Plum Wine Recipe (for critique)

[GreatNorthernLlama]

Not sure where you live but if there is an Aldi supermarket near you they sell organic plum juice with no preservatives. Might use that instead of water

Canada here. I've never seen plum juice. Prune juice of course but no plum. Dunno if that works out to be the same?

 

[Hazelemere]

Progress update:

Mashed 24 lbs plums and added 2 1/3 tsp pectic enzyme (all I have left apparently. Getting more tomorrow). Poured into paint straining bags I use as brew bags and zip tied. Made a simple syrup with 4.5 kg sugar and 9 liters water. Will mix when room temp along with 6 Camden tabs.

Plan to make yeast starter with my 71B tonight. Calculator tried to say I need 20 g yeast but I think I'll stick with 1g per gallon (6.5g). I'll top up sugar and water to my target volume and SG 1.095. Any tips are appreciated

add another 1 tbsp of pectic enzyme. If you add plum juice you need more water. Otherwise your recipe should be good especially with 71B yeast. Plums contain a massive amount of pectin. Adding more pectic enzyme won't detract from the flavour and will help your wine clear faster. Also don't add any tannin. You have enough already in the Italian prune plum skins.

 

[GreatNorthernLlama]

add another 1 tbsp of pectic enzyme. If you add plum juice you need more water. Otherwise your recipe should be good especially with 71B yeas

I'm going to look around for plum juice but I've never seen any around my area before. Can't imagine I could swap for prune juice either lol!

I may pull out another 5 or 6 lbs plums and add them. Would need a third brew bag (paint strainer) but I'm starting to think all the comments about beingore plum forward are right. My current SG as of this moment is a high 1.204. I'm thinking if I add another 6 lbs plums and the maybe half gallon of water left to reach my target initial volume, this would get me to the starting SG I'm striving for. In this case, I'm thinking I'll wait to tomorrow to add the plums and water as I said, and will pitch Camden tablets then along with the extra PE I'm missing. Can start the yeast starter tomorrow too and delay everything by one day. What's in the must now can have that extra time with the short amount of PE I had on hand

 

[Ohio Bob]

Can't imagine I could swap for prune juice either lol!

Yes you can. I’ve always added prunes to my blackberry wine/ports. It’s just like adding raisins to kits, it’s just a tweak.

 

[GreatNorthernLlama]

Yes you can. I’ve always added prunes to my blackberry wine/ports. It’s just like adding raisins to kits, it’s just a tweak.

Hmmmm. I'll start with the real thing and water. Prob going to fight to get the SG down rather than holds it up, but this is great to know!

 

[DrGriz]

Edited:
Agree with @Hazelemere : you could even add 2 or 3 tbsp of pectinase and benefit. Instructions on my pectinase say 1/2 tsp/gal, and some times I triple the dose for high pectin fruits with good success. So 2.5 tbsp in your 5 gallon must would be fine. Just my thought.

 

[Raptor99]

Agree with @Hazelemere : you could even add 2 or 3 tbsp of pectinase and benefit. Instructions on my pectinase say 1/2 tbsp/gal, so 2.5 tbsp in your 5 gallon must would be minimum. Just my thought.

My pectic enzyme package says 1/2 tsp. per gallon, not 1/2 Tbls.

 

[DrGriz]

My pectic enzyme package says 1/2 tsp. per gallon, not 1/2 Tbls.

You are right. My bad. Thanks for the correction.

That said, still, I have found that for something very high in pectin there's little downside to the higher dose except cost.

I edited my above post.

 

[Hazelemere]

you can't easily overdose pectic enzyme. I always add a lot to all my fruit wines. Adding more will give you a better, clearer plum wine with less sludge. I won 2nd place in a wine competition for dry fruit wines using drumroll......Italian prune plums vs ~15 other wines.

PS Italian prune plums make killer sherry if mixed with dried figs and sultana raisins, oaked, allowed to bake in an attic with enough alcohol so it won't ferment such as - demerara rum (best you can find), Grand Marnier, Drambuie or Metaxa. I like dried Turkish figs that I get from a Greek deli together with Turkish sultanas. California sultanas and dried figs are equally good. The Turkish Calimyrna figs are lighter than the California Mission figs but they both work. You can even add sliced over-ripe bananas and ferment with EC-1118 yeast. Trust me if you bake this wine in a hot attic after it stops fermenting with medium toast American oak you can get a spectacular wine that can age for 10 years plus that can develop a gorgeous creamy, caramel and nut flavour and smell. If I had Italian prune plums which I don't I would absolutely make this recipe. I've done it in the past and always got something really good from it.

 

[GreatNorthernLlama]

you can't easily overdose pectic enzyme. I always add a lot to all my fruit wines. Adding more will give you a better, clearer plum wine with less sludge. I won 2nd place in a wine competition for dry fruit wines using drumroll......Italian prune plums vs ~15 other wines.

