# Lychee Wine Recipe?



## FlTropical

After learning as much as I could from my father in law and reading a few books I am ready to make my first wine. I have access to the best fresh lychees in the world an would like to use them. 

I need a good recipe, hoping to create a very sweet wine. Not quite dessert sweet, but good and fruity.

Any recipes for lychee wine, tips or sugestions greatly appreciated. I ready some articles saying I have to use tannin because lychees are not acidic. I am not sure I want to use tannin if it is going to take away from the sweetness.


----------



## sly22guy

Off the web. Id say double the fruit to get a good fruity wine. Keep in mind this is a 1 gallon recipe. Also add sugar to 1.085sg and use Cotes De Blanc yeast

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques96.asp


----------



## docanddeb

You might want to have extra juice frozen to sweeten and bring the flavor back up at the end as well.

Jack Keller's Wine site has a recipe for almost anything. Start a "Favorites" on your computer and everytime someone mentions something... stash it there for future reference.

Good Luck!!

Debbie


----------



## FlTropical

Thank you both so much. Do you mean sugar back it after the 2nd fermentation is complete?

I Had picked up champagne yeast per my father in law, any drawback?

Many thanks since this is my first batch.


----------



## FlTropical

Ok one more Q. That recipe says 5 lbs of lychees, is that pre processing? I took 12 lbs.of sweet and juicy variety and came up with about 7 lbs of juice/pulp.

Also will acid blend make a wine more dry? I realize lychees are not acidic and don't want the wine too flat.


----------



## docanddeb

The fruit measure is after pits, etc removed, usually.
Acid blend doesn't make wine dry... just gives it interest instead of tasting "flat". Tannin is used for body and I guess it also helps in clearing. You could use 5# for a gallon... save the other 2# to add along with the sugar after it is all finished and stabalized. Do you have Campden tablets (or Potassium Metabisulfite) along with Sorbate to add after it is all finished?
Do you have a hydrometer? You'll need that to determine your Starting Gravity (SG). An acid test kit is good too... cheap, but you can probably go by what the recipe says if you don't have one.
You'll need to sanitize all your equipment before adding anything. You can do that with a solution of Campden (Kmeta).

We all wish you great success!

Debbie


----------



## FlTropical

Thanks,

In that case I will pull 30 lbs more lychees out and get to preparing. 

I got the entire kit locally, I cannot paste links yet (too new). I have all of those items and then some. It came with a basic book, although I understand most of the process so far (all the hydrometer scales need some more work for me though in how many ways they are interpreted).

In that recipe, if I wanted to skip the tannin what do I substitute it with? More acid blend, and if so how much?

Umm, I can determine starting gravity when it is still in primary fermentation? I thought I had to do it once I move it over to the carboy. Please be gentle I am new to this great hobby. 

The funny part is I picked 8 gallons of elderberry today, since that is my second batch waiting in line after the lychee is on its way. Many many many thanks.


----------



## 1ChuckGauthier

The more pounds of fruit you add to the receipi, the better the wine will taste, I try to use 8 lbs per gal. 1.085 will give you more fruit taste than 1.090 or more. You get your specific gravity # by testing your must in initial set up. Add fruit, sugar water etc then measure.........good luck

this year I am going to try blackberry by freezing my berries, crushing them when thawed and use only juice approx 6 gal to make my wine. Will save the crushed berries to make another batch which will likley have less flavor.


----------



## Luc

I have made lychee wine from canned lychees.

You can find my recipe here:
http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2008/08/lycheewijn-litchiwine.html

I made it twice and both times it was deliscious.

Fresh lychees will even be better.

Use about 5 kilo lychees per 10 liter, this will give a full flavored wine with body
5 Kilo Means peeled and no piths.

Luc


----------



## roadwarriorsvt

Of course I'll argue that Hawaii has the best lychee!  I've got a kaimana and two Emperor trees that are first generation from China. Here is the recipe, found on the net, that I used to make a 5 gallon batch. Its a very simple written recipe though. I'd suggest a bare minimun of 5# of peeled, de-seeded lychee meat per gallon of wine. I didn't know about F-pacs when I made this and is still has a great lychee flavor.

*1 

Begin heating the water. Peel the lychees and remove the stone. Chop the remaining fruit and add it to the sugar in the primary container. Pour in enough boiling water to make one gallon of liquid and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.

