Hi form Denmark

[Allan B]

I just started making wine a little more than a month ago. I have read a lot about winemaking. But the more info you try to grasp, the more questions pups up. I guess this goes for most other subject to.

Until now, I have not yet finished my first batch of wine. I got a batch (20 liters) of wild plums wine. The SG is at 1.001 and the alcohol at 13-14%. So it’s near the end of fermenting I guess. But the acid level is very high. I got 9 g/l and a pH around 3. I understand that this must be malic acid. I read about malolactic treatment, but I’m not appealed – It’s too technical for a beginner. I would like to make a very low acid wine to blend with. What fruit should I choose for this wine then?

I also started 3 other wine experiments to get some experience. For me it’s more experimenting than winemaking until I got some decent results – or should I just say results, as my first batch has to be finished.

 

[Wade E]

Sounds like you might have followed a very bad recipe for Plum wine!!!!!!!!!!! Before you go trying any more batches please show them to us. What you followed was very bad and if you keep going that route you wont be pleased and probably give up wine making.

 

[St Allie]

Hello Allan and welcome to the forum,

All I can suggest would be possibly stabilising the 20 litres when it finishes fermenting. Topping up with reduced apple juice with sugar syrup to add some sweetness to mask the acidity a bit, to reduce the alcohol level to around 11-12% and replace lost flavours. You could try this with a litre of the wine and adjust it to see if it helps. This is off the top of my head , as I like fiddling with blends if something turns out not quite to my taste.

Unfortunately, it sounds like the wild plums were the main culprit in your recipe. Perhaps next season ferment out a blend of apple and plum together?

What are the other wines you are currently making?

Allie

 

[Allan B]

Thank you for the welcome.
I suspect some of the plums were not ripe enough. But rather than letting it go down the drain, I would try see if anything can be done. I may have used to much fruit for the batch. I used 15 kg of small plums (we call mirabeller in Denmark) and used a steam extractor. I used pectic enzyme, sugar, and wine yeast and no acids at all.
The other tree batches are small, only 5 liters each. It won’t hurt to dispose small quantities. One batch is root beet. Another batch is chokecherry. The third is Hawthorne.
I was not very precise measuring things when I started the plum wine. But everything is measured and calculated for the three small batches. I have read Luc Volders blog very carefully, and try to follow his methods.

 

[St Allie]

Well at this point Allan, you haven't lost anything by trying to adjust it.. and you'll be amazed at how much a wine can improve after a year or so in the bottle.

If you're following Luc's blog.. he won't put you wrong.. and he will probably be in later today to give you some more options/thoughts for this plum batch.

hawthorn wine is one I haven't managed to make yet, thorny devils.. picking gorseflowers was bad enough!

Allie

 

[Allan B]

Thank you for your advice Allie

I just made a test with a little sample of my plum wine. I diluted it with water and added sugar. Now the wine had a calculated alcohol% of 10 and 6 g acid pr. liter. I added 0.1 gram sugar per ml wine. This had a pleasant taste. I know the dilution was a little exaggerated. Now I believe this is worth using. I think aging and topping up with apple juice with sugar syrup as you suggest will make this wine acceptable. Time will show. Thanks again.

 

[St Allie]

You're very welcome Allan..

let us know how it turns out.

Allie