PS Italian prune plums make killer sherry if mixed with dried figs and sultana raisins, oaked, allowed to bake in an attic with enough alcohol so it won't ferment such as - demerara rum (best you can find), Grand Marnier, Drambuie or Metaxa. I like dried Turkish figs that I get from a Greek deli together with Turkish sultanas. California sultanas and dried figs are equally good. The Turkish Calimyrna figs are lighter than the California Mission figs but they both work. You can even add sliced over-ripe bananas and ferment with EC-1118 yeast. Trust me if you bake this wine in a hot attic after it stops fermenting with medium toast American oak you can get a spectacular wine that can age for 10 years plus that can develop a gorgeous creamy, caramel and nut flavour and smell. If I had Italian prune plums which I don't I would absolutely make this recipe. I've done it in the past and always got something really good from it.

I think you commented on one of my first posts here with this recipe for a sherry. The left over plums I have are absolutely going to use on this. What did you bottle in? I've got tons of wine bottles but thinking something strong like this might be better bottles in smaller quantities?

Update tonight. Added another 6.3 lbs plums for a total of 31.3 lbs. Added a few liters of water and saw no difference in my SG (1.104). After this reading is when I added my plums and a bag of 35g oak chips for tannin. Next reading was 1.06! Took it twice and made sure to mix to confirm. No idea what's going on and I'm quickly running out of headroom (estimate 7 gallons in this 6.5 gal primary). Pitched 7 Camden tablets and starting yeast starter now. I'm going to take sg readings tomorrow and VERY slowly and carefully add another homemade syrup to get to the SG I want. I didn't think the SG needle would move so fast. I'll let the plums leech more of their sugars before I overreact. If the needle really did move so quickly and easily I should be able to get it back into range theoretically with very little added fluid.

Would anyone recommend adding more wine tannin in addition to the oak chips used here?

 

[Hazelemere]

I think you commented on one of my first posts here with this recipe for a sherry. The left over plums I have are absolutely going to use on this. What did you bottle in? I've got tons of wine bottles but thinking something strong like this might be better bottles in smaller quantities?

Update tonight. Added another 6.3 lbs plums for a total of 31.3 lbs. Added a few liters of water and saw no difference in my SG (1.104). After this reading is when I added my plums and a bag of 35g oak chips for tannin. Next reading was 1.06! Took it twice and made sure to mix to confirm. No idea what's going on and I'm quickly running out of headroom (estimate 7 gallons in this 6.5 gal primary). Pitched 7 Camden tablets and starting yeast starter now. I'm going to take sg readings tomorrow and VERY slowly and carefully add another homemade syrup to get to the SG I want. I didn't think the SG needle would move so fast. I'll let the plums leech more of their sugars before I overreact. If the needle really did move so quickly and easily I should be able to get it back into range theoretically with very little added fluid.

Would anyone recommend adding more wine tannin in addition to the oak chips used here?

no extra tannin. Did you read aNYTHING i SAID ABOUT TANNIN ON PLUM WINE?

 

[GreatNorthernLlama]

no extra tannin. Did you read aNYTHING i SAID ABOUT TANNIN ON PLUM WINE?

Whelp.......

My sleep deprived monkey brain missed that. Glad I only got as far as oak chips. I can even yank that bag earlier than the others if need be. Tossed it in the brew bag with my 6.3 lbs plum top off.

 

[Hazelemere]

Whelp.......

My sleep deprived monkey brain missed that. Glad I only got as far as oak chips. I can even yank that bag earlier than the others if need be. Tossed it in the brew bag with my 6.3 lbs plum top off.

SLOW DOWN AND FOCUS.

 

[GreatNorthernLlama]

SLOW DOWN AND FOCUS.

Lol I'll do what I can. We shall survive this

 

[Hazelemere]

Lol I'll do what I can. We shall survive this

Relax and while relaxing pay attention to everything that anyone tells you. You are looking for "one way". There is never "one way". The only reason I'm talking to you is that you look like you want to be a seriously good winemaker. Good on you for that. I'm a champion winemaker having won "Winemaker of the Year" 2 years in a row against 200 winemakers each time. You can ignore me and I won't judge you for it, but know that if I give you advice it comes from my heart and I mean it. I've been making consistently good, very good or excellent wine for over 30 years, having been hit or miss or a train wreck before that. I've been a winemaking judge more than once. I try to never make crap. Whatever path you choose is yours. Keep good records so if you screw up you may discover a fix to a mistake. The whole purpose of this website is to help people not make serious mistakes and make homemade wines that transcend the concept of homemade wines.

