My first peach wine

[seth8530]

Today, as I was browsing through the discount store I noticed that they had frozen cut up peaches on sell 1$ for 3/4 lb. Needless to say I left the store with 58 bags of frozen peaches as well as a gawking sales lady.

So here is what I have done thus far.

Stuffed all the peaches into pantyhose and added 7 gallons of water.

I hear most people say for a fruit wine use 4-6 lb per gallon. Im using 43.5 lbs of peaches.

So assuming the peaches release no juice I would end up with 6.21 lb per gallon.
Assume the peaches release a half gallon of juice I would end up with 5.8 lb per gallon.
Assume the peaches release a gallon of juice I would end up with 5.43 lb per gallon.

So the questions are...

1) which of these scenarios is most likely.
2) do you think 12-13% abv is too high?
3) have any of yall had experience with peach wine?
4) do you think im gona be good with my fruit to water ratio?

 

[Deezil]

Honestly i wish you had posted this before you added the water.. Peach is one flavor that would make a better wine with no water added at all.

I used 150lbs of fresh peaches + 4 gallons of water + 5lbs of golden raisins.. I ended up with about 10 gallons of wine in the end, meaning i got 6 - 6.5 gallons of juice from the 150lbs. And for the first 12-15 months, i worried that it was too watered down, but at the 18 month mark it came around and is an excellent wine.

Personally, i'll be leaning towards less water on my next batch - you can find all 12+ pages of my peach wine endeavor in my Wine Log link in my signature... It was my first wine, so the thread starts off with it.. Just bottled it 2 months ago.

As for your questions..

1- I'm sure you'll get more than a gallon of juice, but because they were canned i cant really say how much more.

2 - My peach wine is in the 10-11% range, but it could handle a splash more i think. Much more than that, would probably unbalance the delicate flavors

3 - Read my wine log

4 - I........... dunno. Live and learn - its what i did with my peach wine. My philosophy in hindsight is 'more fruit, less water'

 

[Duster]

I think your on the right track. I have made peach wine several times before but usually with fresh peaches. I never really took not of how much juice they released, may I should do that someday. I generally get 50lbs of peaches, wash them, destone them, slice them up small and dump 6 gallon of water over them with some pectic enzyme.
Let that work for 24 to 48 hours then add K-Meta and let sit for another 24 to 48 hours. Then adjust sugar and acid.
If you want to give it some real character add about 4 lbs of chopped golden raisins and half a dozens mangoes.

Let us know how it goes, some photos would be nice.

 

[Duster]

Deezil, your just too fast. I never thought about no water however I would agree that it is a flavor that needs to be heavy on the fruit.

 

[Deezil]

Deezil, your just too fast.

I try

Also.... If you add the golden raisins, dont scare the stones outta yourself when you crack the airlock in about 8 months and all you smell is raisins. My wine went through a phase where it was a "golden raisin wine with hints of peach", but its completely faded now & im pretty positive thats where the body/roundness came from in this wine as i added no additional tannins..

Do your canned peaches have the skins on still, seth? Probably not, huh?.. I left the skins on my fresh ones, its supposed to help but im sure the full effect in my wine is due to the golden raisins. Keep in mind the raisins will add more sugar too. I tried chopping mine up at first, but they're too hard to get out afterward.. I find leaving them whole & pressing them well afterwards, is easier & you still get all the goodness out of them in the end.

 

[g8keeper]

Do your canned peaches have the skins on still, seth? Probably not, huh?.. I left the skins on my fresh ones, its supposed to help but im sure the full effect in my wine is due to the golden raisins. Keep in mind the raisins will add more sugar too. I tried chopping mine up at first, but they're too hard to get out afterward.. I find leaving them whole & pressing them well afterwards, is easier & you still get all the goodness out of them in the end.

deeze...i hate to correct you, but i think you missed one little detail, and i think it actually does mean something in this case....you keep referring to the peaches as canned, but if you go back and read the original post, you will see they are frozen peaches, and as those of us know, fruit that has been frozen does wind up giving it's juice quite a bit more freely, so it definitely is possible that quite a bit of juice will be released....like i said, i'm not correcting you, just pointing out a slight point that you just might have overlooked.....

 

[Deezil]

1 point to g8keeper

Dunno what made me assume they were canned.. Habit, possibly. Anywho, if they're frozen bags, theres a chance the skins are still on, which would be a plus...

Frozen produce is also usually a little later in the harvest cycle.. The reason its frozen or canned (in either case, i believe) is because its too ripe to make it to the market and maintain freshness..

58lbs of frozen peaches might give ya 2 - 2.5 gallons of juice, i'd think..

... Stupid cans...

