Prickly Pear Cactus Wine

[Demosthine]

I'm really enjoying the color and aroma of my small 1 gallon batch every time I test the SG! It's almost done now, just about dry...

I made a little label for it:

I agree! Dark, dark purple. Mine should read dry today, but I have a ways before it'll settle clear. This patience thing just ain't workin'!

 

[jamesngalveston]

If your patience runs out: add super kleer to it. Like this....
I am not advising ...merely suggesting.......
Add the small part of the super kleer package and gently stir.
Immediately after, add the second, (larger package) and stir.
after 24 hours it will be clear..some what..
do this.
looking at the wine you will see some weird stuff floating..kinda transparent, and suspended.
shake the carboy, and it will fall really quick.
let it clear another 12 hours...it will be, are should be done clearing.
I am not advising, only suggesting.....
Please do not do this at home without proper supervision , it may lead to an intoxicated state.

 

[snowgirl812001]

Sgx2, very nice! James, you are to funny!

 

[Demosthine]

So they replied back and offered me the Pyrex for $100. Think I should take it? That's right around 60 bottles of wine, if my calculations are right! I'm just not sure if I can manage a batch that large...

 

[sgx2]

So they replied back and offered me the Pyrex for $100. Think I should take it? That's right around 60 bottles of wine, if my calculations are right! I'm just not sure if I can manage a batch that large...

That's the volume, for sure. Actually, you see that size in demijohn format quite frequently -- often in a wicket (or plastic analogue) basket. If you do wine kits, just rack two primaries down into it!

 

[sgx2]

SnowGirl: thanks
James: I've wondered, is the Super Kleer clarifier actually Keiselsol and Chitosan?

 

[sgx2]

I tested my batch today and it was 0.994 (maybe even 0.992), so I went ahead and racked and stabilized it. I then added an ampule each of Siligel and Liquigel I had leftover from a kit wine. I'll try to be patient and leave it alone for a month or so

 

[Downwards]

I would totally buy that if I were you! I've been drooling over those babies for ages, but they are usually so darn expensive!

 

[Jericurl]

Manthing and I are going out driving this evening when he gets home from work. He will be on photo safari and I will be picking prickly pear fruit. I was going to get several pounds to make jam, but obviously, now I will have to get some to make wine.
I'm hoping I can find several 5 gallon buckets full.

Do you guys have a preference for breaking down/getting all the flavor out of the fruit, cooking vs juicing?

Also, I have never juiced anything. I'm assuming if I decided to do it w/o cooking it down I could just chop/mash it, then strain through fabric?

 

[Crown_King_Robb]

Just last week I used my steam juicer to process about 10 lbs of prickly pear.

First I picked them using some Tongs and put them in paper grocery sacks.
This way the stickers don't get you.

Then I froze them for a couple days, in the sacks, thawed them and threw on some pectic enzyme. Steam juicing took about an hour and I got more juice out of them than I expected. The steaming seemed to take the stick out of the stickers. Very few made it into the fermenting bucket anyway.

Super easy.

 

[Downwards]

I would figure that the stickers would settle out anyway right? Or maybe if you racked a wine through a few layers of cheesecloth you'd likely lose them all.

 

[snowgirl812001]

I would figure that the stickers would settle out anyway right? Or maybe if you racked a wine through a few layers of cheesecloth you'd likely lose them all.

That's what I use, cheesecloth

 

[Jericurl]

Well 1 1/4 buckets equaled out to 30.5 lbs of fruit.



Manthing got to use his flamethrower to burn off all the little stickers.
I will still be straining the juice/pulp through cloth just to make sure.
Here's what we ended up with after everything was said and done:



I froze about half of them and left the other half in the fridge.

I'm still on the fence about whether I should just juice them in a blender with a bit of water and strain or if I should just cook them on the stovetop. I've heard some people complain about the taste of cooked fruit vs raw juiced fruit in winemaking.


ack! having trouble with photos posting...

 

[sgx2]

I'm still on the fence about whether I should just juice them in a blender with a bit of water and strain or if I should just cook them on the stovetop.

I have read several times that heating the fruit solves the "mucous-like" quality of the juice. It will, however, probably set the pectin, so make sure not to skimp on the pectic enzyme.

 

[jamesngalveston]

i would add the tunas to musling bag are other, and add as little water as possible, then add some pectin enzyme, let sit over night and break the fruit down...then squeeze the bag by the time your done fermenting there will be nothing left of the fruit....its almost all water to start with.

 

[Jericurl]

James,

I already put all of this batch in the fridge after juicing. I didn't add any pectic enzyme.
I think I'm just going to freeze it and use it for jelly.
My next batch I will use for wine.

Do you think there would be a big difference in the finished wine if I used a steam juicer and used the 100% juice vs using pulp mixed with water?

 

[jamesngalveston]

I think the less water you use, the better flavor.. even if you have to make a smaller batch, it would be better then making a bigger batch and using less water.
I think the skins,pulp,etc makes a wine with more body and flavor.
Its not going to be in the primary for very long, (sitting on the seeds, etc.).
I have tons of blackberries, and that is what i experiment with.
I know that my wines made with the whole fruit, etc is a better wine, more color, more flavor.
I have a friend coming here from Tucson and is bringing me two igloos of tunas.
maybe 70 are 80 lbs...
i plan to make a 5 gallon batch...i will use the whole fruit,mashed with added pectin enzyme and water to make a liquid for the pectin to use.

 

[Jericurl]

So you don't bother getting all the seeds out? (because that would make my prep time about 90% faster)

 

[jamesngalveston]

seeds are not really going to hurt the wine, as long as you remove them before it goes in to the secondary...7 are 10 days, etc...is nothing.

 

[benbeard]

own variation

I did a 5 gallon batch in 2012, and did 10 gallons using the same recipe and techniques in 2013. Just bottled the 10 gallons and it tastes great and similar to the 2012 batch.
I used a mix of the Jack Keller recipe, the Raymond Massaccesi reciper (winemaker's recipe handbook), and my own ideas.
I live in Superior, Arizona, and we have literally thousands of acres of some of the best prickly pear in the Southwest. Superior has a Prickly Pear Festival every August. For a 5 gallon batch, I pick two 5 gallon buckets of tunas. The tunas should come off the nopales easily, that means they are ready.
I rinse the fruit or pick them after a good monsoon. I have a, 8 quart Calphalon multipot with the past insert. I put a few inches of water in the bottom, turn the heat up, load it almost 75% full of tunas, and steam them for a few minutes. When they get soft, I mash them inside the pot a few times to get nearly all the juice out. I pull out the pasta insert, drain a bit more juice, and toss the pulpy bits into a bin. I pour the juice through cloth and a strainer, and bravo, no need to take care of the needles and glochids, they are either in the pasta strainer or in the cloth. Repeat. I then get some additional juice from my pulp bucket at the end as well.
I get my SG to about 1.09, add raisins, and I use K1-V1116 yeast.
The 2012 batch used less fruit, therefore used more sugar. The 2013 batch used a lot more fruit and required less sugar.
The 2012 batch turned a slightly red-brown rummy look. Attached is picture of the 2013 freshly bottled, which is darker. The 2013 batch has a bit more flavor, but already tastes like it is going to be as good or better than 2012.
The advantage of this method is you don't have to worry about the needles/glochids. Just take care in the kitchen with the pulp and strainer that does contain the needles/glochids.