Plum wine yeast question

[Riparian]

One neighbor has a bunch of ripe plums and another has ripe Concord grapes, so I plan to make plum wine with a few lbs of grapes fermented with them. All I have on hand for yeast is Pasteur red that has been in the fridge for 6 months. Can I get by with this, or should I order some yeast?

 

[Arne]

You should be fine with it. Most all the yeasts will ferment your fruits out. I would stay away from the stuff like turbo yeast or the real high powered ones that are used for the high alcohol ferments. Also, if you don't watch your nutrients closely, Montrechet can give off the h2s (rotten egg smell). All the yeasts can do this, but Montrechet is kinda known for it. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[Turock]

On plum, a good yeast is 71B because it metabolizes the malic acid and prevents you from having the harshness in the wine caused by all that malic.

Montrachet is very good on concord. But to avoid the H2S problem you MUST use proper nurient support. This means dividing the yeast nutrient into 3 batches instead of pitching it in all at once in the beginning. Without nutrient all thruout the ferment, the yeast gets stressed and produces more H2S. We use ALOT of Montrachet. With good nutrient support, we've never had a problem.

 

[Riparian]

Thanks for the responses. I used the Pasteur red, pitched yeast on Monday morning and she's been fermenting pretty rapidly.

I have another question. I didn't have pectic enzyme when I made the wine so I ordered some. It should be here tomorrow (Monday). Will it hurt anything to add it this late in the primary?

 

[Arne]

You can add it after it is done fermenting. It won't help extract the juices from the fruit then, but should help in clearing. Arne.

 

[Riparian]

I have about 3 days left in the primary with the fruit and I should get the pectic enzyme in the mail today. If I add it today will it help extract juices? Or should I just add it when I rack to a carboy for clearing?

 

[Turock]

3 days to go on the ferment--that might be enough time for it to work to some degree. In the future, always use pectic enzyme on fruit. You get it in the vat on the first day along with the meta. You just get better extraction when you use it.

 

[Riparian]

Thanks turock! I will probably leave it in the primary an extra day. Since I added it there has been a noticeable decrease in fruit/pulp.

 

[Turock]

Yeah--getting that broken down and incorporated into the wine also makes the flavor much better.