A few months ago, I made a batch of peach wine from the many peaches on my trees. I'm totally new to this, and went through the whole process via a pretty specific youtube video and with the help of my local brew store experts. I haven't been back to the store to ask, but my wine has been sitting in the 5 or 6 gallon glass jug (i can't remember) for about 2 months in the dark now. I just pulled it out and I want to know if it's still good or not? It looks like i have sentiment settled at the bottom from the remains of peach when I syphoned the wine from bucket to jug. Then the other question is the air release (forget the part name) that's in the plug of the jug. The disinfecting water is in it but it almost looks as if theres a mold growing at the top of the water? I'm assuming that mold couldn't have found it's way into the wine but what do I know?
Peach wine help!
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Wine looks great, take the airlock and scrub it good with a non bleach cleaner add some sanitizer back in it and put it back on after racking the wine off the lees "that's what that stuff at the bottom is called" and add kmeta and potassium sorbate, and sweeten to taste.
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Not likely, I will tell you most of my peach wines takes 12 to 18 months to start tasting good. And they only get better from there. Had one take 2 years before I didn't want to pour it out.
So should I bottle it after i wine off the lees, or put it back into the jug and let it sit in the dark for a year or two?
Scooter68
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Main thing it needs now is time - time to clear. Did you add pectic enzyme to the bucket before you added the yeast?
Even if you added the pectic enzyme peach wine takes a bit of time to clear. I have some from mid-July of this year that looks about like yours. Use of fining agents may help but they can also strip color and flavor from the wine.
My recommendation would be to skip the sorbate and sweetening at this time and let it age. The common routine is to rack the wine about every 3 months and add K-Meta at each 3 month racking until at least 12 months. At that point if it's not clear then you can use fining agents to remove the cloudiness and then use K-meta and potassium sorbate after that. Once the sorbate has had a bout a week in the carboy, then do the back- sweetening. I prefer to delay adding sorbate until the last week or two before bottling.
Even if you added the pectic enzyme peach wine takes a bit of time to clear. I have some from mid-July of this year that looks about like yours. Use of fining agents may help but they can also strip color and flavor from the wine.
My recommendation would be to skip the sorbate and sweetening at this time and let it age. The common routine is to rack the wine about every 3 months and add K-Meta at each 3 month racking until at least 12 months. At that point if it's not clear then you can use fining agents to remove the cloudiness and then use K-meta and potassium sorbate after that. Once the sorbate has had a bout a week in the carboy, then do the back- sweetening. I prefer to delay adding sorbate until the last week or two before bottling.
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I would not bottle until it was "ready" (as in tasted like you want it to), at this point I would rack it, take a hydrometer reading to see where it's at, if it below 1.000 it's most likely done (assuming the initial reading wasn't something crazy), then at the very least I'd add some kmeta (1/4 tsp for 5 or 6 gallons). I agree you may want to let it age before sweetening, but if you want to you can add sugar to taste, if you go this route be sure to add the potassium sorbate before adding sugar, take another hydrometer reading and let it sit for a week or 2 and take another reading to a sure fermenting did not restart. The if it is no longer bubbling (Co escaping) then you could bottle.
bkisel
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My peach wine, 4-5 batches now, have been good to go after 2 months bulk aging followed by 2 months bottle aging. These 6 gallon batches have been consumed within a year so I really can't say if the wine would have improved with more time before consumption. Holding a bottle or 2 back from each batch of wine made is something I've started to do so perhaps we'll see with this latest batch.
BTW, I believe that back sweetening with peach flavored frozen juice concentrate, along with a few other sweeteners, has added to the peach flavor and aroma of my peach wine.
BTW, I believe that back sweetening with peach flavored frozen juice concentrate, along with a few other sweeteners, has added to the peach flavor and aroma of my peach wine.
robert81650
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Where do you get peach flavored frozen juice concentrate? Never seen it in grocery store or at Walmart........
where
where
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Do tell
I'm getting ready to bottle my first peach wine. I might have been impatient and wanted it to clear so I added the Peptic Enzyme post fermentation and I worked well. I also wasn't pleased with the amount of peach flavor so I added 2 oz of peach extract from MLHBS about a week ago. Made a huge improvement but I may add a little morebefore I bottle.
Scooter68
Fruit "Wine" Maker
"I also wasn't pleased with the amount of peach flavor so I added 2 oz of peach extract from MLHBS about a week ago. Made a huge improvement but I may add a little morebefore I bottle."
