# First attempt at wine making (Loquat Wine)



## Aluminum (Jun 7, 2012)

I have a Loquat tree in my yard, but I don't really use the fruit for much. It produces so many Loquats each year that I could never eat them all and most of them end up going to waste or being eaten by birds. Thinking about ways to use them I looked around online where I found a number of loquat wine recipes. It seems interesting so I'm trying it. I didn't know which recipe to use so just picked one that seemed good. Right now I'm 4 days into my primary fermentation, and I find myself worrying about whether or not I have any idea what I'm doing. I would appreciate any comments on what I've done so far. 

Working of the recipe I gathered 20 pounds of loquats. I cut each one into four pieces and removed the seeds. I put them into the Primary fermentor. 

I also added: 
1. 10 pounds of sugar (I used cane sugar). 
2. 2 1/2 teaspoon Pectic Enzyme. 
3. 5 teaspoon Acid Blend. 
4. 1 1/4 teaspoon Grape Tannin. 
5. 2 1/2 teaspoon Super nutrient. 
6. Something called DAP that the people at the store I bought supplies at felt I should have. As per their instructions I mixed it in with the super nutrient. 
7. Then I added tap water until I had 5 gallons of fluid. 
8 Lastly I added 5 crushed Campden Tablets. 

I let it sit for 24 hours. I then measured the specific gravity. I probably should have measured it the day before, but I didn't think of it. The specific gravity was at 1.104. Based on what I've seen on the internet so far that seems high. I considered boiling some water letting it cool down then adding it, but I was afraid of messing things up so I just left it like that. I then added the yeast. The yeast I used was called Lalvin 71B-1122. I put the yeast in warm water with some sugar in it and let it sit for 15 minutes before adding it. The next day there were signs of activity (foam, and a fizzing sound). I've been stirring the mixture once per day sense then. For the first few days it smelled strongly of yeast. Now it doesn't really smell much at all. I don’t know if that's good or bad. The yeast is still making fizzing noise so I know it's still alive. Some of the hunks of fruit seem kind of rotten after a few days of sitting in there. I hope that's normal. I wonder if I should have cut them into smaller pieces or maybe put them in the blender. Well, too late now. 

The recipe says that I should move to the secondary fermentor after 7 days, but I've read various places on the form that I should move to the secondary after the specific gravity reaches a certain level (maybe 1.02-1.01). Some advice on that would be helpful. Any comments are appreciated. Thanks.


----------



## Wade E (Jun 8, 2012)

Well like you said that starting sg is high so that wine will be hot meaning thd flavor oc the the fruit will be masked by the higher abv but may calm down with lots of time. I dont know what kind of flavor that fruit has but typically we use like 8 lbs of fruig per gallon min. Dont go by # of days, just use your hydrometer and transfer to carboy at 1.020.


----------



## Aluminum (Jun 9, 2012)

*Thanks for you rely.*

Thanks for the rely. It was very helpful. I've started taking specific gravity reading everyday for the last two days now.

This is what I've recorded so far:
Day 1: specific gravity: 1.104
Day 4: specific gravity: 1.056
Day 5: specific gravity: 1.050

I have a few questions. Any answers anyone is willing provide would be appreciated. 

Based on this the average decrease for the first 4 days was .012, but the decrease between day 4 and 5 was only .006. It seems like the fermentation is slowing down. The fizzing sound has also been less for the last few days. Is this normal, or is it something I should worry about? 

I tasted the must(I think that's what it called anyway) recently, and it doesn't taste bad. Kind of like fruity alcoholic sugar water. If I'm understanding things correctly the alcohol content right now should be somewhere around 7 percent. Is that correct? Also, will the alcohol now in it help keep other microorganisms out?

I'm worried about what you said about the fruit being masked by the higher abv. Is it to late to add more water at this point?

I'm not really sure if this is right, but I think I should have added .78 gallons of additional water to get the specific gravity down to 1.09. Should I boil .78 gallons of water let it cool down then add it to the musk? 

Also, what does abv stand for? Thanks again.


----------



## GrandpasFootsteps (Jun 10, 2012)

I know seeding those loquats is a hassle! 20 pounds is pretty light. I made loquat this year and I used 50 pounds for 5 gallons plus 20 more will get me enough juice for an f-pack. If you still have any loquats I'd suggest you deseed and freeze them to get a lot of juice for an f-pack. That way if your wine ends up lacking body you can embolden (is that a word?) it somewhat.

Enjoy your wine!


----------



## GrandpasFootsteps (Jun 10, 2012)

Aluminum said:


> .
> 
> Based on this the average decrease for the first 4 days was .012, but the decrease between day 4 and 5 was only .006. It seems like the fermentation is slowing down. The fizzing sound has also been less for the last few days. Is this normal, or is it something I should worry about?
> 
> ...



Don't worry about the fermentation speed. It sounds normal and there is always some variance day to day. There are lots of reasons - gas, temperature, etc. Primary can sometimes take weeks but it usually doesn't. 

Alcohol will help keep out organisms as will your Camden tablets. It won't keep out oxidation though so when you get it 1.020 you should start thinking about racking to the carboy. If you wait and go over to 1.00 or something, it should still be fine. It is a pretty forgiving process. Typically aim for around 1.020. 

Don't add water to bring back masked fruit flavor. Use an f-pack. There are instructions on this site. Also, if it is lacking in fruit flavor right now there is a strong chance that 1 year from now you will be surprised at a reintroduction of the fruit flavor. 

Don't add water. If you are truly concerned about too high of ABV (which stands for Percent Alcohol By Volume) then stop fermentation somewhere around 1.005-1.010 by adding metabisulfite and potassium sorbate. You will be leaving in residual sugar by stopping fermentation early and your wine will be sweeter. It is a common practice. 

If it were me, I'd let it go dry with a high ABV then back sweeten with an f-pack (and sugar if necessary). 

Since you already don't have much fruit per gallon, I would avoid adding anymore water.


----------



## Aluminum (Jun 13, 2012)

@GrandpasFootsteps
Thanks for the advice. I've picked 6 pounds of fruit for an f-pack. I'm going to let it go dry like you suggested then I'm going to stabilize with Potassium sorbate and Campden Tablets. After that I'll add the f-pack and maybe sweeten it a little. Then I'll let it sit for a couple days so any solid stuff from the f-pack can settle also maybe I'll add some Bentonite or Sparkolloid. Then I'll bottle it. 

Right now I've started secondary fermentation, so nothing to do but wait. I'm thinking that in a month when I'm racking maybe I'll us the yeast slurry to start another batch of something. The Skeeter Pee recipe seems kind of interesting.


----------



## Espoir (Jun 15, 2012)

Wade E said:


> Well like you said that starting sg is high so that wine will be hot meaning thd flavor oc the the fruit will be masked by the higher abv but may calm down with lots of time. I dont know what kind of flavor that fruit has but typically we use like 8 lbs of fruig per gallon min. Dont go by # of days, just use your hydrometer and transfer to carboy at 1.020.



Wade, just to clarify you say 8 lbs of fruit? So around 4 kg of fruits in 1 gallon of wine?

1 gallon is around 3.8 kg, so..... what do you mean..?


----------

