Guava Wine

[Boatboy24]

Started a guava wine today. 3 gallon batch.

2.5 gallons of guava nectar, 1 gallon of organic white grape juice.
2g of FT Blanc Soft
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp Fermaid O
SG adjusted to 1.080
pH tested @ 3.38, so I left it alone
D47 yeast

We'll see how she goes...

 

[AZMDTed]

Good luck, sounds interesting.

 

[geek]

Where did you get the nectar in gallons?
How much sugar you needed to adjust the SG to 1.080?

I love guava but never thought about it in a wine.. [emoji4]

 

[Boatboy24]

Where did you get the nectar in gallons?
How much sugar you needed to adjust the SG to 1.080?

I love guava but never thought about it in a wine.. [emoji4]

Bought it in ~33oz cartons. They were on sale for $0.99 a piece. Ten of those, along w/ two half gallons of organic white grape juice.

Ended up adding a pound of corn sugar, and maybe another half pound of white table sugar.

The D47 took off slowly, but was cooking nicely as of last night. I couldn't believe it, but it smells even more guava-y than it did before pitching the yeast.

 

[geek]

QA23 is a slow starter but once it starts it goes quiet and nice.

 

[Boatboy24]

QA23 is a slow starter but once it starts it goes quiet and nice.

D47 for this one. Interestingly, I made a starter of QA23 for my Vermentino and it took right off.

 

[geek]

D47 for this one. Interestingly, I made a starter of QA23 for my Vermentino and it took right off.

Ah.....I was typing while on the phone so got the names mixed up.... ::

I saw your other post about Vermentino and may be the reason of the confusion.

 

[Boatboy24]

Down to 1.060 tonight. Not flying through, but steady progress. Smells fantastic.

 

[Boatboy24]

She's taking her sweet time. Not quite down to 1.050 as of last night. In contrast, the Vermentino I started with QA23 the same day was at 1.000 and an SG of 1.087. There is no sign of stress though - no off odors. In fact, it smells great. I'll just be patient and if I have to finish it off with EC-1118, I will.

 

[geek]

Cool temp?

 

[Boatboy24]

Cool temp?

Estimating about 66 ambient.

 

[geek]

I can smell that guava from here...

 

[AkTom]

I'm wishing I was tasting it.

 

[Boatboy24]

I gotta tell ya, it smells awesome. Down to 1.050 tonight. Slow and steady wins the race. In the meantime, I just racked the Vermentino to secondary at 0.997.

 

[Stressbaby]

Sorry for the threadjack, but I thought I would share my other guava wine story as an FYI

I make my guava wines from fresh fruit. The guavas that are easiest for me to grow are strawberry guava and lemon guava. The last time I made guava wine I tried a straight strawberry guava. My thought with this batch was to try to capture the beautiful red color of a ripe strawberry guava. 5#/gallon. I simmered the fruit and gave it a 3 day cold soak.

Do not simmer and cold soak.

The color is a beautiful pink rosé, but this wine is irreparably, irredeemably bitter. Too much time on the seeds I believe. In retrospect I should have tried some Noblesse, it might have helped. As it stands, I pop open a bottle about once every 6 months, take a sip, try to convince myself the bitterness has subsided, take a second sip and learn otherwise, and dump it out.

 

[Boatboy24]

Geez, still at 1.022 as of last night. Ten days in. No off odors or other signs of stress, but I'm getting anxious over here.

 

[Boatboy24]

OK, finally got to secondary tonight. 2 weeks after pitching the yeast, I was at 1.004. Its still smelling and tasting great. Think I'll have a winner here - just under $20 for 3 gallons.

 

[Boatboy24]

It's been a while since I updated this. My notes say I racked from secondary on 5/19, but I didn't write down the SG. As I recall, it still wasn't below 1.000, but hadn't moved in a while - notes say I added ~1/8tsp of KMETA. Today I racked and measured SG at 0.994. The nose is something to behold. A big old fist full of guava to the face. It sets you up thinking you're going to have a great big, sweet, fruity wine. On the tongue, it is not quite that - much more subdued with good guava, but a hint of bitterness that I think was coming from CO2 (I tasted prior to racking). Acid feels like it is right on. I've got a bit of haze, so added some pectic enzyme and will let it sit for a while. I'm thinking it needs just a little sugar. I'll test some samples at 0.998, 1.000 and maybe 1.002 (or 004), if needed. Bottom line: I think I'm going to have a really, really enjoyable 'white' wine here that will showcase the tropical flavors of guava that I just love. And at less than $20 for 3 gallons, who can complain?

 

[Boatboy24]

Took a taste tonight. WOW!! Awesome sauce. Great acidity, amazing - in your face - guava flavor. Awesome without any back sweetening, but I think a hint of additional sugar will bring it to 'sublime'. Haze is gone. I'll rack and bench test with a little additional sugar soon. Hoping the sorbate that I'll have to add doesn't throw the flavor off too much. This is insanely good.

 

[skyfire322]

I'm on my way.