Hope I don't lose the peach!

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PPBart

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Local Walmart has had peaches on sale for some time now. Last Sunday I bought about 12-13 lbs to run thu my new steam juicer; output was ~4 ltrs. Neither my wife nor I care for drinking peach juice, so I started a small batch of wine.

On Monday, I pitched in a Champaigne yeast starter. On Tuesday, there was no evidence of yeast activity -- not one bubble that I saw -- so I gave it a good stir. On Wednesday, there was no evidence of yeast activity, so I stirred it again. This afternoon (Thursday), still no bubbles so I stirred again, then decided to prepare another starter. However, first I checked the SG -- and was amazed to see the hydrometer bobbing at 0.996! I immediately transferred the batch to glass under airlock.

Lesson learned from this episode is that even if there's no visible evidence of fermentation, it's probably a good idea to periodically check SG.
 
True that about the visible ferment, alot of people get excited by not seeing active bubbles!

I just picked up an18# case of Peaches for $23.00, they were beauties, there chopped up in the freezer waiting theirr turn.

According to Toms Recipe, I sould beable to get 4 gallons out of it.
 
Now WHAT was the starting gravity?
Did you add sugar?
recipe??
It's possible you have a bad seal on your fermentor. I never seal the fermentor and airlock it
How does it taste.
Seams to fast a ferment.
 
Now WHAT was the starting gravity?
Did you add sugar?
recipe??
It's possible you have a bad seal on your fermentor. I never seal the fermentor and airlock it
How does it taste.
Seams to fast a ferment.

Starting SG was 1.085 (and yes, I added sugar to get to that SG).
As for the recipe, I used the following, adjusted for volume and for juice rather than fruit:

For 1-gallon batch:
2 1/2 lb peaches (about 10 peaches)
7 pts water
Sugar to get SG=1.100 (about 2 lb)
1 Campden Tablet
1 1/2 tsp acid blend
1 tsp pectic enzyme powder
1/2 tsp yeast energizer
1/4 tsp tannin
1 pkg wine yeast
------
Wash peaches, quarter, remove stones and any brown patches.
Leave the skin on and remove all of the reddish colored meat around the stone.
Place peach quarters in nylon straining bag and place in primary.
Crush peaches, extracting as much juice as possible.
Add dry ingredients to primary except yeast.
Add hot (hot tap works fine) water and mix thoroughly.
Cover and let set for 24 hr.
After 24 hr add wine yeast.
Ferment for 3-5 days (SG=1.040).
Rack into secondary and attach air lock.
Rack in 3 wks and again in 3 months.

Re your comment about a possible "bad seal on the fermenter" -- not sure what you mean. There is no "seal" on the primary -- just a clean cloth draped over it.

As for the taste, I must admit that I was so surprised by the reading that I rushed to get it into secondary and didn't taste it -- it did however, have a nice fruity alcoholic smell. I'll go back and pull a taste out tomorrow.
 

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