Peaches

[ffemt128]

I'm thinking of getting 50 lbs of peaches this week from the wholesaler. What kind of yield should I anticipate from this for must and finished wine? Any good recipes would be appreciated. I mad3 peach once before and the peaches weren't real flavorful so the final peach taste was real subtle. It was good, just not overly flavorful.

 

[Turock]

I read, one time, that the most flavorful peach is a free-stone peach. The cling peaches have less flavor. The last peach wine we made was from trash fruit so there were a number of different varieties in there. Red haven is one variety. Also you can add some nectarines to the batch--they are flavorful and sweet. Our trash fruit batch turned out very good--nice big peach flavor. It had some nectarines in with the peaches.

Consider that you will need 10# of fruit per gallon. Don't add any water--water is not needed and only dilutes the flavor. Destone the peaches and cut them up a little and freeze them for 24 hrs. This will yield alot of juice for testing when thawed. Use a good pectic enzyme like Lallzyme C-Max because it's a rapid de-pectizer and also aids in clearing and getting more juice yield. Otherwise, if using regular pectic enzyme, double the usual dose.

Set the PH to 3.3 as that PH seems really nice on peach. If you could get more peaches, it would be nice to have 100# because you may end up with something less than 5 gallons with 50#. Our peach ferment was done on 100# of fruit and we ended up with 9 gallons. 10# won't always equal a full gallon--depends on the juice yield of the fruit. So we always slighty under estimate how much yield we get so that we don't over-dose on the chemistries. Doing peach this way makes it turn out so good that you'll be mad at yourself for not making more. So if you can get more peaches, it might be something to think about.

Even tho this is a malic fruit, I wouldn't use 71B on it. I think it might make it too flabby. We like Montrachet, but Cote des Blanc works well too. Bentonite the primary after the pectic enzyme has done its work--around the second or third day of the ferment. This ferment really needs bentonite to help the wine go to crystal clear and control pectin haze. Bagging the fruit can help too because a peach mash is kind of tough to work with.

We did not add anything to the ferment--no tannin, etc. because we thought the juice tasted tannic enough.

 

[Boatboy24]

I'm about to embark on my 2nd peach wine. I didn't make one last year, because my 2012 was just "OK" and I wasn't sure the effort was worth it for my tastes. Well, I opened another bottle of that 2012 vintage last weekend and it is really good - especially considering it was the first wine I made from fresh fruit and I didn't have a pH meter. I got lucky on mine and it cleared without bentonite - took about 7 months though and I filtered with a gravity filter. Here's my recipe for the 3 gallon batch - I targeted a little over 4 gallons of must for starters. As Turock said, don't add water. SaraMC (who I haven't seen here in a long time) recommended to me back then that if you have to add liquid, use 3-4 cans of Welch's White Grape/Peach for a gallon of water.

Recipe for a 3 gallon batch:

~19lbs of sliced/pitted peaches (~21 lbs before pitting)
One medium banana, sliced with skin on
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp tannin
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp of acid blend (didn't have a titration kit - next time target .60-.65%)
1/4 tsp of KMETA
Welches white grape/peach concentrate (4 cans mixed w/ ~1.25 gallon of water)
Cotes des blanc yeast

 

[ffemt128]

I can get all the fruit I want, just don't want to pay for it. LOL. I'll take this all under advisement. I may need to clear some room in the freezer so that I can freeze this. That may be the tough chore with regular food and 108 lbs of elderberries taking up 2 shelves already. I was considering just choping and bagging in a 20 gallon brute can. I considered adding the white grape as an inital base, that was recommended by a friend. I'm hoping to get away from adding any water or as little as possible. I was hoping to start with 6 gallons and end with 5. Time will tell.

 

[ffemt128]

I picked up 50 lbs of peaches this am. I will start cutting up tonight or tomorrow....

 

[Turock]

If you freeze them, you won't need any other liquid. But I understand freezer limits--every year we talk about buying a small freezer JUST to freeze fruit in. If you end up not freezing them, then you may want to use the concentrate--but don't add any water.

It took 1 year of bulk aging for the flavor to come totally forward on our peach--so be patient with it in the aging process.

 

[zack67360]

last year friends were going to Alaska for the winter and had us come help them pick all the peaches that were ripe; in return we got BAGS of peaches for helping. the paper bags seemed to speed up the ripening process as within a couple days of getting them home decided I had to use them. not sure how many # we had, but pitted them sliced em up and added pectic enzyme and just a little distilled water to mix and mash. course used Kmeta, it was the best wine I've made yet, very strong peach flavor. I could kick myself as they told us to go out and pick all we wanted as the rest would go to waste. didn't get anymore, and this year the late hard frosts got the peach trees blooms so no peaches this year.