2 

Add the remaining ingredients. Note the requirement for additional tannin for lychee wine because this fruit is not acidic enough by itself. Cover the primary container with a cloth.

3 

Allow the mixture to stand undisturbed until it is fermenting vigorously. Stir it each day for five days.

4 


Strain the liquid through a nylon sieve into the secondary container and fit an airlock. The pulp now may be discarded. Rack every 30 days until the wine clears and does not drop any sediment. This step is especially important for lychee wine.

5 

Stabilize the wine and sweeten to taste if needed. Wait 10 days to ensure that fermentation has stopped before racking into bottles.

Things You'll Need
1 gallon water
5 lbs fresh lychees
2 1/2 lbs fine sugar
1/4 oz citric acid
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp tannin
Chablis wine yeast


Read more: How to Make Lychee Wine | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2121513_make-lychee-wine.html#ixzz1PESQrHju*

The champagne yeast is a good choice although I've learned that the Cotes Des Blanc is a great fruit wine yeast. I's also suggest freezing the peeled de-seeded lychee for a few days, let it fully thaw, then proceed with the recipe.

Also, how sweet the wine is will depend on you. It will ferment dry. You will need to add sorbate, them backsweeten to your taste. If the wine will age for any length of time, it will get a little sweeter with age, so don't over-do it when you backsweeten.


----------



## Runningwolf

Ok I admit it! I never heard of Lychee until this thread popped up. Sounds like it is a tropical fruit. Talking about peeling and removing a pit, is this like a peach?


----------



## FlTropical

One could look at it like a red bumpy peach in that it has a single stone and has a sub acid flesh some having more juice than others. Skin is inedible, you peel it off (easy since it is thin) and there are dozens of varieties, the largest being a little larger than a golf ball.

As for the best lychees, I picked a combination of sweetheart and the rarest lychee I know: No Mai Che' (rare in the states at least). These yield more acid than most, more juice and less flesh. If one wanted to make this easy they could pick Hak Ip and Emperor which have a tiny stone and much flesh although in my opinion not juicy enough.


----------



## FlTropical

I picked up Cote Des Blanc today as it looks to fit my requirements much better. Any advice on replacing the tannin with acid blend or citric acid? What would be the general result?


----------



## FlTropical

Last question before I get started later tonight (I hope). I have only found 3 lychee wine recopies, 2 say to use cold maceration one says hot water extraction. What is the difference when using lychees? I suppose they are best compared to a grape/peach.


----------



## docanddeb

I would go by the recipe posted above from someone that has actually MADE it!! The rest of us are just going by the standard in winemaking!!

You can leave the tannin out if you want. The old fashioned or "natural" way would be to brew some really strong black tea to use in place of some of the plain water. You'll get some tannin that way. It's all a matter of preference, though... in everything related to wine. One will swear it only works one particular way... and the next will say the exact opposite. Most fruits also vary by growing region, so even though we are all talking the same fruits, the handling might be different.

On elderberries...

Make sure you get only the blackest, ripest ones. If they are the slightest bit greenish... the wine will be bitter.
Luc posted above... go to his blog and scroll down for English. He has a great deal of information on elderberries. It's also important to get off the tiny stems that will stick.
Luc's blog is another great site to bookmark. He's got so much interesting stuff there... and really strives to explain the "why" in winemaking. Some of it is over my head, but it's still interesting just to glance through those.

Good Luck!

We can't wait to hear how it goes!

Debbie


----------



## FlTropical

Thanks Debbie, looking forward to the experience. I have the sugar, fruit and water cooling down now. Once it gets down to room temp I will check the SG and see how close it is to 1.085. I printed out a neat little wine batch ledger that lets you keep notes on what you did and how it turned out.


----------



## FlTropical

Acid looks like 6 on the PH test. That is before the citric acid (just fruit, sugar and water). Adding the 1.5 oz of citric acid won't push that too acidic will it? Thanks.

Edit: After acid it is in the 3-4 range according to the generic PH test papers. 

I ended up at a SG of 1.095 :/ I hope that works out ok.


----------



## roadwarriorsvt

I'm looking forward to your updates. The lychee wine I made was my first batch ever. I made a few typical beginner mistakes with it. I still consider myself a novice wine maker since I have only made 5 batches so far, so I can't really give much advice due to my limited experience. 

