Moving from kit to fruit

[Goodfella]

Hey everybody,


I am new to winemaking (as most of you already know). I have a couple kits going. Now I want to start a fruit wine....


What additional equipment do I need?


How do I know when the fruit is the correct ripeness?


Ect. Ect.

 

[Waldo]

A steamer juicer is a mighty handy tool for making wines from fruits.

 

[Wade E]

You could use an acid tester but some of us rely on our taste buds instead. I dont use a steam juicer but I did get myself a cheap little fruit press. You will need to get etra airlocks and assorted size bungs for making extra wine for topping off carboy when racking off sediment many times and various size jugs like 1 gallon, 3 liter, and a magnum wine bottle. All these different size bottles will help you make a fruit wine and not have to top off with water or have too much headspace in your carboy at some time. You will want acid blend, pectic enzyme, ascorbic acid, some oak if you like oaked fruit wines.

 

[Goodfella]

I see in most (almost all) recipes they call for "X" amount of fruit juice, Then water and sugar.


My question is... Is the addition of water and sugar just to cut back on the amount of fruit needed? Or would that much pure fruit juicebe overpowering? Or Would a all juice (blackberry) wine be awesome?

 

[gaudet]

You might be able to with some fruit. but i t would depend on the acid content. If you used pure juice, the acidity might prevent the yeast from fermenting easily.

Just to give you an example of how much fruit it takes to achieve 6 gallons.
It took me 55#'s of blackberries to get 6 gallons of pure juice. That's a lot of berries and juice.

I've made two 6 gallon batches this season of blackberry with that 55#'s and I still have about 7 1/2 quarts of juice left. Enough to make some mead or a port 3 gallons or maybe just a little more.

 

[Wade E]

Sometimes we cheat due to money like you said and sometimes we are using something different like the grape concentrate to add body and tannin which most fruits lack in. Sometimes we also do it cause the fruit we wanted is out of season and juices or frozen fruit are typically better then grocery store fruit as they are picked early off the vine to get to your market before they go bad and sometimes never really ripen or get as sweet as they should have due to early picking.

 

[u01dtj6]

Gf,


What equipment do you currently have? Defying a lot of advice, I never started out with kits, so I am not too sure what you may have.


I started out with a bucket, carboy, airlock, steralizing powder, campden tablets, syphon tube, women'sstockings (as their an easier find than a muslinstrainer)yeast and yeast nutrient.


D

 

[CajunJay]

Since kits usually come with everything you need except a primary, a secondary (carboy), and a hydrometer I would say you need everything else. LOL To start with though, maybe you should decide on a fruit wine you would like to make, check the recipe and just get the ingredients for that including the additives. After a few batches of fruit wine you will have everything on hand.
Any idea what kid of fruit wine you want to make?

 

[Goodfella]

I am thinking a blackberry port

 

[pelican]

hi goodfella,

I make a lot of small 1 gallon fruit (juice) wine batches, and the occassional kit wine. (I saw your post about 'what to do with all the wine' LOL I have that problem too, so I make many small batches instead of many larger batches)

I started with the "fruit wine kit" from George - gallon jug and a 2 gallon bucket, airlock, tubing to rack with, and the assorted additives, and an acid test kit. I use(d) the acid test kit a lot - got a ph meter eventually (which was a dodgy meter so...) now I am pretty much "go by taste" but will test if I am in doubt.

Like other posters said, you cant just use all fruit and no added sugar for SOME fruits because of the acid content will be way too high. Rhubarb for example is high in acid, and so are some native/wild concord type grapes - especially if harvested too early and not fully ripe (like up here, the frost comes before the full ripening some years ).

Grapes have that natural balance of sugar, acid, nutrients, and flavor plus natural tannins. Other fruits, you have to adjust one or more of those items - usually calls for adding nutrients and tannin and reducing acid and increasing sugar.


Not having made a straight "fruit wine" on the whole fruit and nothing but the fruit (...dried elderberries though I did that one...and one with a melange of stuff tossed in with chokecherry pulp...) I can't advise on the blackberry port per se, but welcome to the world of Fruit Wines! Yum Yum.

 

[Wade E]

Waldo and Jobe have a excellent Blackberry Port recipe.