My first wine experience

[RalphEd]

Howdie;

I am starting my first batch of wine (peach) and thought I'd jot down some notes for everyone's review and suggestions.

I brewed for about 6 years back in the 90's (that sounded SOOO wierd).

For a 5 gal batch I started with 1 gal water, ~10 pounds peaches and 2 pounds raisens. These I simmered for ~15 minutes because I thought it would break them down a little. (I don't have room in the freezer right this minute, but that's what I was inclined to do.) I then refridgerated this 2 days to cool it.

I boiled 7 pounds sugar and 1 pound brown sugar in 2 gal water and added it to the fermenter, then added the other 2 gal water. (someone forgot to compensate for the juice coming out of the fruit, you say? MALTED BARLEY DOESN'T DO THAT!! Oh well).

My gravity was about 1.072, so I added another pound of sugar and I am sitting at ~1.082. I'll check it again once it cools to see if the last sugar addition was a little slow disolving.

I have added yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme and acid blend when the must was still a bit hot, so I am thinking of adding another shot of pectic enzyme, once everything cools, and maybe a little more yeast nutrient because the gravity isn't that high. A buddy of mine gave me the magic dust and I don't have in my head how much of each he gave me. It was all in one jar when I dumped it in (I have it written down, though).

I tend to like dryer wine, though not too alchoholic in white (dry reds I like a bit more alchoholic, though). I am prepared to make an f-pac and backsweeten later, once I start getting a flavor profile from it.

What I have tasted from my buddy has always been too sweet and too hot for my taste (and a bit bitter), but it has always been from the bottling bucket or final fermentation vessel.

I am thinking Campden tabs today and pitch tomorrow night. My friend gave me Red Star dry champaigne yeast to use.

I use the computators at the library, so any replies will be replied to next week.

Thanks all,
Ralph ED

 

[Wade E]

IMO you are going to have a very weak flavored wine and I do mean very weak! I would go with no less then 10 lbs of peaches per gallon!

 

[southlake333]

IMO you are going to have a very weak flavored wine and I do mean very weak! I would go with no less then 10 lbs of peaches per gallon!

I too am considering making a peach wine. My dad had a big harvest of peaches this year so he brought over a 5 gallon bucket full of em. But the peaches and bucket combined only weigh 27 lbs. How would you get 50+ lbs of peaches into a primary?

Also, are you meaning 10 pounds/gallon of raw peaches? Or 10 pounds/gallon of pitted, peeled and sliced peaches?

 

[Deezil]

Wade is most likely referring to 10lbs per gallon, of peaches that have been destoned, quartered and froze - many people leave the skins on to help with the body of the wine.

My first batch was 150lbs of peaches; i lost about 10-12lbs in stones. All in all, i added about 4 gallons of water & ended with 12 gallons of wine.

My next peach batch, taking what i learned on my previous peach batch, will be an all-fruit wine.. I'm pretty sure this is the best way to approach peach wine.

To the OP - you'll end up with some amount of residual sweetness just to balance the acidity, which will bring the fruit-flavors back out, over time. The reason your friends wines always seemed hot is because when wines are young, the alcohol is very forward but as it ages, the alcohol burn settles into the background where it should be. They probably over-sweetened, and consumed it early - just a guesstimate, but wouldnt surprise me if thats why they were always a bit sweet for your liking. Just be prepared to hit this wine with a substantial f-pack, to get the peach flavor you'll be looking for - Welches sells a white grape + peach concentrate if you cant get your hands on fresh peaches for the f-pack.

Southlake - i'd just take those peaches, destone them, freeze them for a week or two.. Let them thaw, mash them up, hit them with pectic enzyme & let that work for a day or two while the peaches still come back up to room temp.. In the mean time, read about golden raisin vs banana w/ skins additions for additional body... Adjust the SG & hit it with a floral/estery yeast (cote de blanc, 1122, 1116).. Adjust the acidity post-fermentation, i would image the peaches would be low in acids..

Hope this helps a bit

 

[saramc]

RalphED....First I want to start off by saying that please don't take any of our comments personally.

