Sour Patch Kids - The Wine!

[mkjennison]

Hello!
I have a friend who is getting married next year who ADORES Sour Patch Kids. I'm hoping I can make a wine as a gift for her, and also as an experiment! I want to try to retain as much of the candy flavor as possible. If it doesn't turn out, then no harm done.

SO I CAME TO YOU FOR ADVICE...

The ingredients in SPK are:
sugar - ok
invert sugar - ok
corn syrup - ok
modified corn starch
tartaric acid
citric acid
flavoring - ok
colors - ok

1) I'm guessing the sour 'twang' from the candy comes from the two acids. Will this be too much acid for yeast? Will it be too much acid for a wine? If so, I know that 71B-1122 likes to metabolize Malic acid; are there any yeasts that munch on tartaric/citric?

2) Modified Corn Starch... I have exhausted all searching about how this will impact the wine. Starch will leave a haze which can be corrected with Amylase Enzyme, but powdered sugar should never be used because it contains corn starch as an anti-clumping agent. Any thoughts?

3) Candy Per Gallon: Skittles is 3/4 pound per gallon; this seems like a good starting point. But hey, I have never made a candy wine before.

Have a great weekend!
Mark

 

[mkjennison]

Okie dokie. I went ahead and started this wine and we'll see how it turns out. I'm going to hit it with Amylase enzyme when it's done fermenting to address the starch issue... I saw that Skittles also had starch in them so it shouldn't be any kind of a deal-breaker.

The 'kids never totally dissolved in the water - they left behind a clumpy white residue which fell to the bottom of the pot of hot water. It didn't seem like wax right now, but it may be.

Tried to rack it off the white sediment, but it all ended up going into the primary.

I liked the color that it turned out... kind of a pale pea-green.

LAZY MAN'S YEAST PITCHING TECHNIQUE:

 

[mkjennison]

Oh sorry. Meant to post the recipe too.

3 gallons of spring water
40oz sour patch kids, dissolved-ish
3 cans welch's white grape frozen concentrate
1 tsp wine tannin
2 tsp yeast nutrient
1tsp pectic enzyme
~5 pounds of sugar

Starting S.G. was 1.093, pH: ~3.4
Lalvin K1-V1116

 

[Scott]

That is an interesting color, keep us posted!

 

[A2]

Any updates?

 

[WaterWolf]

I think just dissolving them in vodka would be the better way to make alcohol from them. I did it years ago with skittles - a separate little bottle for each colour. It turned out tasting exactly like each skittle colour. The only bad part is the off putting white fatty scum that floats to the surface and has to be filtered out!

 

[mkjennison]

No real updates... two months or so ago I cleared it with Amylase enzyme and racked off the sediment... it's clear but not crystal clear. Trying to decide if I want to do Sparkolloid, but the haze is so slight that I wouldn't be too concerned bottling as is. I'm really glad that the green color has been retained, although light

It's been sitting stagnant waiting for me to have the time to sweeten back. I might also add some citric and tartaric to give it a little more pop, but need to do some taste testing.

 

[A2]

Any recent photos? At some point I would like to feature this wine our front page.

 

[mkjennison]

Here you go. Just snapped some pics

 

[A2]

I thank you greatly! Any issues with fermentation? Any suggestions on those who would make this themselves?

 

[mkjennison]

It went fairly smoothly - the dissolving of the candy is the part that took the longest. Just like other candy types made on here, there is a waxy, flocculant sediment (the remains of the binding material in the candy), but in this case the sludge settles to the bottom instead of floating to the top. When racking, best to leave this behind, but I transferred some from primary to avoid a lot of wine loss. A few rackings and it will be gone.

Tastes great, by the way. Can't wait to backsweeten and bottle it.
Mark

 

[Prewno]

I read up on skittles wine recently. The maker said that it does not age very well. If I can assume all candy wine is the same. Might be somthing you want to enjoy sooner at a party or an event instead of saving long term. I hope all goes well

 

[mkjennison]

Thanks Prewno! So far, so good. Been almost a year now and I still enjoy a glass every once in awhile. It definitely mellowed over 6 months and may be now a touch too sweet. Still good though.

 

[bade50]

I am hoping that you are still active on this forum. I wanted to ask about this sour patch wine and how it turned, taste wise, in the end. Did it retain the sour patch flavor? Did you back sweeten? If so, how much? And would you have changed anything?
I have 5 pounds of lime sour patch kids dissolved and am debating on additives. Toying with the idea of mixing it with agave syrup and making a margarita wine….

Thanks Prewno! So far, so good. Been almost a year now and I still enjoy a glass every once in awhile. It definitely mellowed over 6 months and may be now a touch too sweet. Still good though.