I would highly recommend making a skeeter pee from the lychee slurry!


----------



## FlTropical

Yay, I see progress. Since adding the yeast last night (10PM+-), I got up at 6AM this morning and it is bubbling away, making popping sounds and has a foam building up on top. I hope 1 gallon of head space is enough 

I stirred it gently using a sanitized plastic spoon. Do I need to be gently or agitate it? My book says to stir the primary fermenter 2-3 times per day. Thanks for all the guidance.


----------



## roadwarriorsvt

At this early stage, the yeast need some O2 to flourish.


----------



## roadwarriorsvt

All this talk of lychee wine, I had to bust out a bottle of mine. Even though its my first batch, I gotta say I love it! The lychee flavor is unique and delicious! Talk about thick and full bodied!


----------



## FlTropical

Did you use an F-pack or back sweeten it? Sounds great.


----------



## roadwarriorsvt

I just backsweetened to taste. As this was my first batch, I only followed the directions I posted. Didn't even own a hydrometer yet!  so I think I got a little lucky with this batch. The sugar will really bring out the flavor (I think this is true of most any fruit wine).


----------



## Tropical

I know I'm getting in this a little late! Finally another Floridian shows up! I just cleaned and froze 20 pounds of skinned and seeded lychee (the cultivar is 'No Mai Tung'). And have my second batch in the third racking and my first batch a wonderful memory. Some tips, as for the yeast I stick with EC-1118, it handles the warmer tempertures down here better than anything else I've tried. Freeze the fruit, it help to break it down better. Not just lychee, but everything. Add your sugar as simple syrup or inverted sugar. The extra steps to make it are nothing compared to peeling and seeding lychee. So these folks understand - it takes about one hour to seed and and skin enough lychee to get one pound cleaned, so these small steps help a lot. Lychee are high in acid already (as you found out), don't bother with acid blend. When it is time to backsweeten, do so with simple syrup, but do it in small increments, especially since you are only doing a gallon. You will be surprised how a little oversweeten will throw off the end product. Good Luck


----------



## mrpoland

How is the lychee wine going on??? If you want to know how much acid is in the juice first you need to find out what kind of acid contains lychee fruit. PH test doest tell you about acid level! You can have 5g in 1 liter of malic acid and PH will be for example 5 and you can have 5g of sulfuric acid in 1 liter and PH will be much lower! Each acid will give you different ph because there are stronger and weaker acids. More sweet wine you are looking for more acid per liter wine should contain. To add acid just add lemon juice. 

This is how I make it…. I calculate how much sugar I need to make 14% wine. Then deduct sugar what is in the fruit [here you use SG test] and this way you know how much sugar you need to get 14% wine. At the end of all fermentation process you will get very dry wine [if the yeast use all sugar] then stabilize. Wine is stable and you can add sugar to get wine you are looking for, half-sweet, sweet and put it in to the bottles.


----------



## abigtroutt

Longan Berrys are in season and I missed the boat on lychee nuts. I have 3.5 lbs of Longans peeled, pitted and frozen. By next week I hope to have another 3 to 4 lbs for a gallon batch. I'm assuming I'll be following the recipie for lychees since they are couisns. 

I also was thinking of other fruits like Jack Fruit, Star Fruit, Dragon Fruit, Hog Plum, Mango, papaya, coconut and other exotics since I have access to all this type of fruits.


----------



## Tropical

I have completed about one year using nothing but tropicals. These include lychee, mango, carambola, bignay (Antidesma bunius), loquat, Barbados Cherry (Malpighia glabra), Dovyalis X (common name is tropical apricot), and karanda (Carissa karadus). Some are still in racking, but the lychee, loquat, bignay, and dovyalis had a great reviews from all the wine snobs I gave bottles to. It seems that fruits with a lot of latex ( like jak fruit, avocado, and from experience karanda) will ‘gum up’ your primary fermenter. Even soap with a green scrubby does more damage than good. The scrubby fibers adhere to the sides of the fermenter. I am using that one (I have two) for any new fruit trials I haven’t gotten to yet. I also think that “true” berries are better. Fruits, such as mango and carambola need a lot of adjusting with acid or are already real high in acid. I use the Dovyalis as a blend with most of the fruit. An old time tropical fruit wine maker told me this trick. Really helps, if you can find it. I also only make five gallons at a time. I don’t think it is worth the effort for a gallon. Hog plum and papaya would be interesting. But coconut would be challenging and jack fruit might really mess up your feremnter. And how much dragon fruit can you get? That might really be interesting (even just a gallon)!


