Sumac wine questions

[Paulie vino]

I'm planning on making sumac wine this year for the first time. I plan on following this recipe Staghorn Sumac wine.

I've read a few threads on here and some things on other websites but still have some questions

1) should I ferment on the berries or make a tea and strain them off and ferment just the juice?

2) how much k meta is used for racking/storage? 1/4 tsp per 5 gallon like wine? Any need to add kmeta before fermenting if the fruit is good quality?

3) what kind of final alcohol percentage would be good in a wine like this. What should I aim for?

4) should I bother measuring pH and TA prior to fermenting. Do these need to be adjusted?

5) what is the purpose of the bananas in the recipe? I've seen raisins used in other recipes. Natural sugar vs refined? Flavor?

6) any preferred yeast? I have avante and ec1118 I'm the fridge. Leaning towards the ec1118 over the avante

I know there is more than one answer for some of these but I'm looking to get a general idea of how to proceed. Thanks in advance

 

[Rice_Guy]

1) i fermented on the berries. The berries are round hard seeds about 1.5mm with an oily fuzzy layer as a skin. It probably wouldn’t matter either way.
3) I would target 11% plus. Alcohol is a preservative, running low alcohol means another preservative trait needs to be high.
4) pH acts as a preservative, ex yeast really don’t like to grow under 2.8 and some food poisoning can grow above 4.0, ,,, I would always record it or at least what pH paper said if I didn’t have a meter.
5) bananas always add a flavor note, they can also add mouthfeel and some nutrients.

I like Fermaid O which would be 1.5 per gallon. I don’t think pectase does much on banana, it is low pectin.
Conceptually a sumach is like a high acid skeeter pee.

 

[BigDaveK]

I made my first sumac last year, been in bulk for about 3ish months, very excited about it.

Most important point is to pick dry berries, no rain for days, very water soluble. If you pick with your bare hands you'll probably taste it on your fingers.

I fermented with the berries but I cut the small branches from the main stem.

I treated them as fruit and used 71B, always a safe choice when not sure.

I didn't use bananas. Often added for mouthfeel, I can taste 1 banana in a 1 gallon batch (which surprised me!) so I'm extremely cautious in their use.

I agree, similar to skeeter pee but better. I think you'll be pleased with the results.

 

[Paulie vino]

Most important point is to pick dry berries, no rain for days, very water soluble. If you pick with your bare hands you'll probably taste it on your fingers.

I read that too. I tried a small batch test run in December because I was in the area where sumac grows. It was late in the season and it had been raining the past 3 days. The berries didn't look good but I cut a few and tried to make a tea anyway. It didn't come out good and I wound up dumping the tea down the drain but it proved a good lesson in what not to do.