 

[seth8530]

I seriously hope it does not give me that much water, if it does it means that im gona have a relatively weak wine as far as flavour goes...... I guess I could buy about 20 more lb of peaches and put that in.. BTW, thank all of you for posting. I added a couple table spoons of wine tanin and acid blend, you think that would mean it will be ok if i do not add raisins? I actually added a full ounce of pectic enzyme a few hours ago. Im hoping that this will help break down the peaches for me..

I will post some pics later...

BTW which yeast would yall recommend?

I will post some pics

 

[Deezil]

The pectic enzyme should eat most of the peaches up, the rest will just look like gross lees. As far as a yeast, i'd lean toward a cotes de blanc

 

[FTC Wines]

I'll throw in my 2 cents on the ABV subject. I've made peach wine from 10.5 to 13 % abv. Lately I've settled in on 11.5% as the magic #. We think any above 12% is TOO much for this wine. Roy

 

[g8keeper]

I seriously hope it does not give me that much water, if it does it means that im gona have a relatively weak wine as far as flavour goes...... I guess I could buy about 20 more lb of peaches and put that in.. BTW, thank all of you for posting. I added a couple table spoons of wine tanin and acid blend, you think that would mean it will be ok if i do not add raisins? I actually added a full ounce of pectic enzyme a few hours ago. Im hoping that this will help break down the peaches for me..

I will post some pics later...

BTW which yeast would yall recommend?

I will post some pics

seth, the peaches won't give you water.....what they give you is the "good stuff"....they give you the juice, hence the reason deezil actually mentioned wishing you had posted before you added the water....the peaches give you the natual flavoring and the sugar so you don't have to ADD as much water, or sugar to get your gravity up to where you want it....the more fruit you have, releasing their juices, the more goodies your must has in it and the less "manufactured" adjustments you have to make...good luck seth, and remember this info for next time...

 

[seth8530]

Ok, I will do my best not to have the potential go over 12 percent.

 

[seth8530]

Ok these peaches suck, after letting them sit overnight with pectic enzyme the must only had a 1 percent potential. I just got done adding enough sugar to hit 11% abv.
I have also added nutrient, tannin, acid blend as well as energizer.

I will not pitch until the must warms up because it currently uncomfortably cold to have my arm stuck in it ( the preferred method of ensuring the must is well stirred with no sugar on the bottom).

 

[Deezil]

Ok these peaches suck, after letting them sit overnight with pectic enzyme the must only had a 1 percent potential. I just got done adding enough sugar to hit 11% abv.
I have also added nutrient, tannin, acid blend as well as energizer.

I will not pitch until the must warms up because it currently uncomfortably cold to have my arm stuck in it ( the preferred method of ensuring the must is well stirred with no sugar on the bottom).

I would bet that the reason they didnt seem to give up much sugar is because of the amount of water added - its just dilluted. Sounds like you're on your way though

 

[seth8530]

yeah, most likely./.

Ok, so I got a little worried about my wine not having enough body so I went to the store and bought 6 cans of apple juice concentrate. It says one can will make 48 oz's of apple juice. Im hoping the addition of the concentrate will help boost the fruit/water ratio up some...

BTW what is the longest yall think I can wait before pitching.. The must is still really cold

 

[g8keeper]

the chances of it spoiling if it's still that cold are pretty slim, so i think you should be good to go to waig...you have to wait anyways as it sounds like your must is way too cold for your yeast to even begin to populate...have to get that temp up...

 

[Duster]

If it were mine I would let the Pectic enzyme work for 24 to 48 hours, then add K-meta, and let that sit for another 24 to 48 hours before pitching. 4 days before pitching should be more than enough time for the must to warm.
Just a thought, could the cold temps cause the pectic enzyme not to work???
I would agree with Deezil with the cotes de blanc or even a Premier Curve` yeast.

 

[seth8530]

Well the pectic enzyme has had 24 hours already, and it looks like it will get to have at least another night as it warms up. I manged to put a space heater next to the must so im hoping that will warm it on up. As far as yeast goes I have d-47, ec -1118 and 71B-1122 obviously the ec-1118 is not our prime candidate.

Also, since pectic enzyme is not alive, I dont feel like the cool temperatures will have hampered it way too badly.

 

[Deezil]

Lets just hope the apple juice concentrates dont compete with the flavor of the peaches, in the long run. Personally, i would have went with some golden raisins or bananas

I'd go with 1122 over the D-47, just check your acid levels post-fermentation. There isnt much/any malic acid in peaches, and 1122 will chew up 20-30% of any present, so it may change your levels slightly.. May..

Pics, when/if ya can?

 

[seth8530]

Yeah, I thought about the apple overpowering the peach too, but then again apple peach wine does not sound too bad either. Why do you recommend the 1112? Also, I plan to have pictures posted relatively soon.