Rats, and other observation from a newbie

[Winefarmer1]

Rats, I made a visit to a physician fruit grower in my area yesterday. Turned out he is a relatively new wine maker. His sampled strawberry, guava, peach, plum, and grape wine were all superior to my measly attempts this year. My plum and blueberry wines were too bitter to be palatable, but when the blueberry was redone, glycerol added to cut the bitterness, and a f-pak added with sugar, it became a fair wine.

My physician friend felt that my steaming process may be contributing to the bitterness as well as taking some from the flavor of the fruits since I also noted his wines have more flavor than mine. I do not totally buy into the idea since my jellies made from the same process are much more flavorful than those I have made by squeezing.




Other thoughts about my results for any advice you guys can afford:


(1) Generally, I have only used about 3 pounds per gallon for most wines.
Do I need to increase the amount?
(2) My wines end up about 14% alcohol. Should I shoot for more like 11-12% so that the fruit flavors are more prevalent?
(3) I have not included the bagged hulls in my wines. Will they increase flavor?
(4) The plums were not pitted nor pealed. The blueberries were whole of course. In fact, the only fruit I pealed is the mango, and it had no bitterness, and the lack of strong flavor is probably related to the fact that I had only about 2 1/2 pounds of fruit per gallon.
(5)Should I use a base to lower the acidity (blueberry, grape, and peach)?
(6) Any suggestions?

 

[vcasey]

I use anywhere from 5-6 lbs. of fruit per gallon and usually aim for somewhere between 10-12% alcohol. You can use the steamed hulls to add body, tannins, and flavor to your wines but once you reduce the alcohol you may find that its not necessary but it will not hurt. Also fruit wines can be more flavorful if you add an f-pac (condense the fruit juice over the stove and add sugar).
I steam juice my fruit wines all the time with no bitterness and lots of flavor, I think just adding more fruit & lowering the alcohol will make a huge difference.
VC

 

[Tom]

Yea I second that you need more # of fruit per gallon. I just made 6 gallon of Blackberry with 36 # of fruit. I plan on 9+#'s for my f-pac as well.
Remember you get what you put into it. Goes for kits too. The higher end kits are far superior than low end ones.
Shoot for 1.085 starting gravity. The bitterness can be high alcohol and low flavor

 

[Waldo]

I would agree with vcasy and tepe. You don't discuss your steaming process so i will throw this in here as a possible aid. Make sure you freeze your fruit for at least 2-3 weeks prior to steaming. This aids in breaking down the cell structure of the fruit which will then yield more juice. I also add sugar to my fruit when steaming. About a cup or so to each filling and always pour the first run of juice back over the fruit being steamed. I usually do about a quart of first run for this process. I hardly ever use the skins/pulp after I have steamed as by that time they are pretty much an odorless/tasteless mass of goop

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Same here as far as using more fruit per gal,and I also steam juice mine.I would set aside some of those higher % wines and try them again in a couple of years. At that ABV level, it will take some aging to balance out.They may still be a little thin bodied due to low amount of fruit, but palatable probably.The lower levels are better if you want to consume them sooner, higher if you want to age.

 

[Dean]

Lower alcohol wines will have a bigger fruit taste. Aim for 10-12%. Bigger grape wines like Syrah/Cabernet/Merlot will always benefit from a good cold soak and possibly extended masceration to give way more flavor to a high alcohol wine 14%+. Other fruits just cannot hold up to such high alcohol without more age.

Next up, I would also start to measure acidity. Don't just add acid like a lot of recipes say to do. Matter of fact, don't just add pectic enzyme like a lot of people do. If you are going to add anything to your wine, find out why you are doing it, and determine if it is needed. Adding stuff just because is not a good way to make better wines.

As with what the others said, you need more than 3# of fruit per gallon when making fruit wines for stronger flavor. I usually do aim for close to 4 or 5 depending on style. 3# would be a light fruit wine at 9 to 10% ABV max.

Waldo's method for steaming is the one that I use. I often preserve the juice I steam too, and make sure that I add about 25% sugar to ensure it will stay preserved and concentrated to make wines later.

 

[bruno]

When using juice from a steamer, don't you just use the juice you end up with, or should we be adding water to the juice?

 

[Tom]

Typically I get 3+ gallons of steamed juice from the #'s of fruit I use for 6 gallon batch. Yes you need to add water and sugar to reach 6 gallons. For 6 gallonsyou may be adding up to 10# of sugar which will displace about 1 fgallon so adding only about 2 gal of water

 

[Brent2489]

Is 'goop' a technical term??