Peach Bumper Crop (PA)

[Boatboy24]

Just forwarding some info from a member of the Washington Winemakers. If you've ever thought a bout making a peach wine, this might be a great chance with minimal investment.

"Twin Springs Fruit Farm, which is west of Gettysburg, PA has a serious surplus of the best peaches in the East. I have been eating their fruit and produce for close to 20 years.

They have a bumper crop of peaches piling up in their 34 degree warehouse and are selling them now for $5.00 a crate, which is 25-28 pounds. That's 20 cents a pound or less.

The catch is that you have to pick them up in Gettysburg.

They will have this surplus for about two more weeks from now."

 

[mainshipfred]

Just forwarding some info from a member of the Washington Winemakers. If you've ever thought a bout making a peach wine, this might be a great chance with minimal investment.

"Twin Springs Fruit Farm, which is west of Gettysburg, PA has a serious surplus of the best peaches in the East. I have been eating their fruit and produce for close to 20 years.

They have a bumper crop of peaches piling up in their 34 degree warehouse and are selling them now for $5.00 a crate, which is 25-28 pounds. That's 20 cents a pound or less.

The catch is that you have to pick them up in Gettysburg.

They will have this surplus for about two more weeks from now."

You getting any?

 

[Scooter68]

WOW ! I am so jealous. Go for it folks. If you have not made a peach wine, you are missing out on a great tasting wine. The aroma the flavor etc. It takes a bit of work and time but the payoff is well well worth it. Sadly 1100 miles is too far for me to go.

 

[mainshipfred]

WOW ! I am so jealous. Go for it folks. If you have not made a peach wine, you are missing out on a great tasting wine. The aroma the flavor etc. It takes a bit of work and time but the payoff is well well worth it. Sadly 1100 miles is too far for me to go.

Come on Scooter, where is your sense of adventure. I'm getting 12 baskets. This is my 3rd time making it and as I posted in another thread this will be my largest batch but I can never seem to make enough.

 

[Boatboy24]

You getting any?

I'd actually like to make a peach wine again and these prices are insane, but logistics aren't lining up for me.

 

[toadie]

I have a lot of peaches too. Never made wine with them before. Not to hijack but how many pounds per gallon and any special additions?

 

[Scooter68]

Anywhere from 5-8 lbs per gallon but remember unless you have a very good press 7-8lbs /gallon is going to be close to pudding consistency * unless you completely juice the fruit and then you may lose some of the more delicate flavors. Peach is tough to get good SG readings on sometimes but the reward is worth the effort
Biggest thing is hit it with you best pectic enzyme HEAVILY - 2-3 times normal dosage and hit it EARLY on - as in while you are cutting up/mashing the fruit.

The more time you spend mashing and breaking down the fruit before trying to get your SG and pH right, the easier it will be to get is off to a good start.

* By pudding consistency I mean you can drop your hydrometer in the must and it imght go in a little beyond the fat weighted part. You may have to do a lot of straining of juice to get a better measurement but then all the sugars in the fruit might not be released yet. I push the limits and try to prepare it one afternoon then leave it overnight. Check the next afternoon to see if you can get a good reading if not weight overnight but don't go beyond that as you could risk spoiling the fruit. So using K-meta as soon as you start prepping the fruit is important to help keep the bacteria at bay. Keeping the fruit cool but not too cold will help too,

 

[toadie]

Thanks Scooter. I do have a press but maybe I'll do a 1 gallon first to try. To be clear, you think soft fruit in a big press is the way to go? I think i might need a really good bag to hold the goop.