Good luck to you

Klaus

 

[GreatNorthernLlama]

Relax and while relaxing pay attention to everything that anyone tells you. You are looking for "one way". There is never "one way". The only reason I'm talking to you is that you look like you want to be a seriously good winemaker. Good on you for that. I'm a champion winemaker having won "Winemaker of the Year" 2 years in a row against 200 winemakers each time. You can ignore me and I won't judge you for it, but know that if I give you advice it comes from my heart and I mean it. I've been making consistently good, very good or excellent wine for over 30 years, having been hit or miss or a train wreck before that. I've been a winemaking judge more than once. I try to never make crap. Whatever path you choose is yours. Keep good records so if you screw up you may discover a fix to a mistake. The whole purpose of this website is to help people not make serious mistakes and make homemade wines that transcend the concept of homemade wines.

Good luck to you

Klaus

I appreciate the message. And I knew from the first few forums I ever read on this site there are some serious vintners here who really know their **** (pardon the French). I can imagine the frustration taking the time out of your day to embark golden nuggets of knowledge only for them to be ignored or unnoticed.

At the end of the day, as you mentioned, everyone's journey is their own. Personally, despite my wife mocking me for picking up a hobby at one of the busiest times of our lives, it relaxes me and gives me satisfaction. I'm writing this now with baby on my chest for the third time in the past 4 hours (teething sucks). Should I slow down? Of course! Do I have the time to? Well often I do but not always. I'm here to mess things up and make mistakes I know. But above all I keep notes and I re read the threads I've started on any batch to make notes. On my tracker logs I've got electronically I make a point at the end of every batch right now to note three things I learned (point one of my first batch was keep better notes lol).

All this to say I appreciate your advice and all the advice of everyone here. Even if I overlooked it during an ongoing brew, please know it isn't completely falling of deaf ears.

 

[KaptKanga]

After a few mead runs to gain some basic experience, this beginner is back!
FINALLY ramping up for my plum wine, but I'm struggling to finalize a recipe and with a few basic questions. First few points that I've come to understand from reading the forums and now know:
- Add sugar in the primary to my target SG. Desire is to ferment dry, and back sweeten (targeting an initial SG of 1.095)
- shooting for an average of 6 lbs plums per gallon
- Plums are currently pitted, chopped and frozen in bags. First step will be to empty out to thaw and add 3 tsp pectic enzyme (1/10th tsp per lbs is what I've read) and macerate as it thaws before pouring the whole pulp into a brew bag as part of the must
- creating a yeast starter will be great for this
- Initial ferm bucket volume a little over 5 gallon to account for loss before racking off the lees

Knowing this, I've come up with the following recipe for a 5 gallon batch:
Stabilize must with campden and potassium sorbate of course
3 gallons water
25 lbs plums
3 tsp pectic enzyme
13 lbs sugar
Target SG 1.095

Yeast - EC118 (11g)
Nutrient - Fermaid O (13.75g divided into three rounds at 24h, 72h, and 1/3 sugar)

Process: I know press fruit, mix with water and sugar and stabilize. Same time make a yeast starter. Day 2 pitch yeast, and add nutrients.
I've got the following questions / issues with the recipe above
1- As mentioned my goal is a target SG above a flat amount of sugar. I assume I will keep the plums consistent and just adjust the amount of sugar to meet my target SG. I know this will be a lot of a kind of mad scientist mixing simple syrup and water into my must and re-checking the SG, so hope to get it pretty constant without ending up with a crazy large batch with a ton of loss
2- on that note, I used meadtools as an online calculator to estimate my batch. This calculates out to a massive 8 gallon batch with sounds crazy. Maybe someone else knows this is actually correct and I need to scale down everything?
3- Acid and Tannin - A question for later, likely post primary. I have an acid blend, as well as pure citric and tannic acid as well as tannins available to add. Looking for guidance on how one would go about introducing such additives.
4- Nutrients: I have fermaide O and DAP. Can Amazon Fermaide K. Would anyone recommend this and do a full Tosna 3.0?

Any insights appreciated.

I always add strong black tea to my fruit wines to enhance the dryness ...may be worth a shot with your plum wine as well

 

[Hazelemere]

any bottles are fine

 

[winemaker81]

At the end of the day, as you mentioned, everyone's journey is their own. Personally, despite my wife mocking me for picking up a hobby at one of the busiest times of our lives, it relaxes me and gives me satisfaction. I'm writing this now with baby on my chest for the third time in the past 4 hours (teething sucks). Should I slow down? Of course! Do I have the time to? Well often I do but not always. I'm here to mess things up and make mistakes I know. But above all I keep notes and I re read the threads I've started on any batch to make notes. On my tracker logs I've got electronically I make a point at the end of every batch right now to note three things I learned (point one of my first batch was keep better notes lol).

One thing about winemaking is that there is a lot of activity up front, then it's like watch grass grow or watching golf. [Except you get wine!]

So ... you have a lot of things going on for 7 to 10 days. Then again in 2 or 3 weeks ... then again in 3 months.

My younger son had colic for 8 months ... I know what you're going through. You'll get through it, and anything you can do to maintain your sanity is good!