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I've enjoyed reading this thread and found some useful info in here. Just to add my two cents, You can't puree every fruit! Don't ever try pureeing Cactus Pears (prickly pears)!! all you'll wind up with is a thick syrup that will not give up its juice no matter how much enzyme you use or sugars. i recently poured out 6 gal of said failed experiment.
 
Ouch! You have worried me enough that I have gone off and emailed a small commercial fruit winery to ask how they juice their feijoas. Hopefully they will be kind enough to clue me in as to what they do.

I almost wonder if a thread where extraction techniques for various fruits are compared, for example, plums: freeze and mash and only use the juice that comes out and the fruit? Skins on? Pears: freeze, mash and bucket? Etc. And how much fruit per gallon of juice is usually required, and so on.
 
@peaches9324 @sour_grapes - do you have some links to example marbles? I looked for some toy ones around here (the type kids play with) and they're expensive. I found the gravel/stones one puts in a fish tank, but I'm not sure they're food safe.

Also, I'm planning to bulk age the pear and plum at least six months. Is there any reason not to sorbate, back sweeten and bottle then and aging for another 6+ months? I wouldn't mind reusing those carboys!

no not the gravel! Check your local craft store, used for flower arrangements also. I'll check to see if I can find a link
 
One year! Ouch! Why are the time differences so great between, say, a plum wine and a DB? Is part of it down to the fruit? Or something in the making? I want to understand the principles better. And how about the pear?

It comes down to the fruit, in a sense.. The more fruit you use in a wine, the higher the amount of Total Dissolved Solids becomes..

What differences does on the pulp make? Maybe there is a shortcut whereby half is juiced and half, pulp?

It sounds like most of the "serious" fruit wine makers crush to extract juice and then ferment the juice and remaining pulp together.

Perhaps I should worry less about it. I checked today and found that what was 11kg of must yesterday is probably barely 5kg today - the yeast, sugar and enzyme have really extracted out the liquid, meaning it is definitely easier to handle.

As you noticed yourself, the pulp seems to liquify. The fruit breaks down from the yeast, heat and enzymes (pectic enzyme we add being a major one).. But this doesnt mean those 'solids' are 'gone'. They're dissolved, they're within the solution, more available for chemical reactions.. These reactions are what lead to the flavors, aromas, and textures within wine..

But these reactions take time.

So, let me get this right: if you get mush, that's ok: mush in the bucket will split into juice and must as yeast and pectin do their jobs. Is that right???

I almost wonder if a thread where extraction techniques for various fruits are compared, for example, plums: freeze and mash and only use the juice that comes out and the fruit? Skins on? Pears: freeze, mash and bucket? Etc. And how much fruit per gallon of juice is usually required, and so on.

Freeze all your fruits, if you can. Except wine grapes.

I had a red raspberry wine that had the consistency of apple sauce prior to fermentation; I was called crazy at the time lol. Had I known enough to pre-adjust the acidity ahead of time, it would have turned out fine.. 112lbs of red raspberries could have made 7-8 gallons of wine; it was a monster. Point is, post-fermentation, what was apple-sauce consistency, was only then 1/3-1/4 sediment.. Which after isolating, degassing and racking off the wine as it settled, ended up being about 1.5 gallons of sludge.

What didnt turn into sludge, was dissolved and is still aging in the carboys sitting behind me. A whole lot of berry, that wouldnt be in the wine, if I'd just started with juice, or made a wine that was more along the lines of a DB-style.

So mush is preferred, for bold flavor. Skins on or off, depends on what fruit you're working with and is mostly something you'll learn in time.. I like my peach and pear wines skin-off but apples dont matter; this is part of what makes everyones wines a little different.

Also, I'm planning to bulk age the pear and plum at least six months. Is there any reason not to sorbate, back sweeten and bottle then and aging for another 6+ months? I wouldn't mind reusing those carboys!

But with the mush-type musts, comes the higher dissolved solids, comes more flavor, aroma... But this takes more time, there's more reactions that need to happen before the alcohol settles into the background, before the tannins calm down, before the flavors and aromas really start to stand out.... I bulk age for ~18 months, but it's because it needs that time.

Were you to bottle early, and you happened to get all the sediment out, you may find slight variation from bottle to bottle - some bottles might have had just a little bit more tannin, some less; some might have a little more bite than others, some might oxidize or age faster... Bulk aging for longer lowers the chances of these things happening, alongside giving you more time to properly assess the characteristics of the wine in front of you.. You dont have to guess about if it needs sweetened, or more flavor, or another layering of extracts, or if you want to blend it with another flavor... You have the opportunity to let the wine come of age, as a bulk unit, and bottle it when its ready for bottles

Do you MLF all your fruit wines? This isn't something I know a lot about.