I would wait on additions of extracts. When you back-sweeten, the flavor should come back. You don't have to make it a sweet wine to do that either. And SG between 1.002 and 1.005 normally brings out the natural flavors of my fruit wines without adding more fruit juice or extracts. Last thing you want is a flavor that tastes too strong like a bottle of Orange Crush.
I would wait on additions of extracts. When you back-sweeten, the flavor should come back. You don't have to make it a sweet wine to do that either. And SG between 1.002 and 1.005 normally brings out the natural flavors of my fruit wines without adding more fruit juice or extracts. Last thing you want is a flavor that tastes too strong like a bottle of Orange Crush.
What I have is 1.008 with a ph of 2.95. This is my only fruit wine and the only batch I didn't take initial readings on. It's 6 months old or so. It appears mid 3's is what the ph should be. Thoughts.
Scooter68
Fruit "Wine" Maker
While the pH is low (More Acidic) That's not really an issue to worry about. If you decide to adjust it upward, I would stop somewhere around 3.2 approx. I've seen commercial wines with a pH at 3.18 so you aren't that far off really. Just go slow - if you use calcium carbonate - add - stir - wait at least 2 days before retesting. Don't try to adjust more than about 1/4 to 1/3 towards your goal at any one dose.
The SG of 1.008 is toward the sweeter side but not really that much either. The acidity may be masking the flavor at this point so i would tackle that first. At 6 months the wine is still young and normally will have a bit of an edge/bit to it, but you are getting to the point where it should start coming of age soon.
Remember that the flavors of fruit wines are normally lighter than that of say a wine cooler. I don't see any listing of how many pounds of peaches you used. My peach wines seem best at around 6-7 lbs per gallon (That's after destoning and removing any bad parts) I normally lose about 1/4 to 1/2 gallon to gross lees so I will normally start with 3 1/2 gallons at least for a 3 gallon batch. Would like to see the recipe you followed and the numbers at start. (pH and SG)
The SG of 1.008 is toward the sweeter side but not really that much either. The acidity may be masking the flavor at this point so i would tackle that first. At 6 months the wine is still young and normally will have a bit of an edge/bit to it, but you are getting to the point where it should start coming of age soon.
Remember that the flavors of fruit wines are normally lighter than that of say a wine cooler. I don't see any listing of how many pounds of peaches you used. My peach wines seem best at around 6-7 lbs per gallon (That's after destoning and removing any bad parts) I normally lose about 1/4 to 1/2 gallon to gross lees so I will normally start with 3 1/2 gallons at least for a 3 gallon batch. Would like to see the recipe you followed and the numbers at start. (pH and SG)
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Like I said it's the only wine I didn't take notes on, don't know why. It's was Vintners Best and 10+ lbs of over ripe peaches. from there I can't tell you except I did add some sugar and either Tartaric Acid or Acid Blend. I'm kicking myself in the butt for not taking better notes. I just remembered when I was at approx 2 brix I added half the recommended Sorbate and put it in my chest freezer at 35 degrees for about 2 weeks maybe 3.
Scooter68
Fruit "Wine" Maker
Got it! Understand about note taking. I have few batches with spotty records but for the most part I've captured starting points. As to the fruit/concentrate it sounds good. I'm not a fan of that brand, prefer Vintners Harvest (VH) over Vintners Best (VB) simply because VB uses other fruits (Apple, Pear and grape I believe) more than the named fruit whereas VH is 100% the fruit on the label. BUT that 10lbs you added should have kicked in some good flavor for you.
bkisel
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Not sure I understand but here goes...
Sentence was poorly written. I didn't mean to imply that the two other sweeteners I use, which are 2 cups honey and 2 cups brown sugar (to 6 gallons), add to the peach flavor or aroma. Just, I believe, the 2 cans of peach flavored frozen juice concentrate. Actually got the idea/recommendation of using concentrates for back sweetening my fruit wines somewhere on WMT.
Thanks for all your help. I think I'll just let it age in the carboy for now and think about it. I was just hoping to bottle something.
bkisel
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I've used Welch's white grape peach concentrate with good results ( http://www.welchs.com/products/100-juices/concentrate/100-white-grape-peach-juice-frozen-concentrate ), not sure if that is what BIll is using.
