Prickly Pear Wine - input requested...

[Bliorg]

Hi all -

I have about 3 gallons of prickly pear juice in the freezer, waiting to become wine. I'm gearing up to process it and was hoping for some input on specifics. I know Jack had a recipe, but I haven't had much luck with his plans. I'mma thaw it and will boil it ~30 minutes in my propane turkey fryer/steam box setup as that seems to be a common thread, and for some reason seems to have something to do with mitigating the reaction some people have to the wine. I have some ideas on how to proceed based on fruit wines I've made, but suggestions on fermentation protocol, yeast options, etc. would be appreciated.

Anyone have any success with this stuff? My dad in Texas shipped it up to me earlier this winter, I'd like to get him something passable.

Thanks!
Scott

 

[Rice_Guy]

FYI: the juice from CACTUS PEARs.
first of all this is an exceptionally intense beautiful red/ clean juice. Flavor as sent is hard to describe, green vegetable notes/ not fruity. It will make a neat wine!
View attachment 68712
Gravity . .1.026
pH . . . . . 4.69
TA . . . . . .0.12%
View attachment 68711
your question about a recipe ,, how much acid for a cactus pear wine?
. . . suggested target for a country wine . . . .
pH 3.2 to 3.6 with a TA of 0.65 to 0.75% , , , a dry wine
pH 3.0 to 3.5 with a TA of 0.7 to 0.85%, , , , a sweet table wine
* acid is roughly 4 grams per level teaspoonful therefore I would add at least four and likely as much as six teaspoons per gallon of this juice. ,,, add before you can the juice, the food plant rules are if the pH is below 4.0 you could use a boiling water bath.
* metabisulphite in the primary I use up to .2 gram per gallon and racking 0.1 gram per gallon, (a Campden tablet is also metabisulphite and is good for a five or six gallon carboy)
* sugar on this sample was approximately 6.25% and my goal would bring it up to a gravity of 1.090, AKA 25 or 26%
,,,, cactus is an interesting project ,,,,

 

[Bliorg]

Thank you, that is decidedly helpful.

 

[Ohio Bob]

As long as it’s ferments to completion and has decent flavor, you can always blend in a bottle of store bought Riesling, or pick your favorite. Sometimes flavors get over taken by a blending component with as little as 5-10% addition. Assuming you have a 3 gallon carboy, you will eventually need something to top off your carboys anyway. So perhaps some advance work (as if wine tasting is work) is to add small amounts of your juice (or store bought as a stand in) to a glass of Chardonnay, or Riesling. Maybe a Sauvignon Blanc, since the mineral crispness might blend well with your pear, might brighten it up.

 

[Bliorg]

Okay, after @Rice_Guy input, here's what I'mma do:

1. Thaw juice. Transfer to a sanitized turkey fryer pot. Add ~ 1 gallon spring water.
2. Gently heat juice over propane burner. Simmer slowly for minimum 30 minutes.
3. Cover juice with a towel. Allow to come to room temperature.
4. Transfer juice to a sanitized 7.9 gal fermenter.
5. Add ~1/4 tsp potassium metabisulfite to ~1/2 cup cool water, mix, add to juice.. Add 2 tsp pectic enzyme to ~1/2 cup cool water, mix, add to juice. Cover loosely, allow to rest ~12 - 24 hours.
6. Record pH and SG.
7. Adjust pH to ~3.0 - 3.2 with ReaLemon lemon juice, up to 15 ounces. If pH needs adjustment beyond 15 ounces of ReaLemon, adjust with citric acid.
8. Adjust SG to ~1.090 using sugar. Mix thoroughly.
9. Add ~0.5 tsp tannin to ~50 mL water, mix thoroughly. Add to juice, mix.
10. Add 1.5 tsp yeast nutrient and 0.5 tsp yeast energizer to ~100 mL water, mix thoroughly. Add to juice, mix.
11. Rehydrate K1-V1116 per label instructions. Add to juice, mix gently. Cover loosely.
12. Monitor for fermentation.

Some notes:

• Every successful fermentation description I can find includes either steaming or boiling the fruit. Every description of slimy, foamy, or otherwise fouled attempts did NOT include heating. The juice I have was produced by crushing/mashing. Never saw heat. I'm not convinced it does anything, but anecdotally there seems to be a connection, and a lot of effort was put into getting me the juice, so I'm being conservative.
• I'm not sure the sulfite step is strictly necessary from the aspect of killing native yeasts after the heating step, but probably not a bad idea getting some in the juice to help stave off oxidation.
• Every jelly recipe I've found for prickly pear uses lemon juice, or at the least citric acid, for for both flavor and pH adjustment, noting the pH is too high natively for canning. So I plan on some adjustment with lemon juice, and anything beyond that with citric.
• pH and SG targets per @Rice_Guy. I'm not geared to measure TA (yet - really need to pick up a burette) so am going based on pH.
• I'm not a huge fan of raisins or grape juice additions; will be adding some tannin powder.
• I'm a fan of K1-V1116 for fruit wines, so will be trying that here.

Hoping to get a start on this next week. Stay tuned...

 

[Rice_Guy]

@Bliorg
Every successful fermentation description I can find includes either steaming or boiling the fruit. Every description of slimy, foamy, or otherwise fouled attempts did NOT include heating. The juice I have was produced by crushing/mashing. Never saw heat. I'm not convinced it does anything, but anecdotally there seems to be a connection, and a lot of effort was put into getting me the juice, so I'm being conservative.
* some folks seem to be allergic
I'm not sure the sulfite step is strictly necessary from the aspect of killing native yeasts after the heating step, but probably not a bad idea getting some in the juice to help stave off oxidation.
* sulphite isn’t needed in the primary if you have a good innoculum. Normal is that the free SO2 drops to about 10ppm and hangs there. We are concerned about alcohol oxidation but that really starts being an issue only when CO2 production goes down
Every jelly recipe I've found for prickly pear uses lemon juice, or at the least citric acid, for for both flavor and pH adjustment, noting the pH is too high natively for canning. So I plan on some adjustment with lemon juice, and anything beyond that with citric.
* when I have used lemon I find that it fills in flavors that are missing after the primary. I find that lemon isn’t a strong enough acid to push pH and wind up going to the straight acid eventually. Lemon has a high TA so using a lot means a lot of back sweetening.
pH and SG targets per @Rice_Guy. I'm not geared to measure TA (yet - really need to pick up a burette) so am going based on pH.
* pH is basic to all my wines, TA? my quick and dirty test is can you eat the fruit straight? If you can you are in the range. If you want to spit it out then knowing the number is useful. I have two burettes and have found a 10 ml syringe is easier to use. The only issue in a syringe is the rubber ages and starts to stick after a few months.]