the water dilute the fruit juice? Would this wine be too acidic if you simply fermented the juice with the added sugar? I ask because I recently started three gallons of orange wine but I never thought to dilute the juice.

 

[tucker2974]

Yes it probably would. I added 2 teaspoon of patassium bicarb. Ill test it again after I rack to secondary then again every time I rack. I've made orange wine before from fruit off my trees. It came out freakin awesome. I back sweetened with a personal technique of mine and it was off the chain great!!

 

[GreginND]

Yes it probably would. I added 2 teaspoon of patassium bicarb. Ill test it again after I rack to secondary then again every time I rack. I've made orange wine before from fruit off my trees. It came out freakin awesome. I back sweetened with a personal technique of mine and it was off the chain great!!

The recipe looks good. Just curious why you added bicarb? Did you test the acid and was it too high?

Also, care to elaborate on your personal technique for sweeting or is it a trade secret?

 

[tucker2974]

Sure!! First question , yes acid was just a little out of range. Actually it was patassium. Card not bicarb sorry. I try my best to keep acid levels around 6. Driving off co2 in the secondary also a good practice. As for as sweetening try this...... Find about a dozen of the ripest oranges u have and peel them leaving out the pith. Smash them good then boil them with sugar for about 15 min . The amount of sugar , fruit, and water should make a thick syrup like liquid. The amount used will be up to u. The orange extracts mixed with the sugar and infuses itself to make a heavy orange tasting sweetener. Really brings out the orange flavor in the wine

 

[hobbyiswine]

I am making 3 gallons of grapefruit and it is currently in the secondary. My recipe is similar to the one a few posts before. I hand squeezed and strained the grapefruits to get the juice. I also added water and sugar. I didnt test the acid. This batch was a test run so didnt do any precise calculations. I plan to make another batch soon with more hand squeezed juice and less water for a comparison. I had hoped to make the wine light and dry. For those that have made it did you backsweeten or leave it dry?

By the way I tasted a little bit from the secondary yesterday and it tastes like it might be OK and doesnt seem to acidic but there is a bit of a "funky" gym sock smell. Hope that goes away.

 

[GreginND]

Mine was dry. No sweetening required. But I like dry wine.

 

[hobbyiswine]

My grapefruit was sitting in the secondary and i just checked the SG. It was down to .990 but when i took off the airlock i was hit with a smell of sulphur. I splash racked it but the smell is still there. I gave the "penny test" to my wife and she agreed one smelled like sulphur and the other smelled better. So now i need to get some copper pipe or something to try and get the stink out.

 

[GreginND]

I have heard that some folks use one of those copper pot scrubbers in a funnel and pour the wine through it.

 

[tucker2974]

Update on the progress on the grapefruit wine. Transferred to secondary after 1.030 gravity from the bucket. Airlock is singing and the smell isn't pleasant but I've never gotten a great smell at this point in any of my wine. The one on the left. The other is orange

 

[GreginND]

I found a couple bottles of my 2002 grapefruit in my cellar and popped one open this evening. I have to say I am very impressed with how this wine has held up. The conventional wisdom is that fruit wines do not age very long. Well, I've been pleasantly surprised time after time and this wine is no exception.

The wine is crystal clear with no sediments in the bottle. It has not browned significantly and has a light golden straw color. On the nose it has the full grapefruit aromas that I remember from this wine. Smelling it brings back memories of the last time I tasted this wine over 6 years ago. Still not as good as my 2001 wine but with a tangy grapefruit nose with just a hint of age. Almost the slightest hint of a nutty sherry but not the sherry acetaldehyde nose. The palate is very complex. This is a dry wine. It nicely balanced acidity. The alcohol definitely comes through on the forefront but that gives way to a mouth filling dry grapefruit taste. The bitterness that I remember (think eating the white pith of the grapefruit) is mostly gone. It has that grapefruit character of a New Zealand sauvignon blanc but does not have the other sauv blanc fruitiness.

It is interesting and GOOD! And it's 10 years old.