Peach disaster

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mwestern

RR Wino
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
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Hey all, We're really new to the whole process and got really lucky on our first 6gal batch of home grown concord wine. We got a beginners book and took off but this batch isn't happening ?? We took 22lbs of fresh peeled and sliced peaches added water all the directed ingrediants and put the yeast to it and it really didn't do much. Smells good but taste leaves alot to desire compared to the grapes at this stage,the hydrometer reading is almost nil below 1.0 ? Any thoughts, We're thinking about extracts added to taste ??
Thanks RR Wino
 
how long ago did u bottle?? if its still in carboy you can add a flavor pack n some symple syrup, if its newly bottled, age it awhile it will surpise u!
 
What recipe did you use? Starting Sg and ending?
Did you freeze the peaches first? That helps break down the cell walls.
 
The mix is still in the carboy and the wife has found peach extract online so we may try that ,the batch is 10 days old so far and very bland !!
 
In order to help WE NEED your recipe.
Did you add sugar?
do you have a hydrometer?
What is the starting gravity
Temp?
What kind of yeast used...
There are certin things you need to make wine. You may not have it.
You see there is alot that you need to do to make wine. It's not as easy as to just add yeast.
 
We have "Mary's Recipes" book for beginners which the man recommended when we got the carboy kit,the peaches were frozen and thawed becoming very mushy and usable. I didn't check sg beginning but under 1.0 after 1st racking.
 
The recipe per gal: 1campden tab,1 tsp acid blend powder,1tsp yeast nutrient powder,1/4tsp tannin powder,1/2tsp pectic enzyme powder and champagne yeast. Yes i added 5lbs of sugar to start and waited over 24hrs before adding yeast when temp was over 72 degrees as stated ??
 
OK so it looks like you have low fruit per gal if you added 6 gallons of water. Alot of the fruit recipies on the net have low #'s per gal. I'm guessing you added 5-6 gallons of water?
then iot seams like most of the fermentation is done (1.00 or under)
Do a search here on adding a f-pac and back sweetening.
If you added only 5# for 6 gal then you also have low alcohol
 
Tom,we believe you're right about too much water because it was hard to measure what we added because the fruit was thawed with juicy water in the bags also. We were surprised how much of the fruit seemed to gone after a week of settling ans fermenting,I added sugar today again to see if anything changed and ordered some extract. Is that a f-pac you mentioned?
 
F-PAC

How to make a F-PAC
=
Flavor Pac


Add 20-30% of #’s of fruit what was used in the primary (if you used 30# in recipe then you will need 6-9# more for the f-pac) in a large frying pan or pot. Simmer to extract all "flavor" and reduce the water from the fruit. Strain thru a kitchen strainer and add AFTER you rack and after the wine is DRY ( .990) You MUST have added k-meta and Sorbate before adding the f-pac. Once adding the f-pac you can add clearing agent. You will have to rack at least 2+ more times. Then
back sweeten to YOUR taste using simple syrup.

Tom

Home of the
MOON RIVER BREWERY
and
DELANCO VINEYARDS
 
Tom,Thanks for the great info we're making major notes. Do you think it would help/hurt the mix to add more yeast to the sweetened mix to raise the alcohol % ?
 
I would not use the extracts, they leave a very fake taste and you need too much typically for a wine. its better used for beer where you just want a hint of fruit and not much else. i tried that a long time ago and threw that batch away after. If you do decide to use it do your self a big favor and only add some to a very small amount so you dont make the same mistake I did. peach is a hard wine to find a suitable juice to use to add flavor if you cant get good peaches at a reasonable price, in that case a Vintners Harvest Wine base can be used. http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=3322
I typically use fruit juices or the likes and simmer them down to get the results I want as most of the time the fruit is just too damn expensive here to use for both the wine making and the f-pac.
 
You can try id wont hurt if anything will make it improve. I figure if you added 6 gallons of water you would have needed almost 10# of sugar.
Google WineCalc and download. Alot of us here use it to figure how much sugar to add to get a certain starting gravity. fruit wines should start @ 1.085
 
Adding yeast at this point is mute as the abv is too high for a packet of yeast and if youve added sorbate there isnt a chance in hell it will work. Even making a starter at this point would be stretching the yeasts ability and may just stress out the yeast and make it cause H2S (Sulpur) problems.
 
I think we'll check for some good fruit to cook down and see if it can be salvaged,our initial fruit was a gift so we're not very involved $$ yet. Thanks so much guys,will keep ya posted.....
 
I forgot to get back on this one but after 2.5 yrs the peach wine was worth the wait.Don't know how it all worked out but a homemade f-pack more sugar and very little extract we've had many good reviews from friends.Thanks for the help...
 

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