Can you confirm.....you are using 10# of fruit for a 5 gallon batch? Were these peeled or skins on? If you did in fact use 10 lbs peaches, assuming this was the weight before they were destoned?, then you are going to have a very very light peach flavored wine. You will want to sweeten this wine up when all is said and done to pull that peach profile out. As previously mentioned you can find Welch's White Grape Peach Juice, and I have also seen a Bacardi Peach Dacquiri frozen concentrate. If you are near a Trader Joe's they make a shelf stable, ready to drink, Peach Juice (I actually used it in a Peach Mango Mead--and it is amazing). But, I do think the quickest, easiest and known to work fix: Welch's White Grape Peach Juice. Consider using this juice when you need to TOP UP (they sell it ready to drink on the shelf, so you could top up with the RTD version and use the concentrate when ready to backsweeten)

Here are my concerns:
1. By cooking your fruit you are setting your pectin and peaches have a lot of natural pectin to begin with, so you may have on heck of a time getting that wine to clear & there is the issue of oxidization due to cooking & the 2 days stored in the refrigerator. You have documented using pectic enzyme when everything was still heated up and are considering adding some more when it has cooled down. You can also add 1 1/2 teaspoons of pectic enzyme when you rack for the first time from your primary bucket to your carboy/airlock. Be prepared to troubleshoot clearing this wine.

2. I calculated your SG just based off the sugar you added (not the raisins or peaches):
9# sugar in 5 gallons: 2.36 cups/lb sugar x9 lbs/5gal= 21.24 cups sugar/5 gal= 4.25 cups sugar/gal
1 cup of sugar will increase ONE GALLON by 0.020
4.25 x 0.020 = 0.085 SG of the sugar + SG of water 1.000= 1.085 (not counting sugar from peaches/raisins)
If that wine ferments dry, just from the added sugar alone, your ABV is ~11.4%
***Don't forget that the temperature at which your contents are at will impact the actual SG reading. What was the temperature when you took the SG readings?

3. You wrote that since the gravity is not that high you may add more yeast nutrient.....why? Adding more than the recommended amounts can actually cause problems with your wine.

Just remember, if this does not turn out to your liking, perhaps it is too light on the peach---make another batch and blend them. Or use it to blend with other wines, make wine slushes from it, etc.

 

[arcticsid]

toss in 4# of sugar, dissolved in a gallon of apple juice(100% juice), let it go, then lets talk bout your next batch! lol

 

[RalphEd]

Thanks for the replies, they are what I was looking for.

When I brewed I would ad more yeast nutrient to liter worts and ferment on the higher end of the yeast so that it wouldn't go to sleep. Otherwise I would ferment on the lower end to get a truer flavor profile.

SG was measured at 76 Deg F

10# cut and sliced 1/4 thick, skins on.

If you use 50# peaches, do you still add some sugar?

Folks around here use 4#fruit, 4# raisons and 8 # suger and drink it young. I call it electric koolade. I was starting with that recipe and subbed a little more fruit for some of the raisons.

After poking around here, I was thinking I'd need some type of fpac. I didn't pick the fruit, it came from SC. You can't ship ripe peaches. I did force them a bit by bagging them for 2 days.

I got a good fermentation going. About 80-90 perks a minute from the airlock this morning. and the basement smells great.

Blueberries are coming in now, so I am going to do a batch of them also. The voices are telling me to start another thread with some more questions.

Thanks again,
Ralph Ed

 

[jswordy]

Thanks for the replies, they are what I was looking for.

When I brewed I would ad more yeast nutrient to liter worts and ferment on the higher end of the yeast so that it wouldn't go to sleep. Otherwise I would ferment on the lower end to get a truer flavor profile.

SG was measured at 76 Deg F

10# cut and sliced 1/4 thick, skins on.

If you use 50# peaches, do you still add some sugar?

Folks around here use 4#fruit, 4# raisons and 8 # suger and drink it young. I call it electric koolade. I was starting with that recipe and subbed a little more fruit for some of the raisons.

After poking around here, I was thinking I'd need some type of fpac. I didn't pick the fruit, it came from SC. You can't ship ripe peaches. I did force them a bit by bagging them for 2 days.

I got a good fermentation going. About 80-90 perks a minute from the airlock this morning. and the basement smells great.

Blueberries are coming in now, so I am going to do a batch of them also. The voices are telling me to start another thread with some more questions.

Thanks again,
Ralph Ed

Blueberries... 3 lbs/gallon for medium body; 6 lb/gallon or more for heavy body. Use raisins or bananas with them to add body. Raisins will also add some vinosity, which helps the blueberry profile. You will have to back-sweeten blueberry. Do not get discouraged if it "loses" its flavor through the process. A little sugar will wake it back up. It can further be "berried up" at the end with bottled blueberry concentrate if needed.