Turock is pretty well-informed; the apple & pear are great MLF'd in my opinion - I just prefer them that way. I'm also going to be experimenting with MLF on a few other fruits, but it's not something I've done and seen, to recommend to others (and Turock has previously told me he wouldnt, but I'm hard-headed lol)
 
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Thanks for that awesome explanation and detail! I have a lot to think about now. My greatest concern is processing the feijoa for maximum flavour. I might have to suck it and see and try to ferment it as a purée.

I am sure I will have more comments as questions later. Ta for the help!
 
Was at a market just now and nabbed 6kg of white table grapes for$10nz (12lb for $8us). Plan to add those to all the feijoas I have left to kick off some feijoa port. I will brew and sugar the hell out of the stuff, an then go about the usual aging and fortifying process. Going to try pureeing the feijoas too. Wish me luck!
 
Today I started another feijoa wine. 5kg off feijoa, 6kg of white table grapes and 6lt of water. I haven't added sugar yet, but that addition should put me in the vicinity of 12lt of liquid once I am done - enough for two local carboys.

I am hoping the fairly substantial amount of fruit in this will really make for some nice flavor, and folks here suggest grape juice is a nice addition to fruit wines - so let's see how it goes!
 
You asked about bottling the pear and plum and sorbate. Be sure to bulk age these wines at least one year. 6 months is too soon to bottle anything. Do not sorbate until bottling time. Wine needs to be clear before sorbate will work. When you backsweeten and add the sorbate, be sure to dissolve the sorbate in some water before adding to the wine.
 
It was interesting to see the must this morning - I can see precisely why grapes have been a staple of winemaking: Overnight there was a distinct layer of clear juice on the top, sediment on the bottom. So easy!

Pitched the yeast this morning after getting the must up to 1.092. That should do the trick. Thirty minutes later and it's all trucking along already. I'm expecting another fast ferment.

I haven't added raisins to this batch (duh, it's got grapes in it - right?) and I haven't added any tanning (just because, no clear reason why). It will be interesting to see how it goes.

Oh, the batch appears to be around pH 4 (as discussed, my test kit is terrible and I haven't seen one around here I could use that would be better - there are no other kits in the wine shop!). I'll want that to be in the 3-range, right? What's the best way to do that? HALP!
 
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At this point, I think I'd just let the ferment go. Best to adjust acid pre-ferment. Later on, in the post ferment you can taste it and see what you think. Not so sure of accuracy of the testing method. Are you able to find a PH meter online that you could buy? A meter is the most accurate test method.
 
Do you have any you could recommend? Googling returns me lots of places selling strips.

Well, it looks like I have a stuck ferment. Checked this morning and the bucket is silent. No fizzing sound. The starter was happily fizzing and bubbling last night before I pitched it, and I think after as well, but, damn it, it's silent today.
 
Just because it's rather silent doesnt mean there's no action.. Check it with a hydrometer tonight and in the morning, for any change.. Also make sure its in the 70's, and if the SG is still above ~1.070, stir it up really good to whip some oxygen in there

I have & use a MW102 pH meter; love the thing.. Just around $100 with extra storage solution, 4.0 & 7.0 calibrating solutions.. I got mine at MoreWine
 
Thanks for the tips. Asked my wife to check the bucket just now and it was completely silent. It may have got too cold last night and stopped all fermenting? It is entering winter here, the overnight low was 55f - it would have been warmer inside, but not in the 70s.

Am going to the brew shop later to buy more yeast (why not).

It could also be sulphites.. I added 2-3 campden tablets to my must (3 us gallons and fruit). I don't think that will be too much.

Tonight I shall try some new yeast in some must sample. If it doesn't take off I will know I have some issue like that. If I does, I will keep the heater on overnight!

Oh, will also pick up some kind of acid adjustment stuff from the shop. For a white grape and white fruit, what would be best to push me into 3 from 4 pH?
 
Now, I know you're not supposed to do this, but, hell, sometimes a man has to do, what a man has to do: I adjusted the pH while the yeast was bubbling away. I gave it a sprinkle of nutrient and begged forgiveness.

So I had a wee taste of the brew and it was definitely sweet and lacking in some punch. Flabby, right? So I added (in the end) 1 and 1/4 tsp of tartaric acid and it put it back into punch with a bit of bite. I can see why this is done best in the primary, it was definitely a little 'sharp' at the corners of the tongue. I'm expecting (?) it will smooth out and calm down over the fermentation and produce a nice, crisp drink.
 
This second batch of feijoa is making up for lost time and really humming along - 1.052 tonight. There is a good head on it, like a beer, that pushes through the older, ran-colored head when it can.

When it gets down to 1.000-ish I will throw it in carboys and see how we are doing.
 
For fruit, you can use acid blend to lower the PH. For grapes, use tartaric acid. To raise the PH on fruit or grape wine, use calcium carbonate. You should get in the habit of testing and adjusting PH before you begin your ferments. You're resulting wine will be balanced and no problems to correct in the secondary.
 

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