# Help me develop a feijoa wine recipe?



## TinyPirate (Apr 20, 2014)

Here in New Zealand it is feijoa season and so everyone has a granny or neighbor with tons of feijoas ready for use (it is a short season and usually people have way more than they can use). 

As folks know I am getting into making wine I have had subtle and not subtle hits dropped about making a feijoa wine! I have agreed to make and share so long as people help me find enough fruit, and folks have agreed. 

Now, I have looked around on the net for recipes and, frankly, most are pretty basic and, based on the fruit required, would produce a pretty weak-flavored wine (this forum has introduced me to the idea of all-juice wine making!). 

Problem is feijoas aren't particularly juicy fruit, not much different from a golden kiwi fruit in juice and similar in flavor and sourness - so how can I get a good, strong flavored juice out of them to make a tasty wine? What sort of volume am I likely to require of fruit for what sort of juice return?

Also, other than yeast, pectinaise, sugar, some water.. What am I likely to need? Tanin, I am guessing, but much else?

I am happy to use a process and ingredient list much like with Dragon Blood just not sure about how to get the juice out I these things without making everything too watery!


----------



## peaches9324 (Apr 21, 2014)

I'm not familiar with the fruit you mention but in any case I would think about adding some white grape juice concentrate imo this tends to bring out the flavor of light fruit. I'm sure somebody on here will come along by tomorrow with some kind of an idea. I wish ya luck!


----------



## peaches9324 (Apr 21, 2014)

k-meta very important and some yeast nutrient


----------



## TinyPirate (Apr 22, 2014)

I kinda want to avoid adding other flavors - feijoa has it's own delicate, floral aroma that should stand alone well - I just need to work out how to get all the juice out of the fruit!


----------



## peaches9324 (Apr 22, 2014)

cut the fruit then freeze then simmered? Make it into one big f-pack?


----------



## peaches9324 (Apr 22, 2014)

I see the fruit on the outside is something like a lime does it have a scent to it? You could possibly use this as adding zest to it


----------



## peaches9324 (Apr 22, 2014)

I made a gooseberry wine it was very light on flavor added white grape juice cons mixed with some water and it brought out the flavor of the gooseberry it was just what it needed you would be surprised what a great companion it makes just don't add to much. Maybe do a bench test, make a gal with the fruit and make another gal with the fruit and a lil white grape just to test sounds like you'll be doing some experimenting anyway you don't want to make a 3 or 5 gal flop


----------



## TinyPirate (Apr 22, 2014)

Yeah, good point. Found a picture of what cut-up (and mushed up a bit) feijoas look like here - and unfortunately the skin isn't "zest worthy."

So I'm doing some research and came across this titbit:



> I have been juicing Feijoas in my Juice Fountian and found that they go through fine, (I do them whole) the only thing is that there is ALOT of froth which takes ages to settle, about 6 litres of juice & froth from a full 20litre bucket of whole fruit, settles into about 1.5 litres of clear juice over 24-48 hours. Ho Hum! The resulting juice is very Feijoa like and not sharp like the skins. yum!



This suggests a LOT of fruit for a relatively small amount of what would essentially be a kind of feijoa concentrate. This is backed up by this quote:



> Due to the strong flavour feijoas there is no need for large amounts of feijoa pulp to flavour your product
> Most manufactures use between 15 to 35% of feijoa pulp to flavour their products



Alternately, this recipe seems the most competent of all those I've read, and definitely uses the most fruit. It is a bit basic, but I figure I could run it like Dragon Blood instead of the instructions there and produce something tasty.

What I might do is try for this recipe but ensure I have enough spare fruit to make a fruit pack I could add right at the start if it doesn't have enough flavor. Might even have to add another fpack later on for good measure.


----------



## peaches9324 (Apr 22, 2014)

I would trade off the sodium meta with k-meta. This quote suggest not so weak of flavor: "Due to the strong flavour feijoas there is no need for large amounts of feijoa pulp to flavour your product 
Most manufactures use between 15 to 35% of feijoa pulp to flavour their products". And trade the pectose for pectic enzyme mixed in fruit before freezing to prevent browning and brings out the flavor more, if you notice browning while defrosting mix a lil more in it also will prevent pectic haze when clearing. You might not want to add all the water they call for. Trade off the yeast mentioned for red star cote de blanc or lalvin EC 1118. I always make a yeast starter before adding to must gives it a head start sort of speak. I have doubled up on the f-packs before also just make sure you have enough fruit frozen for future f-packs. Don't forget to add some tannin at the beginning of your ferment and treat with some bentonite at the beginning of fermentation this really helps with the clearing. a good yeast nutrient schedule is always good!
hope this helps you develop a good recipe!


----------



## TinyPirate (Apr 22, 2014)

Thanks! Yes, your thoughts match mine. I'll find out as soon as my feijoa supplies arrive!


----------



## TinyPirate (Apr 24, 2014)

Here is what 3.4kg / 7lb of feijoas look like being cut up for the freezer. Only a heap more to go (when they arrive!).


----------



## Jericurl (Apr 24, 2014)

Be sure to set some aside for an f-pac.

Is the season long enough for you to test a 1 gallon batch, then scale up your recipe and make any adjustments for a 6 gallon batch after that?


----------



## TinyPirate (Apr 24, 2014)

Yup, f-pac is planned, and no, unfortunately not. Usually quite a short season, no later than June-ish.


----------



## peaches9324 (Apr 24, 2014)

they do look yummy


----------



## byathread (Apr 24, 2014)

I used to grow Feijoas (Pineapple Guavas) when I lived in SE Texas. Delicious fruit and one of the tastiest edible flowers, though I've never made wine out of them.

For fruit wines/meads I typically cut up and freeze the fruit, then thaw and mash the fruit and put it in a fine mesh bag, and ferment for 1-2 weeks, then press the fruit bag and rack to secondary. Normally I will use 2-4 lbs per gallon of fruit, add sugar or honey to 1.090+ and let 'er rip. For yeasts, I'd use Lalvin D47, 71B or K1V for this.


----------



## TinyPirate (Apr 24, 2014)

Thanks! Yes, that is my plan, pretty much. I've been concerned about how much fruit I will need for a truly tasty batch. I'm going to really add a lot - about 30lb for 6 gallon batch. As for yeast - I have easy access to these yeasts, other yeasts will be more fiddly to get. I have some CY17 to hand and some SN9. I'm planning on using the CY17 but I'm conscious of the relatively acidic nature of the feijoas - might not be ideal.


----------

