Prickly Pear Wine

[Jericurl]

John,

No I don't know the ph.

I have ph strips somewhere. This was one of the first wines I ever made and I attempted to use them on it at the beginning.
The wine/must just dyed the strip a bright purple/pink color. I never could figure out how people use them.

 

[blackspanish777]

Wasn't sure where to post this, but we recently made our first prickly pear wine. Seems to be going great so far!!! I did not cut them up at all. My Dad and I burned them using a pear burner (basically a flame thrower used to burn the needles off so cattle can eat them during a drought) lightly to remove the needles then I put them in a big crab boiling pot and covered them with about two gallons of water. Let them boil for about 45 minutes then smush them with a potato masher and strained through an old t-shirt. Voila awesome colored juice! However, I am concerned because my juice was not sweet at all... But it had a wild taste to it! Added the sugar I needed to get the ABV where I wanted and it tasted much better....Just completed first racking after two weeks in carboy...most sediment I have seen (like 2 inches) in the bottom of a carboy...

 

[Jericurl]

I used a steam juicer so I can't really speak to how much sediment usually forms.

It does have an interesting spicy green, almost haylike taste to it at first. After a year, mine still has nuances of that but there is an odd spicy fruity taste to it now.
I'm pretty pleased with mine.

 

[blackspanish777]

I can say that the alcohol flavor right now is really overrunning every other flavor. But I can see what you are saying about the haylike taste to it.

 

[blackspanish777]

Ok so I tried it this morning and the alcohol flavor has died down, but the pear flavor is.... interesting... It might change in a month or so, and I am going to sweeten it, but not sure if I will try it again...

 

[graeme]

Hi
I am attempting my first liquer "umeshu" with unripe plums, sugar and vodka. A small problem with the early onset a week in that the fruit rises to the top and the top plums are exposed because of the buoyancy, and appear to brown a lot faster so I removed the first written looking ones, to find the next takes its place and to the same result. A week in. Any advice, leave them, or remove? Awkward beginners moment here.

 

[graeme]

 

[Jericurl]

Hi
I am attempting my first liquer "umeshu" with unripe plums, sugar and vodka. A small problem with the early onset a week in that the fruit rises to the top and the top plums are exposed because of the buoyancy, and appear to brown a lot faster so I removed the first written looking ones, to find the next takes its place and to the same result. A week in. Any advice, leave them, or remove? Awkward beginners moment here.

Put something on top of the plums to keep them submerged. In canning, I use small glass discs made to fit into widemouth canning jars. Historically, our ancestors used sterilized rocks, bits of ceramic, whatever.

 

[Jericurl]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077CW9S5H/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Jericurl]

Also, once they have been consistently exposed to the air and turn brown, I would toss them. I use the above weights when I make preserved lemons and it keeps them submerged nicely for the better part of a year before I am ready to use them.

 

[graeme]

Thank-you
Will do, I shall replace the lost plums if I can, its getting hard to find un-ripe plums now on this side of the world.

 

[Jericurl]

@graeme , How is the umeshu turning out?

 

[sour_grapes]

Miss you, Jeri! Good to see you back.