guava wine

[Midwest Vintner]

we are going to make some guava using this recipe today:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques49.asp

any suggestions on tweaking it withing the next few hours would be helpful.

will report back what we do later this evening.

 

[valdelocc]

I like to use Cote De Blanc yeast gives it better flavor, try no to use the Libby's brand of canned guava its kind of bland, if you could find fresh fruit that would be the way to go. I like to trow some oak chip in the primary and top up the secondary with cheap brandy. I've made it twice and I'm about to start a new batch only waiting to find a few pound of fresh fruit to mix with cans and guava juice. guava wine doesnt last very long around here.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

guava wine doesnt last very long around here.

sounds like we've got a winner. those batches are what we're looking for

we are using fresh fruit. IMO, this is the best way to make wine. it seems the flavors from fresh come through better. next best is juice and sometimes it's hard to find that for some fruits. this is our first attempt at guava. last count i did is that we've done 35+ different types of wine, fortified wines and flavored spirits collectively.

i think we've got some cote de blanc around. we usually have that, champaign yeast, lalvin 1116/1118 and IIRC another, but can't remember the last.

is 3 lb/gal enough? we usually add a lil more than the kellar recipes for most, but some are close and other lack. it's possible that variations in fruit make most of the difference in how much is needed.

we were unable to start it today as the fruit did not thaw fast enough.

 

[valdelocc]

I typically ferment 6 gallons using 2.5lbfruit/gallon, I also use 3 gallons of guava juice and 3g of water, the juice helps bringing the PH down, I add the sugar gradually to 25 Brix. Did you buy the frozen guavas online? I get mines from a local Chinese market.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

they were from a local mexican store. they seem in good shape and we should be doing this tomorrow. had to put them in the refrig. to let them sit for now. if 2.5#/ gal worked then i think the 3 #/ gal will be good. going to do 1.085 as a normal fruit wine for starting sg. does the wine age well? i'm thinking of a slightly lower acidity allowing drinking to be sooner

 

[arcticsid]

I tossed in a can of frozen Guava Nectar(frozen concentrate, DOLE 100% juice) to a batch of something, pineapple I think. It worked nice. When it came time to drink it I woke up laying on the ground wearing a grass skirt looking thing, and a bunch of native islander guys dancing around me with spears, something cooking in the ground, and the biggest girl in the village trying to pull me away from them!!!!

 

[valdelocc]

I tossed in a can of frozen Guava Nectar(frozen concentrate, DOLE 100% juice) to a batch of something, pineapple I think. It worked nice. When it came time to drink it I woke up laying on the ground wearing a grass skirt looking thing, and a bunch of native islander guys dancing around me with spears, something cooking in the ground, and the biggest girl in the village trying to pull me away from them!!!!

besides drinking the guava wine did you smoke the peace pipe also?

 

[Midwest Vintner]

When it came time to drink it I woke up laying on the ground wearing a grass skirt looking thing, and a bunch of native islander guys dancing around me with spears, something cooking in the ground, and the biggest girl in the village trying to pull me away from them!!!!

next time, you might want to keep the abv down. that or you might be going with the village girl!

made the wine this morning. the guava smelled great. we have pineapple wine that just went into the secondary.....hmm. mix later? might give it a go. thanks for the info! my sister lives on Kauai (HI) and i wouldn't mind meeting a slimer village girl. she sent me "girls of Hawaii" calender. now i can't get much computer typing done without stopping and looking up! we just went ahead with the 3#/gal as we want it to be full-bodied. had an issue with the acid tester. got to keep calibrating the thing every ~5-6 batches or so. needed to calcium carbonate it some, but it's fine now. yeast going in tomorrow. not sure if we want the champagne yeast or go with the 1116. personally would like to try the 1122 on it, but it's in shipping till monday. maybe wait?

 

[Midwest Vintner]

i did not have any champagne yeast. i had 1116, 1118 and d47. i had not read up on the 1122 before the last post and did so after, now i don't think it's a good choice for guava.

i went with the 1116 as it's suggested for strawberry and kiwi, which is along similer lines with the guava.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

took a reading 1.035. maybe a day or two and it's going into the secondary. it's going somewhat slower, so i'll drop it in at ~1.015 or so depending of how long it takes from here.

 

[valdelocc]

midwest; hows that guava coming along?

 

[Midwest Vintner]

great! smells sooo good. it's like a mix of strawberry, pineapple and peach in one. we've racked off the secondary, but didn't have time to sweeten and shock it. just put an airlock back on it. it's going to need to clear for a bit, no worries though, we got plenty of other things to bottle to free up some carboys.

next up: 3 gal mango.........