 

[ffemt128]

If you freeze them, you won't need any other liquid. But I understand freezer limits--every year we talk about buying a small freezer JUST to freeze fruit in. If you end up not freezing them, then you may want to use the concentrate--but don't add any water.

It took 1 year of bulk aging for the flavor to come totally forward on our peach--so be patient with it in the aging process.

That's the funny part, I do have an upright freezer. Mostly full at this point though. I'll see what I can come up with as far as room. I would like to freeze, if not will get the concentrate as suggested.

 

[ffemt128]

I picked up the 50 lbs of peaches 2 days ago. They have very good flavor but were still on the hard side. Since I won't be able to freeze, I'm allowing them to ripen some more in the boxes. It's supposed to rain Sunday so I figured that would be a good day to process. I was planning on bagging the peaches in the primary. What are the thoughts on pressing with my wine press to extract the juice then putting skins and remaining pulp in for fermtation as well? I figured that would enable me to get a good starting SG and acid level.

 

[Turock]

Be sure they're nice and soft before you process them. It's important to have the flavor develop and also there will be more juice if they're riper. It's not important to press beforehand. If they're nice and ripe going into the freezer, once they're thawed there will be much juice for testing. When you bring the bags out of the primary, then you can press to get all the wine out.

 

[ffemt128]

I pitched the yeast last night. I just checked and we have a nice active fermentation going. Looking forward to about 3 days from now when you can smell it upon entering the house.

 

[ffemt128]

I checked the sg today and its down to around 1.002 already. Looks like this will be in carboy by Friday. I was hoping for a slow ferment but with the dehumidifier running, the temps in the cellar are around 78 degrees.

 

[Boatboy24]

What was your starting SG? Fermenting almost dry in two days!? Wow!

 

[ffemt128]

What was your starting SG? Fermenting almost dry in two days!? Wow!

Starting sg was 1.082. I was quite shocked. The fermentation on Monday was very active. It was stirred 4-5 times. Sunday it was stirred 2-3 times.

Sunday after allowing to soak I calculated the amount of sugar I thought I needed to add based on 6 gallons. I added just around 7 lbs. I checked sg a few hours later and it was only at 1.068 ish. I added another 2 lbs, stirred and rechecked. Sg at this point was right around 1.082. Sunday Evening I added the starter that had been going for approx 6 hour and was very active. Recommended dosages of nutrient and energizer were also added. It's still foaming and raising the fruit cap. I squeezed one of the bags and from 25 lbs of fruit the ball was just over softball size so I'm confident I have full fruit extraction.

I'll give it a taste after work, smells peachy and can also smell the alcohol.

 

[Turock]

When you are fermenting fruits or white grapes where you want to retain the volatiles, you can use ice bombs in the ferment to keep it around 70-72 degrees. A fast ferment isn't bad--but very warm ferments don't retain those volatiles that add to the nose and flavor.

 

[ffemt128]

When you are fermenting fruits or white grapes where you want to retain the volatiles, you can use ice bombs in the ferment to keep it around 70-72 degrees. A fast ferment isn't bad--but very warm ferments don't retain those volatiles that add to the nose and flavor.

I wish I would have thought of chilling it down or at least directing a fan toward the fermenter. I have everything in a 20 gallon brute can. I was hoping for a nice long ferment...

 

[geek]

Watching this thread...


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making

 

[ffemt128]

I pulled the skins out of the fermenter today. Possible between softball and soccer ball size that didnt break down. That was from 2 almost full 6 gallon buckets. I checked sg in tube opposed to fermenter. 1.002. I'm guessing about 7 gallons of starting juice. I added 6 cans of concentrate and a gallon of water to cover fruit initially. I'll keep the post updated. It smells peachy and doesnt taste bad for being 4 days old. Definately alcohol and dry now.

 

[terroirdejeroir]

I have 12 gallons of peach brewing right now using the Keller Peach White Grape recipe, but at 5lbs/gallon. Actually, I stole one gallon at 11 Brix and spiked it with Everclear. Shooting for an 18% ABV peach port.

I started fermenting on Monday (EC-1118) with an initial gravity of 1.085 and it is a little more than half done. My fermentation area is 71 degrees.

 

[Boatboy24]

Turock: glad you mentioned the ice bombs. I'm going to be starting mine soon (peaches have been in the freezer for a week) and I'm wishing I had utilized the ice in my Viognier juice bucket and Torrontes kit earlier this year. I think I lost something during fermentation due to the temps being in the low-mid 70's. I'm using Cotes de Blanc on the peach and will have to confirm temp tolerances first though.