----------



## docanddeb

Great experiments. Have you tried Hibiscus? I had some made from whole, dried Hibiscus flowers from the local Natural Food Store... it was yummy! Have you tried any other flowers? I would think you have access to some that might be tasty!

Debbie


----------



## abigtroutt

I will be getting several lbs of muscadine grapes, longans, star fruit and hopfully dragon fruit depending on the cost this week. I will be freezing all of it until I'm ready to make wine. I love the taste of dragon fruit and can't wait to make it into wine. I will need expert advice on a recipe for the dragon fruit since I'm a novice. I hope to get 6 to 10 lbs depending on the cost. Grapes, Longans and Star Fruit will be free  I may need to buy a chest freezer...lol My wife is going to kill me....lol


----------



## docanddeb

Better make wine the wife likes... then you'll be good.

Addicting... naw....

Debbie


----------



## mrpoland

i am working on hibiscus right now and it is very good so far!


----------



## docanddeb

Is it your first batch? Where did you get the hibiscus? Ours around here don't smell like anything, so I don't know what type is used for the dried version.

Debbie


----------



## GringaRoja

What would happen if the pits were not removed? Thanks.


----------



## GringaRoja

*What would happen if pits were not removed?*

What would happen if the pits were not removed? Thanks.


----------



## Stressbaby

GringaRoja said:


> What would happen if the pits were not removed? Thanks.



You risk making the wine bitter if you don't remove the pits.


----------



## V shaw

Hi everybody, this is my first post so be gentle with me. 
I currently live in Thailand where it's hot, but Lychees and other exotic fruits are as cheap as chips. I currently make my own beer, but I would like to have a go at making my own Lychee wine, I bought about 3kgs (unpeeled) today for about £4.00, I have about half a kilo of rambutan to throw in with them.
I have read through the posts and there is no mention of temperature control, the temps in Thailand must average out at about 30c, I have a cheast freezer with adjustable control on hand, but when I tried to make pineapple wine it, it fermented very well in primary at about 16c, but when I moved to secondary it stopped fermenting and I had to remove the bottles to get them bubbling again. It was in primary for 6 days and I don't have a hydrometer, but took a refractometer reading of og 22 brix and when I put in secondary it was 15 brix. Any advice on hot country wine making would be most appreciated. Thanks.


----------



## sour_grapes

V shaw said:


> Hi everybody, this is my first post so be gentle with me.
> I currently live in Thailand where it's hot, but Lychees and other exotic fruits are as cheap as chips. I currently make my own beer, but I would like to have a go at making my own Lychee wine, I bought about 3kgs (unpeeled) today for about £4.00, I have about half a kilo of rambutan to throw in with them.
> I have read through the posts and there is no mention of temperature control, the temps in Thailand must average out at about 30c, I have a cheast freezer with adjustable control on hand, but when I tried to make pineapple wine it, it fermented very well in primary at about 16c, but when I moved to secondary it stopped fermenting and I had to remove the bottles to get them bubbling again. It was in primary for 6 days and I don't have a hydrometer, but took a refractometer reading of og 22 brix and when I put in secondary it was 15 brix. Any advice on hot country wine making would be most appreciated. Thanks.




I don't have a lot of info to help you, but one thing jumped out at me. Using a refractometer to monitor a fermentation is tricky. In addition to sugar, alcohol also changes the refractive index of the liquid. Take a look here: http://valleyvintner.com/Refrac_Hydro/Refract_Hydro.htm


----------



## V shaw

sour_grapes said:


> I don't have a lot of info to help you, but one thing jumped out at me. Using a refractometer to monitor a fermentation is tricky. In addition to sugar, alcohol also changes the refractive index of the liquid. Take a look here: http://valleyvintner.com/Refrac_Hydro/Refract_Hydro.htm


Thanks for the reply, my main concern is if I don't control the temperature in secondary, will I get 'off smells/tastes?' And if that is going to be the case would I be better leaving it in primary for longer, but there would still be a chance of it picking up bad smells from the lees.


