Coaching a friend through making his first wine (plum) - no idea what type of plums. Plums from his trees were pitted and frozen as they ripened with a total of 41 pounds. OG was 1.100 (gave him a target of 1.090). Batch split between two buckets ~ 3.5 gallons each - and treated with kmeta. Two yeast starters - 71B and EC1118 (didn't expect a split batch and had given him one packet each on the off-chance he might need the EC1118 to finish) and a very healthy dose of pectic enzyme (not looking at my notes, but based recommendation on info from WMT).
He racked both batches to a single carboy ~two weeks ago at ~3/4 sugar depletion. Relatively slow ferment, but steady - when I visited last night, his basement felt quite cool, so I suspect temp an issue. Based on my readings here, I think the wine was probably on the fruit a bit too long (3 weeks)? SG last night was 1.005 and taste was acidic with an element of "sawdust" (excess tannin from fruit?) - good color and a hint of nice flavor right before the sawdust hits.
Current plan - warm area slightly (no excessive temp change) to encourage it to finish fermenting. And I warned friend that this summer might be optimistic for a drinkable product. Thoughts on whether the sawdust perception might age out? Other than staying the course at this point, any recommendations?
His trees are prolific and he is already talking about trials 2 and 3...
He racked both batches to a single carboy ~two weeks ago at ~3/4 sugar depletion. Relatively slow ferment, but steady - when I visited last night, his basement felt quite cool, so I suspect temp an issue. Based on my readings here, I think the wine was probably on the fruit a bit too long (3 weeks)? SG last night was 1.005 and taste was acidic with an element of "sawdust" (excess tannin from fruit?) - good color and a hint of nice flavor right before the sawdust hits.
Current plan - warm area slightly (no excessive temp change) to encourage it to finish fermenting. And I warned friend that this summer might be optimistic for a drinkable product. Thoughts on whether the sawdust perception might age out? Other than staying the course at this point, any recommendations?
His trees are prolific and he is already talking about trials 2 and 3...
