Loquats, anybody made any wine with them?

[myakkagldwngr]

Right now here in Florida the loquats are at full fruit.
I sampled one off a tree last Friday and it was tasty and actually very sweet.
I decided to find some and try some wine.
Yesterday while running errands for work, I saw a tree by another business's drive way and just went in and asked if I could pick some. They said, help yourself, they're just going to fall off onto the ground.
I have probably close to 45 pounds of whole fruit. Last night I prepared the first bucket by removing the seeds and most of the interior skin around the seeds.
17 pounds of fruit is in a primary with a 2 campden tablets and 3/4 tsp of pectin enzyme with just 1 1/2 gallons of water to cover the fruit.
I'll prepare the rest this afternoon after I get my running done.
Any suggestions from the profession whyno's.

 

[xanxer82]

A lot of people that make fruit wine like to freeze the fruit first. This serves two purposes. First, it kills any little critters residing on or in the fruit and secondly, the act of freezing water creates little shards of ice that puncture cell walls and allow for more juice extraction.
I've never had a loquat before so other than that, just measure the brix and keep the hydrometer handy. Using the Pectic Enzyme was a smart move too.
Good luck!

 

[myakkagldwngr]

It took me 2 1/2 hours to destone the second bucket. The first bucket has now been sitting about 20 hours so far and I took a hydrometer reading of it and it was 1.015. I haven't starting trying to mash the pulp yet or added any additional sugar.
I'll let both buckets sit now till tomorrow and then do that to them both.
I ended up with 25 lbs of fruit flesh in the second bucket and put just enough water to cover the fruit.
Tomorrow, sugar, pulp bags and getting it started fermenting.

 

[Sacalait]

The easy way is to use a steam juicer. Put all the loquats in that it will hold (without having to remove seeds or skins) and you've got juice in about an hour. Made a batch last year using loquat juice (about 3/4gal) and blackberry juice (about 1 1/4gal) that turned out pretty fair. Loquats fermented on their own seem to emit an earthy taste... not bad, just different.

 

[myakkagldwngr]

I checked my SG today and it was at 1.06. Both primaries are going at it good and I'm pushing down the fruit at least twice a day if not three times.
I took a sip of the liquid after taking the SG and if it continues like it is, I think this might be a good one.
I have to admit that on this one I am keeping really good records on everything I've done so far.
Without sugar, my SG was 1.02.
With the added sugar I upped it to 1.10
and now it's down to 1.06 in just two days.
Probably another day or so and I'll try to squeeze the pulp bags and transfer it to a carboy.

 

[myakkagldwngr]

Yesterday I took the SG reading and found it right at 1.04 so I decided to press the pulp bags and then transfer to a carboy.
I'm sure that I had about 40 pounds of fruit in the two primaries with just enough water to cover the fruit.
After squeezing everything out of them I could I ended up with a full 6 gallon carboy.
It is definitely all juice. It has the color of orange juice and still tasted pretty good, considering the alcohol taste you get already.
I'll have to pick a few more loquats to be ready to top off the carboy when I rack it.
I'm certain that even using bags, there will be quite a bit of sediment in this as it clears.