Staghorn Sumac wine

[gunwolf]

although I have not completed this batch yet...here you go...

Staghorn Sumac wine(3 gal)
15lbs. of fresh picked sumac "berries" or approx. 50 to 60 staghorn berry clusters
9lbs of sugar
3 1/2 gallons of water (I use spring water)
2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient(fermaid)
1/8th teaspoon of K-meta
1 1/2 tablespoons of pectic enzyme.
3 over ripe bananas
1 packet of lalvin rc212 yeast.


I start by collecting berry clusters in late July or early August.
I do not wash the berry clusters!!! this will take away most of the sugars which collect on tiny hairs on the outside of the berry. I carefully slide my hand down each "stalk" to remove the clusters of berries. it's OK to leave a few stems.
I then look through the pile and discard any immature berries. Make sure also there are no insects in your berries. I place these in a nylon straining bag and set them aside.

I then add two gallons of water to my primary bucket, along with the sugar,K-meta,Nutrient,and pectic enzyme. stir until sugar is almost dissolved.
cut up the bananas in large chunks and add to saucepan...add just enough water to cover and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 min. then strain and add the banana water to the must.

I then add the bag of berries and the rest of the water. I squeeze the bag several times while getting it wet to release some of the juice. cover the bucket and let it sit for 24 hours.then I check the SG and adjust with sugar/water to get desired SG I started at 1.095

stir everything up again and pitch yeast. cover with top that has a airlock and let ferment for two weeks. I then rack into a 3gal carboy ...then the waiting begins.

 

[Mud]

Can you liken the taste of sumac to anything else?

 

[BobF]

Which Sumac? Smooth, Fragrant, Poison, or some other variety?

 

[gunwolf]

Staghorn Sumac has a lemonade (tart) flavor...*I have read that the tartness comes from the amount of tannin

Staghorn sumac is a variety like smooth. it grows in cone shaped berry clusters. but the tiny hairs on the stems and berries give it it's name.

 

[Mud]

I'm going to try this. Lots of sumac around here. Should be easy enough to get some.

 

[Woodbee]

Thank you
Gunwolf

 

[closetwine]

Can we get an update on this one? I have tons of sumac around here and love the flaver, never thought of making wine with it though. I'd love to know how this is turning out!

 

[bowman64]

sounds great,i will most certainly give this a try..thanks for sharing..john

 

[saramc]

Getting ready to make this soon. I have had a large brown grocery sackful of staghorn sumac clusters stashed in the freezer and today I sat down with a fork and started to "fork" the berries off of the stem(s). Fork works wonders. I had cleaned 35 clusters with a yield of one very packed one gallon bag and I have at least 20 more clusters to "fork". Looking forward to getting this one going.

 

[Mellow Mama]

Wondering if anyone has made sumac wine the ol' country fruit style by using just sumac berries, (or the juice), sugar, water and yeast.

 

[coboll2921]

How did the sumac wine turn out, I'm interested.

 

[Rice_Guy]

although I have not completed this batch yet...here you go...

Staghorn Sumac wine(3 gal)
15lbs. of fresh picked sumac "berries" or approx. 50 to 60 staghorn berry clusters
9lbs of sugar
3 1/2 gallons of water (I use spring water)
2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient(fermaid)
1/8th teaspoon of K-meta
1 1/2 tablespoons of pectic enzyme.
3 over ripe bananas
1 packet of lalvin rc212 yeast.


I start by collecting berry clusters in late July or early August.
I do not wash the berry clusters!!! this will take away most of the sugars which collect on tiny hairs on the outside of the berry. I carefully slide my hand down each "stalk" to remove the clusters of berries. it's OK to leave a few stems.
I then look through the pile and discard any immature berries. Make sure also there are no insects in your berries. I place these in a nylon straining bag and set them aside.

I then add two gallons of water to my primary bucket, along with the sugar,K-meta,Nutrient,and pectic enzyme. stir until sugar is almost dissolved.
cut up the bananas in large chunks and add to saucepan...add just enough water to cover and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 min. then strain and add the banana water to the must.

I then add the bag of berries and the rest of the water. I squeeze the bag several times while getting it wet to release some of the juice. cover the bucket and let it sit for 24 hours.then I check the SG and adjust with sugar/water to get desired SG I started at 1.095

stir everything up again and pitch yeast. cover with top that has a airlock and let ferment for two weeks. I then rack into a 3gal carboy ...then the waiting begins.

Why use banana?
I have some in the garage waiting. Kinda stopped when I tried to pull the berries off and said this is like work. , , With the berries I pulled I did a 50% tea: pH 2.7 / gravity 1.00 / acidic otherwise bland / lots of hairs.
Really don’t want to have to pull all the berries. but then the wife would like it to go away.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Getting ready to make this soon. I have had a large brown grocery sackful of staghorn sumac clusters stashed in the freezer and today I sat down with a fork and started to "fork" the berries off of the stem(s). Fork works wonders. I had cleaned 35 clusters with a yield of one very packed one gallon bag and I have at least 20 more clusters to "fork". Looking forward to getting this one going.

How much did you make ? , , , all I collected was 1.5 grocery bags of clusters.

 

[Sunflower]

Well folks, I would have loved to have seen any updates on any of this. I have a bunch of fragrant sumac (rhus aromatica) bushes with tons of berries on them. I really like the way they taste--definitely sour, but also another flavor that I can't quite identify, and I am definitely going to make wine from it. I guess I'll plan on making one gallon of wine from however much I collect later today.

Do folks recommend freezing the berries first, to make them easier to de-stem?

 

[Rice_Guy]

Do folks recommend freezing the berries first, to make them easier to de-stem?

The dry seed head of stag horn sumacs has no detectable pulp. ,,, Freezing will not matter. I tried two methods 1) taking a fork and pushing the seeds off and 2) rubbing them off by hand. The process isn’t too hard by hand.

I really like the pink color I got. ,,, The berries are supposed to be ground and then used as a seasoning on the Middle East.

 

[Sunflower]

The dry seed head of stag horn sumacs has no detectable pulp. ,,, Freezing will not matter. I tried two methods 1) taking a fork and pushing the seeds off and 2) rubbing them off by hand. The process isn’t too hard by hand.

I really like the pink color I got. ,,, The berries are supposed to be ground and then used as a seasoning on the Middle East.

My berries are still definitely juicy--not like the smooth sumac berries later in the summer.

 

[Rice_Guy]

I will need to do some exploring this time of year. The wild I see is green now.