Summer peach wine

[Donatelo]

I found this old recipe that my dad used to make. It calls for plums , sugar. lemon juice, and yeast.
Decided to modernize it and make some peach wine in his honor. A friend gave me five boxes of her discard peaches and I salvaged about 20 pounds of good fruit from that. Here is what I'm doing.

5 gallons water
12.6 lbs. sugar
18 lbs. peach halves
7.5 tsp. acid blend
1 1/4 tsp. tannin
5 tsp. yeast nutrient
5 campden tablets crushed
2 1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme
1 packet premier blanc yeast.
1 packet of oak chips

I peeled and froze the peaches, Used a potato masher to mash them up. Placed in primary. Boiled sugar and water until dissolved and added a frozen milk jug of ice to cool it down. Took SG at 1.090.
After 12 hours I added all ingredients except yeast, pectic enzyme and light toasted oak chips.
Next morning I added the yeast to half cup of warm water , then added the pectic enzyme, oak chips and yeast.
Sealed it up and added an air lock.

Do you think I should not seal the primary and just cover with a cloth?

 

[salcoco]

cover with cloth and stir at least twice a day.

 

[StFrancis]

Your instincts are correct. Just a cloth. You will need to push down the cap twice a day. I usually keep my peaches in a paint strainer bag til primary is nearly done, then rack to secondary, draining as much from the pulp bag as I can...tjen to airlock.

 

[Donatelo]

Thanks, guys, I need your expertiece. I've made several wines , but never from scratch.

 

[mainshipfred]

Thanks, guys, I need your expertiece. I've made several wines , but never from scratch.

Good luck with it!

 

[Donatelo]

Your instincts are correct. Just a cloth. You will need to push down the cap twice a day. I usually keep my peaches in a paint strainer bag til primary is nearly done, then rack to secondary, draining as much from the pulp bag as I can...tjen to airlock.

I have a nice nylon bag but I didn't dig it out of my storage. I wish that I had , but such is life. Do you think it will matter to the taste in the end?
I plan to pour the must into the bag just before I transfer to the glass demijohn. Then add the airlock.

 

[Rice_Guy]

I have a nice nylon bag . . . Do you think it will matter to the taste in the end?. . . I plan to pour the must into the bag just before I transfer to the glass demijohn.

In essence this is what I have done a few times. My setup stretches the nylon over pvc pipe with 1/2 inch holes, solids are scooped in, and then pressed with a reverse acting bar clamp. The press plate is round plexiglass.

The theoretical damage is that I am oxygenating part of the wine which I don’t want with a fruit wine. I have tried to do this at 1.020 so that there is still some CO2 production. Jury is out on does this oxygen really matter, I haven’t tried control tests and look at at as squeezing a bag of berries/ pulp. Foam was an issue last year, flooded the air lock.

My peach takes forever to clear, and I have added more pectase at third racking.

 

[Donatelo]

In essence this is what I have done a few times. My setup stretches the nylon over pvc pipe with 1/2 inch holes, solids are scooped in, and then pressed with a reverse acting bar clamp. The press plate is round plexiglass.

The theoretical damage is that I am oxygenating part of the wine which I don’t want with a fruit wine. I have tried to do this at 1.020 so that there is still some CO2 production. Jury is out on does this oxygen really matter, I haven’t tried control tests and look at at as squeezing a bag of berries/ pulp. Foam was an issue last year, flooded the air lock.

My peach takes forever to clear, and I have added more pectase at third racking.

By the word "pectase" do you mean pectic enzyme? And why add more at that point? Are you using pectic enzyme to clear the wine in the final rackings.?

 

[Rice_Guy]

By the word "pectase" do you mean pectic enzyme? And why add more at that point? Are you using pectic enzyme to clear the wine in the final rackings.?

Peach takes forever to clear& was prepping for a contest. Tried filter BonVino#3 still cloudy, pectic enzyme (pectase) and another month. Wound up with wow peach flavor and some sediment = white ribbon.

Patience would have been better.

 

[Donatelo]

Patience? Patience! We got no patience here!

 

[Donatelo]

took the SG today at .992 . Initial SG was 1.090 . showing about 12.38% alcohol. A little higher than I would have wanted. This is after 6 days under the yeast. After I rack it into a carboy, I might dilute it some .

 

[Donatelo]

I took this must off the fruit cap and had about 5 1/2 gallons left. The active fermentation slowed to almost nonexistent.SG is sitting at .090. Is it too early to call this a stuck fermentation?

 

[sour_grapes]

I took this must off the fruit cap and had about 5 1/2 gallons left. The active fermentation slowed to almost nonexistent.SG is sitting at .090. Is it too early to call this a stuck fermentation?

I assume you mean 0.990.

Why in the world would you use the term "stuck"? That is as dry as it gets. There are NO SUGARS left to ferment.

 

[Amandolin]

This post sparked my interest because I am just about to start a cheap Chardonnay kit (Wild Grapes kit off Amazon) and add 1.75 lbs fresh chopped peaches + 1 box golden raisins. My plan is to put the peaches in a small mesh bag and dump everything in + give it a good stir before pitching the yeast. I assume I'll need to squish the bag around a bit every couple days, but otherwise just plan to do what I have with past kits and leave it in the bucket with airlock until it bubbles itself dry.

From this thread, seems like I need to account for a long time for clearing - but what would you say is a "long time"? Am I looking at bottling ~6 weeks after racking to secondary? Or are we talking months and months?

 

[Donatelo]

I assume you mean 0.990.

Why in the world would you use the term "stuck"? That is as dry as it gets. There are NO SUGARS left to ferment

I am sorry. I did mean .990
The must is only 2 weeks old and I've never had a must go that far and just stop so early. So now is the long wait to clear.

 

[Donatelo]

From this thread, seems like I need to account for a long time for clearing - but what would you say is a "long time"? Am I looking at bottling ~6 weeks after racking to secondary? Or are we talking months and months?

Amandolin, peach (soft fruit wines) are notoriously hard to clear. Some take as long as 6 months. The amount of peaches that you are adding to the Chardonnay kit ( and Im assuming its a 6 gallon kit) shouldn't affect your clearing too much. Wine making takes time, lots of time and patience.

 

[Amandolin]

Good to know! I was planning to let the Chardonnay age for a while anyway, so I guess it's no difference to me if it ages (and clears) in the carboy instead of bottles. Thanks!

 

[drunton]

I made 3 gallons of peach wine last year. Ferment started mid-July and in January it still wasn't clear after 3 rackings (once when ferment completed and then every ~3 months). I ended up adding SuperKleer and it still took until March to clear. It was interesting - I was watching daily after adding the SuperKleer and nothing happened for two months, then one day "BAM!" perfectly clear. I experimented with back sweetening for about a month and ended up bottling at the beginning of May. It took almost 10 months to complete, but it is very tasty and worth the work.

I know everyone says it here - Be Patient. It's a hard lesson.

 

[James1955]

Hello members.
I'm starting 1/2 of a batch of this today. Had trouble finding really nice peaches but ended up with around 9 lbs of the best I could find. Plan on doing about what is mentioned in the recipe except the oak chips so wish me luck I'll need it. Jim

 

[Donatelo]

Welcome to the forum, James 1955. The recipe is probably a pretty good one, but All bets are of because of all the variables. I've made this before but been quite a while. Just cut everything in half except for the yeast. And the yeast nutrient does help. Good luck!
You still riding? Your profile pic looks like a sportster? What Year?