Going to make a 3 gallon peach batch

[Donatelo]

I brought home 10 pounds of local peaches. I can get lots more, I just didn't want to be a hog about it. I need about another 5 pounds to make my 3 gallon batch. "The Joy of Winemaking" has a nice recipe. I'll post the recipe later. now I got peaches to tend to.

 

[Donatelo]

Here is the recipe:

Peach or apricot Wine
Get the ripest fruit you can and wash it well. It should be soft and fragrant. No need to peel the fruit but remove any bruises and the pits. You can also use frozen fruit. Just put them frozen in the bag.
3 gallons fresh water
6 cups sugar
9 pounds ripe peaches or apricots
Zest and juice of 6 lemons(or 4 teaspoons acid blend)
1 teaspoon Tannin
2 teaspoons yeast nutrient
3 Campden tablets (crushed)
1 ½ Teaspoons pectic enzyme
1 packet of EC-1118 yeast

Put 1-gallon water and sugar on the stove to boil. This is to dissolve the sugar. Put your fruit in a nylon straining bag. Place in your primary fermenter. Wash your hands and crush the fruit as much as you can. Pour the hot sugar water over the fruit. Pour the rest of the water in to bring the temperature down quickly.
Add the yeast nutrient, lemon juice, zest, and tannin, but wait until the temperature has cooled to add the crushed campden tablets. Twelve hours later add the pectic enzyme.
Check the Specific Gravity and record it. It will seem high due to the pulp. Cover and add an airlock. 24 hours later add the yeast. Stir the must and take the SG daily.
After about two weeks, remove the bag Let drain, but not squeeze. Check the Sg. If it is above 1.040, let it rest for another week. Rack the must into your secondary fermenter, leaving behind the sediment. Rack the wine off the sediment two more times. You don’t want any off flavors. Check the SG.
After the wine has fermented out (about 6 months), taste the wine. You can add a stabilizer and back sweeten. At this time bottle and label it. After a year, chill and serve.

 

[Bleedaggie]

Dumb question: what size carboy did you use for secondary fermentation in this recipe?

 

[Donatelo]

UH , it's a three gallon batch. I racked it off of the primary and had about a half gallon left over. That is in a pet bottle.

 

[Bleedaggie]

UH , it's a three gallon batch. I racked it off of the primary and had about a half gallon left over. That is in a pet bottle.

Yeah, I told you it was a dumb question. I saw “3 gallon batch”, but 9 pounds of fruit and 3 gallons of water. Wondered if the peach really broke down that much. Guess so.

 

[Donatelo]

All that sugar in there makes alcohol. The peach is just a flavoring, come right down to it. You can make white rum with just sugar. You brew it to as high an alcohol content as you can get, then distill it out to about 40%. And you have rum.
I don't want all peachy wine. I've done that, didn't like it. Even so, My SG went to .992. I racked it into a clean carboy this morning and added potassium sorbate and campden tablets (ground.)

 

[Donatelo]

I racked and added campden tablets to this for the second time. It has cleared out beautifully. I tasted a small sip and it is still pretty young. I may go ahead and add some peach to it for more of a peachy flavor. The Sg is now .990 , which gives me an ABV of 9.71%. I don't want anything higher than that.