Peach wine advice

[D&SinSC]

Hi everyone! We made 2 batches of wine from the basic recipes on the site. One with fresh peaches and one with fresh blueberries. All were grown locally. It is 120 days old now and we have racked it twice. It has been on oak spirals for the last 30 days.

Is it safe to bottle this now or should we wait longer? And if so what do we need to do before we do so? I know in other kits you need to stop the fermentation, degas ect... The recipe told us the ingredients and to let it age but sort of lost now as it did not say how long before bottling

Note: The blueberry was pretty exciting. When we first put an airlock on it we came in the next day and it had sprayed the ceiling! The peach was much more laid back and settled down fairly quickly.

Thanks for any advice and help!

 

[vcasey]

Is the wine clear? If not some superkleer will help. You will need to add sorbate (usually 1/2 tsp per gallon) and k-meta (1 campden tablet per gallon) to prevent the yeast from waking up and blowing out the corks.
How much did you make? Did you oak the peach and with what oak?
Welcome to the forum?
VC

 

[D&SinSC]

Yea, after racking it twice it is nice and clear. I made 6 gallons of each. I used light oak spirals on the peach and medium on the blueberry. Blowing out the corks was something I was worried about...

And thanks for the welcome. I read a lot but this is my first post.

 

[admiral]

Welcome aboard! Your wine sound great!

 

[Tom]

1st welcome.


I make Peach and Blueberry as well as other fruit wines.
Taste it now as 30 days on oak may be enough.


2nd have you thought about backsweetening and adding a f-pac? If not you can do a search here.


3rd If you have not degassed do it after you rack off the oak

 

[Goodfella]

I have been told Not to oak peach???

 

[vcasey]

I have been told Not to oak peach???

Lies, all lies!
But seriously you can oak anything, just depends on what you want the end product to taste like. The light oak will give it a bit of coconut. One of my next projects will be a peach cobbler mead or wine and I do plan on using some oak.
VC

 

[Goodfella]

Well.... It sounds like I will have to give it a try on a small amount. I think I will use a light toast.

 

[D&SinSC]

I found this description of back sweetening on here but I cannot seem to find what or how to make an "F-Pack" and I did not see them for sale. Can someone point me in the right direction?

"backsweetening</span>. Its a 2 to 1 mix of
sugar and water. Boil 4 oz of water and add 8 oz of sugar. whisk on
heat till clear. Add to wine to your taste"


So my current plan is to rack it off the oak, add sorbate and k-meta and then degas. Then taste and see if I want to backsweeten or add an f-pack (once I learn what that is!).

Does this sound sane?

Thanks!

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Goodfella posted on f-packs here: http://forum.finevinewines.com//forum_posts.asp?TID=8807&KW=f-pack

There is a lot of information on them in the forum, just make sure to click "any date" when you do your search parameters. I haven't used a homemade f-pack yet so I'll be interested to read what other advice you get on it here. It sounds like a great way to keep the fresh fruit flavor while back-sweetening without a lot of plain sugar.

 

[Joanie]

It's as sane as can be!

An F-pack is juice that has been reduced to add flavor to a finished wine.

F= flavor

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Do you use them, Joan? I seem to remember something about using more pectic enzyme to make sure the wine clears afterwards. Also, don't you have to be careful about additional sediment? What I mean is, don't you make the f-pack, add it during a rack (while stabilizing with potassium sorbate AND adding k-meta AND pectic enzyme), and then wait a while for the wine to become clear again?

 

[joeswine]

its not just that simple,a fpac or flavor enhancement pac can be done in many ways,,for instance if your using fresh grapes,save the original pressing liqiud,refine it and return it to the second stage of the original product,,,,,,,if your making a fruit wine- if you pressed out the fruit and your at the pulp level,now press again that second pressing of the pulp is pure esence of the fruit no need to simmer or cook,wait till your at the 3rd stage of finishing to add it, unlike a kit wine fpac which i believe is mostly floavored chemicals,(ever see a breakdown of ingerdience on the lable?)these fpacs are usually used for fruits and kit wines like Island mist styles,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,how ever,,,,,,,,,if you want to create your own,,,blends of fpacs and wines ........now your crafting a wine ,,,,,,,,,your personal stamp//////////// in my experience and i can talk about only mine,fruit juice extracted from fresh fruit is the true fpac for fruit wines,,,,note i stated extracted..........good luck.........as many questions as their wine makers..........and as many ways to do things....................happy hoildays to all

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Yes, and I've also heard that when you don't have the original pressing or access to the same fresh fruit, people have made f-packs from store-bought juice or juice concentrate.

 

[Joanie]

Brewgrrl, I've only ever used F-packs that have come with kits. I have 5 gallons of fresh strawberry wine I may make one for though. I have leftover strawberries in my freezer I can use.

I have also heard of people using juice and concentrates to make F-packs.

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Ah, the anarchy of wine-making. I love this hobby.

 

[D&SinSC]

Thanks so much for all the helpful advice!

 

[Tom]

Yep. Thats what I do

 

[Goodfella]

Yep. Thats what I do

Tepe is the king of F-Packs!!! IMO


He has made me a believer for sure.

 

[Tom]

Glad to be helpfull Goodfella