----------



## V shaw

When I made the lychee wine it meant leaving the fruit in the fermenter for 5 days, presumably to get the sugar out of the fruit. So if I take a sg reading on day one surely it would not be accurate would it, I did take a reading and it was 17 brix. But surely over the next 5 days more suger would be released from the fruit so the original reading would not give me an accurate reading, would it not? Confused.


----------



## Stressbaby

I've made lychee wine once and it was good even to medal. It was mostly canned and a handful of about 15 fresh. 

As @sour_grapes said, you can't trust the refractometer once fermentation starts. If the initial reading before fermentation was 17 that is a little low. You may want to consider adding a little sugar to get that up a bit before it gets too far along. 

As far as temp goes, lychee would be best if fermented at a lower temp. I would aim for 15C or less actually. That's not to say it won't turn out fine at higher temp, but it think you are likely to blow off more of the aromatics at higher temps. Consider reserving some straight juice to add back after primary fermentation is complete, but be sure you use SO2 and sorbate first. Rambutan should work well with lychee, did you end up adding those?


----------



## V shaw

Stressbaby said:


> I've made lychee wine once and it was good even to medal. It was mostly canned and a handful of about 15 fresh.
> 
> As @sour_grapes said, you can't trust the refractometer once fermentation starts. If the initial reading before fermentation was 17 that is a little low. You may want to consider adding a little sugar to get that up a bit before it gets too far along.
> 
> As far as temp goes, lychee would be best if fermented at a lower temp. I would aim for 15C or less actually. That's not to say it won't turn out fine at higher temp, but it think you are likely to blow off more of the aromatics at higher temps. Consider reserving some straight juice to add back after primary fermentation is complete, but be sure you use SO2 and sorbate first. Rambutan should work well with lychee, did you end up adding those?



I actually live in Thailand which makes it very difficult gain access to certain wine making products.
I put the wine into a secondary fermenter a couple of weeks ago after about 5 days in the initial fermenter. This is the recipe I followed. I suppose all I can do now is suck it and see. Thanks for the reply.

*
5 lbs fresh lychees
1 lb 10 oz granulated sugar
1/4 oz citric acid
1/4 tsp tannin
1 tsp yeast nutrient
water to 1 gallon
Chablis wine yeast
*


----------



## Stressbaby

The recipe looks great to me. Should be enough fruit. Good choice on citric acid.

After a month or two, if there is not enough "lychee" flavor, you have a couple of options. You can just toss in some more lychees in what's termed a "secondary infusion." Another thing is to press some lychees and add the juice. This will sweeten it a bit more. Here in Missouri, USA, the easiest thing is to add some juice from a can of lychees though it doesn't really taste the same as fresh. Either way if you want to preserve the sugars you'd want to stabilize it first.


----------



## V shaw

Stressbaby said:


> The recipe looks great to me. Should be enough fruit. Good choice on citric acid.
> 
> After a month or two, if there is not enough "lychee" flavor, you have a couple of options. You can just toss in some more lychees in what's termed a "secondary infusion." Another thing is to press some lychees and add the juice. This will sweeten it a bit more. Here in Missouri, USA, the easiest thing is to add some juice from a can of lychees though it doesn't really taste the same as fresh. Either way if you want to preserve the sugars you'd want to stabilize it first.


Thanks for the reply, but just to get back to my original question, the fruit is in the fermenter with the yeast and the rest of the ingredients. So does the fruit omit more sugar over the 5 day ferment, if it does as I said earlier, surely an initial reading won't be accurate, tricky one I know.


----------



## cmason1957

V shaw said:


> Thanks for the reply, but just to get back to my original question, the fruit is in the fermenter with the yeast and the rest of the ingredients. So does the fruit omit more sugar over the 5 day ferment, if it does as I said earlier, surely an initial reading won't be accurate, tricky one I know.



Yes, the fruit does have some sugar in it and it will release that over time, not instantly. Most often, I add the pectic enzyme and most of the sugar and let it sit for a day or even two to facilitate this break down, Then remeasure my SG, at that point I can add more sugar, if required. It will mean my volume has gone up slightly, but I can live with making a little bit more.


----------

