recipe suggestion/jucing advice?

[beyondhuman]

I have been to the supermarket to check out their fruit prices

strawberries are $2 a pound
and plums and peaches are about $1 a pound

I would prefer to use strawberry except that the price difference is probably going to drive me to use one of the other two.

I now have to conquer my next to wine making hurdles...

How do I get the juice out of the fruit? (I have been looking it up but not had much luck finding good info) And based on that how much juice can I expect to get per pound of fruit for these three fruits?

Also I believe I am ready to start looking at recipes if anybody would like to suggest one that involves these fruits that they have experience with and that is at least semi-sweet or sweeter that would be awesome!

Thanks for all the help so far.

 

[Tom]

WELCOME !
Ask away to get all your questions answered.
For 6 gallon batch\4-6 pounds per gallon
Freeze fruit
Thaw (put in straining bag) and add enough water to what you want to make.
Add sugar to 1.085 and k-meta
Add Pectic Enzyme. This is what extract the juice from the fruit.
wait 24 hours then add
nutrient
Yeast
and your off.

 

[Tom]

Also;
Check our recipe section..
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=2

 

[beyondhuman]

OK I checked out the recipes section and actually decided to go with a peach wine recipe that you made:

26# Free Stone Peaches pitted and sliced
3tsp pectic enzyme
4tsp acid blend
10# sugar or bring to 1.095
5 gallons water
Cote des Blancs yeast
Ferment dry.add k-meta and sorbate.
make a f-pac with 10# of peaches
Add simple syrup to taste.
wait a week and add clairifier.
Bottle in 6 months

But I am still confused about the process of making the must. Are you saying that get my 26lb of peaches, cut them up, put them in the primary fermenter fill with water till it reaches the 5 gallon line and then I am good to get started? Don't I have to extract/press the juice some how or something?

 

[Tom]

You will need 2-6 gallon buckets. Split everything in 1/2 for each bucket. Add peaches in 2 straining bags. Leave in till gravity is 1.030 and remove and squeeze.
The pectic enzyme will take care of the pressing. No press needed for fruit.

 

[beyondhuman]

Sorry to be so bad at catching on but I just want to make sure I get this right and am not seeing where the 5 gallons of actual workable juice is coming form since the volume of whole fruit is so great please bear with me....

So I take half of each of the ingredients in the recipe and put them in a 5 gallon bucket along with half of the peaches (sliced or diced and in a straining bag) and let them sit for a while then when my specific gravity is approximately 1.030 remove the straining bag and squeeze out the excess juice. I then transfer this juice to my primary fermenter (along with the juice obtained from performing the same process on the other half of the ingredients) and this is my must that I will actually use to make wine? At this point I can begin to add campden tablets and prepare yeast starter right?


If this is correct then I have another question. It would be ok if I did half of the ingredients in my primary fermenting bucket and then poured it into my secondary, capped it and repeat for the second half then just pour the first half of the juice back into the primary fermenter and go because I do not have buckets to spare? (all I own is a 5 gallon primary, a six gallon glass carboy, and a 4 or 5 gallon water jug)

Thanks for being patient

 

[Tom]

NO,
split everything (less the yest and nutrient) let the pectic enzyme do its thing for 24 hours. Make a yeast starter and split that add after 24 hours and nutrient. let it ferment to 1.030 THEN remove the pulp.
Since you are light on fermentors let it ferment dry .990 and rack into the 6 gal carboy leaving the trub behind.
You may need a 1 gallon jug for lrft overs.

 

[lovethepirk]

Tom,

What type of straining bag are you using and why are you using two buckets?

Also where could I get 15 pounds of blueberries without it costing a lot as it would at the grocery store?

Thanks...

ltp

 

[St Allie]

Tom,

What type of straining bag are you using and why are you using two buckets?

Also where could I get 15 pounds of blueberries without it costing a lot as it would at the grocery store?

Thanks...

ltp

I'm in a different country obviously, however I bought my blueberries frozen online via the local ebay auction site and paid $25 for 10 kilos, which is equivalent to just over 20 pounds of fruit for $13 USD from memory.

Allie

 

[Tom]

Tom,

What type of straining bag are you using and why are you using two buckets?

Also where could I get 15 pounds of blueberries without it costing a lot as it would at the grocery store?

Thanks...

ltp

Depending on where you are located (country, state) go to a paint store or home center and get 5 gallon paint straining bags. We all use them.
Why 2 buckets? Simple, 26# of Peaches and water will not fit in one bucket.
When making fruit wines I time them to when they are in season where I live. Also try pick your own farms.

 

[beyondhuman]

OK so you are saying to leave the fruit in that does make more sense however I will still have the problem of only having one bucket which will only give me about 2.5 gallons of actual wine.

To make up the other half of the wine would you recomend doing one half and transfering to my carboy and then doing the other half and transfering into the carboy with the first half?

or

getting 5 gallon jugs and making 1/5th of half the recipe in each one which can then be transfered to the carboy at the same time as the other half?

I half also considered just making 2.5 gallons to save on money and since I will probably just mess it up my first time but would this cause problems when I transfer to the carboy for second fermentation because of the great amount of excess oxygen in the jug (it's a six gallon jug so around 3.5 gallons of air)?

Thanks Tom you have been a huge help

 

[Tom]

Get more buckets. You can find them at places like donut shops, bakeries. They have icing in them. Just make sure they are food grade.
You need to have all the equipment before making wine. You really cant do it "off the seat of you pants"
There is no rush. Just freeze the fruit. This is what I do if I don't have time or enough fruit or enough buckets / carboys ready (rarely does that happen)