Wine from Nectar rather than juice

[Pam]

I am considering making some wine from Peach and or Apricot Nectar.
The kind that is in the store in a can. Has anyone done this? Will it clear out well since it is a nectar? I searched and searched and did not come up with a mention of nectar. Thanks. If I need to post a different area let me know. Thanks
Pam

 

[arcticsid]

Hi Pam, I'm not qualified to answer this for you. I did however remeber LUC saying he once made wine using a Jam he had. it would be my quess you could indeed use nectar as long as the right amount of sugar was added to bring up a given SG. I suppose the more experienced members will ask some questions regarding the type and maker of the nectar, and may reccomend some additional "additives". I am looking forward to their response.
Troy

 

[Conquistadude]

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Your mind grows flowered
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[arcticsid]

Whatever Con said!

 

[Wade E]

It can easily be done, the only hard thing about doing so is figuring out the ratio of nectar to water to make the wine.I used it to sweeten a wine once and had some fun filtering it first as there is a very thick sediment in these but that wont concern you as it would be the same as using fresh fruit and racking off all the sediment.

 

[Luc]

I have indeed made wine from strawberry-jam
and it was excellent !!!

I do not see a problem making wine from nectar.
There will be a lot of fruit pulp in it so add at least
double the amount of pectic enzyme that your packaging
describes.

The difficult part would be getting to know the SG
or actual sugar contents.

two ways to go here:
- look at the packaging maybe that gives a clue
about the amount of sugar in the nectar.
- Take some nectar, dillute it with an equal
mount of water and measure SG.
Then double that amount to get the actual SG.

Luc

 

[Pam]

nectar

Luc,
I dont understand. Are you saying that because it is so thick, it will be difficult to tell the SG. Is that right. Per large can, say 64 oz, how much water would you put with it. Are you just adding the water to check SG?
Or should a person add water similar to the Welches recipe?
So if I take a cup of nectar and a cup of water and test SG, the full strength nectar would be twice the SG. Is that right?
Sorry is I am being so dense. I plan on straining the heck out of it first.
I read that you can strain juice through coffee filters. Maybe it will be too thick for that even.
thanks
Pam

 

[Wade E]

I would not starin it as that will happen naturally anyway and you may lose a lot of flavor and using a coffe strainer for that would be endless and clog immediatley. You are right about dilutingg the nectar with as much water as Luc said as the solids would keep the hydrometer from sinking to the actual level and give you a false reading.

 

[Luc]

Pam,

You understood indeed exactly what I was trying to say.
Take part of the must like a cup and dillute that to do
the measurements.

Start from that.

Do not forget to measure acidity to.

Luc

 

[Pam]

acidity

I bought some PH strips the other nite at a local vendor. We have no supplies in the area.
ARe the PH strips ok for Acidity. It just gives you hi, med etc.
Why am I doing acid test and what should it range and what do I do to raise or lower it? Acid blend to raise it? but what about lower.
I have a hard time imgining how the wine will ever clear with all the pulp in the water.

thanks a bunch.
Pam

 

[Luc]

The acid test is used to test the acidity of the wine.

Yeast need an acid environment to ferment the sugar.
Next to that a wine with no acid just does not taste right, the wine would be out of balance.
And last acid works as a conservative and will protect the wine
from some bacteria.

So acid is an important part of the wine.

If you do not have access to an acid testing kit like this one:
http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2008/11/zuurmeting-01-measuring-acidity-01.html

You could go by taste.
Normally any juice you buy will be in balance. There will be
acid in present.
But if you are going to dillute the juice the acid will also be dilluted
and the juice will be off balalnce.

You can bring the level of the acidity up again by adding some lemon juice. I did a story on that a few months ago:

http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2008/03/citroensap-lemon-juice.html

Do not overdoo it.
A high acid wine with a lot of alcohol will be off balance also, it will taste like jet fuel.

You can add some acid and correct the balance when the wine has finished.
Even better is to buy an acid testing kit over the internet if there is no supplier neerby.

Luc