Wine making, need opinions. (Plums)

[MDM]

I'm taking my first crack at making wine. I've got 3 - 5gal buckets of plums. How much wine would this make? I've got 2 - 6 gal carbouys to work with and can get more if needed.

Here is how I was told to do it, short version. Smash plums, cover and let sit for 10 days. Put 3 gal on juice in a 5 gal carbouy. Add 5 Campden tabs. Boil 10 lbs sugar with just enough water to make it syrupy. Add sugar mixture and top off the carbouy with distilled water. Cap it and let it work until it stops working, then bottle it. Add stabilizer at time of bottling.

What do you think? I'm not trying to make something professional. Just something that tastes decent with alcohol in it. The guy that told me how to do it does make good wine. Then again, I like Boones Farm.

 

[Chuck52]

These people send me e-mail all the time, and they have instructions for making wine from all kinds of fruits. Might be helpful.

Wine Making Supplies: E C Kraus

Chuck

 

[MDM]

Thanks. I wonder why the guy didn't tell me to put any yeast in it? All the other recipies I look at call for yeast.

 

[dooleysm]

I am not a wine maker, but I do know that some fruits have natural yeasts on them that will cause them to ferment under the right conditions. My wife's great-aunt makes homemade wine using her own grapes, water, and sugar.

 

[Paddy]

MDM,

I make wine from kits. Grape juice type, $100 a kit to make 30 bottles. The sugar content is critical. Not enough, little alcohol and too much and it will be too sweet to drink. I use a floating hydrometer. The problem is yeast can only survive up to 13% alcohol and if there is more sugar it will not be processed. The first stage can be done in a bucket/lid and air lock. After 10 days you "rack" it to your carboy leaving the "leys"sp, (the chuncks)

Patrick T

 

[ToadHill]

I've made wine from the plums on my trees for years. Here's what I do:
1. Pit the fruit, the pits leave a bitter taste if you don't.
2. squash the fruit and put in a bucket with enough water to cover it.
3. add campden tablets to kill wild yeast and let set for a couple of days.
4. add water, in your case enough to make 12 gallons ( you have plenty of fruit) and sugar.if you like boons farm, I'd plan on about 2 lbs of sugar per gallon
5. Put it in a large primary fermentation container, A 30 gal new plastic garbage pail works well after you clean it out with boiling water. Add a good wine yeast and let it work until the primary fermentation has cooled down. If you put it in the carboys right away, it can make an awful mess if the fruit plugs the air trap (don't ask how I know this).
6. Drain off the liquid and put in carboys with an airlock then let it sit in a cool area for about 1 year to age some. Check every now and then that the airlock doesn't dry out.
7. At the end of the year bottle or have a big party and enjoy.

You want to buy good wine yeast because cheaper yeast sometimes gives the wine a strange taste. When you do the primary fermentation keep the container covered with a cloth of some kind to keep out the fruit flys and believe me you'll get them.

 

[scgargoyle]

The above advice is good. Usually you ferment the pulp and all for 5-10 days, then strain it and continue to ferment the juice. It depends on how rich and flavorful you want it. Make sure you sterilize the fruit with the Campden tablets, and sterilize all your other equipment, too. Go ahead and get wine yeast- it's cheap insurance that all that fruit won't go to waste. Do some reading on basic winemaking as to how much sugar, etc. If you use too much sugar at first, it can stop the fermentation. You should ferment it all the way out until it is 'dry', then sweeten to taste when it's fully fermented and clear. I made strawberry wine, and, even though I prefer dry wine, it had little flavor. I sweetened it just a little, and all the fruit flavor came back! Sterilize your bottles, too, and consider adding sodium metabisulfite to the wine before bottling. It is a preservative (the sulfites you see on wine labels). If by chance the wine has a little life in it when you bottle it, the bottles will explode, or the wine could go bad. And keep fruit flies out of your fruit and wine- they cause vinegar! Use a water-filled fermentation lock to keep the bugs out of it.

 

[RobertN]

I am not a wine maker, but I do know that some fruits have natural yeasts on them that will cause them to ferment under the right conditions. My wife's great-aunt makes homemade wine using her own grapes, water, and sugar.

You can make soft apple cider by simply leaving the cap loose on the jug, and setting it out on the counter. Let it sit for a few days. If you put an air lock on the jug, you'll see the bubbles. You'll get 3% or so alchohol. When it stops bubbling, chill and enjoy. Note, this does not work with pastuerized juice(kills the yeasts).

Apples have lots of wild yeasts around them. The only problem is, if you depend on wild yeasts, the results wil taste different from batch to batch. If you use a known yeast strain, then you can duplicate recipes more exactly from batch to batch.

 

[weedpharma]

Thanks. I wonder why the guy didn't tell me to put any yeast in it? All the other recipies I look at call for yeast.

I have made a couple of batches of plum wine and peach wine. I am certainly no expert. Your initial instructions said to put in Camden tablets. I thought these were to kill the natural yeast. In that case it is then necessary to add yeast. The brew from the recipe I used showed a potential 18% alcohol on the hydrometer. When fermentation had finished the hydrometer was barely floating. I would not want to go driving after a few glasses!!

One batch failed to clarify so I put it through a still. Anyone know what to do with 5 litres of 70% alcohol??

Weedpharma

 

[MDM]

So if I'm not using any yeast, I should not use any Campden tabs? Maybe just use them before bottling?

 

[ToadHill]

If you don't add the yeast your at the mercy of whatever wild yeast is on the fruit or in the air. You could end up with plum supprise.

 

[MossRoad]

Anyone know what to do with 5 litres of 70% alcohol??

Weedpharma

I used to.

 

[dooleysm]

I have made a couple of batches of plum wine and peach wine. I am certainly no expert. Your initial instructions said to put in Camden tablets. I thought these were to kill the natural yeast. In that case it is then necessary to add yeast. The brew from the recipe I used showed a potential 18% alcohol on the hydrometer. When fermentation had finished the hydrometer was barely floating. I would not want to go driving after a few glasses!!

One batch failed to clarify so I put it through a still. Anyone know what to do with 5 litres of 70% alcohol??

Weedpharma

Throw an AWESOME party!

 

[czechsonofagun]

You got plums? This is your holly grail

Slivovitz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia