Finishing my plum wine

[winemaker81]

Just a silly question I'm new at this, why do you have to add all this Xtra stuff sorbets, clarifier? I thought you just add sugar and yeast ?

The short answer is that you can do that. A few of my early mentors crushed grapes, dropped it in a barrel, and let it rock. No added yeast, nothing extra. While some folk wax on about how great their father's or grandfather's "natural" wine was, IME most of it was mediocre. Sometimes it was really good, and sometimes it was really bad.

The guys that consistently made good wine put a bit more effort into it, and their results pushed me to do the same.

A while back I wrote a post on basic winemaking process, that is intended to provide a brief overview of winemaking, including defining terms and explaining what things did what. It will take 15-20 minutes to read. This doesn't cover all the details -- it's not intended to do so. But it provides sufficient information that more detailed descriptions will make sense without being overwhelming.

 

[rhodesengr]

Hi folks and happy holidays. Its been a few more months with my plum wine just sitting. Per the photo above, some of it is in glass 1 gallon bottles and some is in the 5 gallon plastic carboys. When I did a racking in September, I did some consolidating and I now have only two of the 1 gallon bottles in play. It looks like the wine in the 1 gallon bottles has cleared nicely while the wine in the plastic, 5 gallon carboys still seems cloudy. I tried some degassing on one batch back in September but that batch doesn't seem any clearer than the other batches. It was all made essentially the same way and I added pectin enzyme at the beginning. I suppose the haze could be from pectin haze but then why would the 1 gallon bottles be clear and not the 5 gallon bottles? From searching on pectin haze, it seems like I can try adding more enzyme at this point and/or trying the Super Kleer stuff. Should I try enzyme first? What dosing should I use? Should I just skip to the Super Kleer?

If I try adding pectic enzyme, how long would it take to show a clearing effect?

I appreciate any advice.

 

[cmason1957]

Why might the 1 gallon look clearer than the 5 gallon? I often find that smaller amounts of wine always look clearer than larger. I bet if you took some out of each vessel and put it into separate glasses, you would be hard pressed to say this came from which vessel.

Plums can be high in pectin, so it might well be a pectic haze. On the bright side adding pectic enzyme hasn't seemed to strip out flavor or color. I would add two or perhaps three times the amount normally suggested by your pectic enzyme, let sit for a month minimum and maybe be prepared to do that again, later. Super Kleer will have no impact, if it is a pectin haze you are dealing with.

I made a pear wine one time, added the prescribed amount of pectic enzyme at the start, had a terrible haze, tried many different things, finally adding a triple dose of pectic enzyme and then a few months later adding a triple dose again. It finally cleared to a beautiful color pear. My wife and I named it Clearly Pear.

 

[BigDaveK]

@rhodesengr I would be patient. I've experienced a similar phenomena many times and I think it's all about volume. They probably clear at the same rate but the smaller one gallon just gets to the finish line faster because there's less to clear.

 

[rhodesengr]

I set up a little test. I put two samples side by side and put some pectic enzyme in one. We'll see if it clears. I also tried that test where you add some wine to some denatured alcohol. That turned pretty cloudy but I didn't see obvious chunks of stuff. Not sure it that told me anything.

 

[BPL]

I set up a little test. I put two samples side by side and put some pectic enzyme in one. We'll see if it clears. I also tried that test where you add some wine to some denatured alcohol. That turned pretty cloudy but I didn't see obvious chunks of stuff. Not sure it that told me anything.

Yes, the "alcohol test" is a way to check for excess pectin. Usually a 15 ml to 85 ml ratio will turn a snotty-wispy separation of material separated from clear wine if lots of pectin is present. Try the same thing with plain water and see the difference. The alcohol test is a rough go-no go type of measurement. One of the ways to compare if pectin is being reduced is to take a photo at the start and some time later take another photo, then compare. Attached are a couple of my results....It's still clearing and expect not to bottle for another 2-3 months.

 

[rhodesengr]

I didn't see much effect from adding some PE to a small sample, and I still contend the wine in two of the 1 gallon glass bottles cleared on its own (definite sediment on the bottom). So I doubted I was looking at pectic haze. The 5 gallon batches are just being slower to clear so few days ago, I added the K/C finings to one of the 5 gallons carboys. Nice and clear after 3 days and a bunch of sediment visible on the bottom. There was only a little bit of sediment when I racked before adding the K/C. I have bottling stuff on the way and about 7 gallons that look good enough to bottle. I'll just leave the rest in long term and see if they clear on their own. If not, looks like K/C will do the job.

 

[rhodesengr]

Bottled the first of seven, 5 gallon carboys. The cat was very interested in the process. Just want to say that this forum has been great. Really helped a lot.

 

[MrFrench]

Bottled the first of seven, 5 gallon carboys. The cat was very interested in the process. Just want to say that this forum has been great. Really helped a lot.View attachment 109084

Congratulations, must feel great! I’m a couple of months behind you having harvested my plums in September. My wine is much pinker, having fermented on the plums for only 4 days before racking off. Yours is a beautiful colour.

I went back to your first post and was amazed at the productivity of your single tree! What a delight, bet you’re looking forward to next season already.

A question for you on your tree care; do you do much to it, feeding & pruning etc? Could you even share a picture? I’m inspired

 

[rhodesengr]

Congratulations, must feel great! I’m a couple of months behind you having harvested my plums in September. My wine is much pinker, having fermented on the plums for only 4 days before racking off. Yours is a beautiful colour.

I went back to your first post and was amazed at the productivity of your single tree! What a delight, bet you’re looking forward to next season already.

A question for you on your tree care; do you do much to it, feeding & pruning etc? Could you even share a picture? I’m inspired

Thanks for the kind words. I'll attach a photo of the tree in bloom. I probably have other photos if I can find them. We do get a crazy amount of plums. I believe the variety is Mariposa. One thing is that two years ago, my neighbor behind me cut down two trees that blocked late afternoon sun. Since then the tree has produced even more plums than before and it was a lot then. The tree does take some work. It is constanly trying to grow upwards and getting plums from the top as it is is already hard. Every winter I have done some pruning. Mostly cutting off the vertical suckers that it sprouts every year. I don't have to do much else. I have had a problem with aphids that show up as soon as the flowers are done and leaves start to come out. I have tried different things. Since the aphids appear so early, I had an idea that they might have eggs wintering over. So last winter, I started spraying with dormant season oil (basically mineral oil). That seemed to help a lot. I throw out some basic fertilizer and that's about it. This year, I am going to have the tree professionally pruned. I had a tree guy come this morning and give me a quote. That will reduce the production next season but that's OK. I figure I need 40 pounds to make two 5 gallon batches and that is plenty. I probably had 200 pounds last summer.

 

[MrFrench]

Thanks for the kind words. I'll attach a photo of the tree in bloom. I probably have other photos if I can find them. We do get a crazy amount of plums. I believe the variety is Mariposa. One thing is that two years ago, my neighbor behind me cut down two trees that blocked late afternoon sun. Since then the tree has produced even more plums than before and it was a lot then. The tree does take some work. It is constanly trying to grow upwards and getting plums from the top as it is is already hard. Every winter I have done some pruning. Mostly cutting off the vertical suckers that it sprouts every year. I don't have to do much else. I have had a problem with aphids that show up as soon as the flowers are done and leaves start to come out. I have tried different things. Since the aphids appear so early, I had an idea that they might have eggs wintering over. So last winter, I started spraying with dormant season oil (basically mineral oil). That seemed to help a lot. I throw out some basic fertilizer and that's about it. This year, I am going to have the tree professionally pruned. I had a tree guy come this morning and give me a quote. That will reduce the production next season but that's OK. I figure I need 40 pounds to make two 5 gallon batches and that is plenty. I probably had 200 pounds last summer.
View attachment 109114

Thanks for replying with that! Beautiful tree and wildly productive, what a gem.
Since reading your post I’ve looked into pruning regimes and am looking forward to late winter / early spring to go at mine with the loppers. It’s gone a bit wild, I didn’t do anything since moving to this property a couple of years ago so need to do some hard pruning. From what you say that sounds like the tree will likely lose most the crop for a year. Glad that you mentioned you will get a professional out to do the job because that sounds like the right thing to do, I shall copy

 

[rhodesengr]

I will get before and after photos. Trimming is supposed to happen Friday. Tree guy estimated about 50% less production. That would actually be good. I only want to make two 5 gallon batches and only need 40 pounds for that. Plus some to just eat when fresh. Must have had well over 200 pounds last summer.