 

[Scooter68]

Yes, a big press would be great but you might still put the pressed skins in a bag . But but expect to end up with bucket filled with that bag of 'goop' * (Goop is a good description of what it ends up as.)
It will break down after 3-4 days fermenting but at first it is really thick. As I mentioned I have found that about 6-7 lbs per gallons give me a VERY solid flavor
Of course the other think is for a 1 gallon batch your volume needs to start at about 1.75 gallons at least. Also this is the one wine where I use two large strainers to get that last bit of juice from the gross lees at the end of the bucket ferment. With 3 gallon batch (in a 5 gallon bucket after I rack the wine from my 5 gallon bucket I'll have about 1-2 gallons of gross lees - That's what I put through the strainers swirling it around in then then dumping the strainers catch into another bucket, Even that bucket of strained OUT lees will yield a bit more juice. It ends up with that first rack from the bucket taking me almost an hour sometimes to get it all sorted, But it is SO worth it when you pop that first bottle,.

(Note: I am very concious that I am exposing my wine to O2 quite a bit in this process but I haven't had any issues with it oxidizing on me. I figure at the end of the ferment there is still a lot of CO2 coming out to help me and, hey I'm degassing it too. I do keep that syphoned wine covered with a lid while I'm doing this)

 

[mainshipfred]

The last time I made it pressing or straining was a real pain. It was almost like allowing the free run and a couple of very light presses
then hand pressing through a strainer bag. I now have a bladder press which I think will work a lot better.

 

[toadie]

Thanks for the advice should be a challenge!

 

[Scooter68]

But you will love the result.

 

[mainshipfred]

But you will love the result.

I was going to say the same thing.

 

[toadie]

I made plum wine a few years ago and was surprised how much I liked it! Thanks again!

 

[franc1969]

I am getting a bunch- enough to fill the freezer and make chutney too. It's been two years, stocks are getting low. The farm is only about a mile away from my usual places in Ortanna, so easy for me.
What is the yield of wine if there is nothing but peaches? Somewhere I have in my brain 25-30 pounds would be 3 gallons? I am calculating which carboys I need to have for this, and grapes as well.

 

[mainshipfred]

I'm getting 300 lbs and was wondering the same thing. I went and looked back in 2019 when I used 120 lbs of peaches, this was before pitting, 1 gallon of water and to chaptalize used 3 gallons of Chardonnay concentrate. It ended up yielding 11 gallons. Taking out the water and concentrate it's left with 7 gallons. So if it makes sense and my math is right it's 17 lbs per gallon. I may have to rethink my 300 lbs, or make some of it a cider.

 

[franc1969]

I have enough fermenters and carboys, but actually wanted to sell the larger ones. I might fill them instead if I've gone too much. I didn't get the bigger freezer yet with the problems in finding one this year, or I'd be fine.

 

[mainshipfred]

I have enough fermenters and carboys, but actually wanted to sell the larger ones. I might fill them instead if I've gone too much. I didn't get the bigger freezer yet with the problems in finding one this year, or I'd be fine.

I'm being told the peaches were picked in order to have them shipped and they are not fully ripe so they will have to sit for a while, this was a little disappointing. It appears peaches do continue to ripen once they are picked. Once they soften a bit my plan was to destone them and put them in the chest freezer for a week or so. This will give me time to finalize my yeast selections.

 

[franc1969]

I'm actually kind of happy they are not perfectly ripe yet, gives me a little time to work and get some canned. I am still installing shelves and had a slowdown with my accident. I have to get the wine room ready fast, though.

 

[Scooter68]

When I've bought the bruised and over-ripe peaches locally I go ahead and destone/slice and freeze the ones already ripe and just let the other sit out until the get soft. AND even the moldy spots just need to be cut off so Stones, Hard Green parts, and moldy spot are all that I lose. Last time I think I lost less than 4 lbs out of a full bushel of peaches. And again I usually get an excellent wine with 6-7 lbs of fruit per gallon, but; have to expect that if I start with 4.75 gallons I should end up with 3 gallons of finished wine.

So if you start with 300 lbs of destoned peaches you should end up with a little over 40 gallons of wine. Of course so much depends on the weight lost in prep and the lees lost. I really like to keep those skins in the mix - think the give the wine a bit more color that way, not to mention flavor and aroma.

Making me want to go chill a bottle of my peach wine for this evening.