Tropical Fruit ferment time

[FlamingoEmporium]

Well I cleaned out the chest freezer, and there was more than I thought.




Actually had 2 bags of frozen passion fruit.
So, I’ve got
2.4 lbs of banana
5.6 lbs mango
3.2 lbs passion fruit

Almost 11 pounds of fruit.
it’s thawing in 1 gallon of water right now. It’s right around 2 gallons. In the fermenter right now

I’m Thinking of going up to 3 gallon ferment with this one. I’ve used 2 1/2 pounds of mango alone previously for a delicious 1 gallon batch, so I’m thinking all this fruit lends itself to a 3 gallon batch.

What say ye ?

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Well i am up to 3 gallon batches now.
it feels good to have something fermenting.

yeast pitched and active fermentation. I’m interested to see what the banana does for this.



Two more batches planned for this summer. A passion fruit, and a mango.

then I’ll have to see what fruit is available locally that I don’t have.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Well this batch is down to .977 and clearing nicely.
the taste is unremarkable though. Dry with no fruit flavors or smell immediately evident. A lot like a chardonnay and less like a Pinot gris

I’ll let it sit again after I clear off the lees in a few days, but it will need a bunch of Backsweetening to bring it to what I imagined it should be.

the small batch I made with the gross lees from this batch and some frozen (fresh) pineapple and fresh mango has a nice flavor still. A little more noticeable but the pineapple flavor is not evident now. I was assuming the pineapple flavor would be readily apparent.
this latter batch is for my daughter so it will be backsweetened and hopefully bring some flavor back.

interesting.

 

[cmason1957]

Is not down to 0.977, at least I would be surprised if your hydrometer can read that low. 0.997, or maybe 0.987.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Is not down to 0.977, at least I would be surprised if your hydrometer can read that low. 0.997, or maybe 0.987.

Whoops .997

 

[BigDaveK]

I'm going to throw something out there that I plan to experiment with this year -

After the kmeta and sorbate, what about fruit juice as part of the back sweetening? Costco's organic pineapple juice is crystal clear. Too much might make it taste "commercial". Maybe a bit would add a little "pop".

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

I'm going to throw something out there that I plan to experiment with this year -

After the kmeta and sorbate, what about fruit juice as part of the back sweetening? Costco's organic pineapple juice is crystal clear. Too much might make it taste "commercial". Maybe a bit would add a little "pop".

I was always thinking about that, but most of the juices I see are not “clear” more of a cloudy type juice. I was wondering if I used that if it would eventually settle and clear. A lot of pineapple juice IS fairly clear though.

in one of my recent batches of mango I backsweetened with a little strawberry daquiri mix. It was very sweet and although not really “clear“ it did not cloud the wine but did give it a nice blush color and added a hint of sweetness. (It had limited ingredients one of which was sorbate.) I have some store bought mango passion purée in the fridge but it’s a cloudy mix. I have three gallons to play with so maybe I’ll experiment.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Whoops .997

Fixed it ! !

 

[winemaker81]

After the kmeta and sorbate, what about fruit juice as part of the back sweetening? Costco's organic pineapple juice is crystal clear. Too much might make it taste "commercial". Maybe a bit would add a little "pop".

Last time I made apple wine, I backsweetened with commercial apple juice. I bottled immediately and had no sediment. However, for other juices I'd probably carboy age another 2 to 4 weeks before bottling, to be sure.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

I’ve got 3 separate gallons so next time I rack I will need to top one of them off with something so I’m looking for good candidates now.

 

[winemaker81]

I’ve got 3 separate gallons so next time I rack I will need to top one of them off with something so I’m looking for good candidates now.

Any light white wine should be fine. Nothing with a strong taste, e.g., not barrel fermented Chardonnay.

 

[BigDaveK]

I’ve got 3 separate gallons so next time I rack I will need to top one of them off with something so I’m looking for good candidates now.

Yeah, that 3rd or 4th racking become problematic.

Some ideas-

I plan on making some jams this year that can be used for topping up. No added pectin in jams.
Herbal tea.
Fruit juice.
Tomato wine. Been drinking mine lately. Bone dry it's like a boring chardonnay. Haven't tried back sweetening yet.

That's what's in my tool box so far. Always looking for more options. I want to top up with flavor or something neutral. Never water, of course.

Couple recent easy lucky breaks for me - coffee wine was topped up with cold brew coffee and sassafras wine got sassafras tea.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Couple recent easy lucky breaks for me - coffee wine was topped up with cold brew coffee and sassafras wine got sassafras tea.

ooh, I’ve got some hibiscus tea….

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Bottomed out around 0.988. racked it off the remaining lees. I only had small taste but not much flavor at all. I topped off with about 15 oz. of passion mango fruit juice. Brought SG up to .992. Once the added juice clears, I’ll backsweeten to help the flavor hopefully.

 

[Stressbaby]

What I've done in the past with my passion fruit wine is hold back 10% of the pulp, then add back later as a secondary infusion. Sometimes the aromas hold really well, but when they don't, that really gets the PF aromas to pop.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Bottled one gallon of this today. Sparkoloid added several days ago and backsweetened. Final SG .0996.
it tastes nice and smooth. I’m not too sure if the banana did much for it.

 

[BigDaveK]

Bottled one gallon of this today. Sparkoloid added several days ago and backsweetened. Final SG .0996.
it tastes nice and smooth. I’m not too sure if the banana did much for it.

That quantity of banana may not contribute very much to the flavor.
HOWEVER...
Bananas are one of the ways to affect and improve the mouth feel. I haven't tried it yet but tomorrow I'm starting a ginger wine and I'll be using some bananas just for that reason.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Finished product !


Fresh yeast arrives today. Trying to decide what to start. I’ve got lots of mango, lots of frozen loquat, some passion fruit …..

This one has a pleasing flavor. Not sweet and not dry.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

And here is its sibling wine.
Leftover lees fermented with some pineapple and a few more bits of fruit

Oh my gosh this one is delicious. It’s was an offspring of the mango banana passion fruit wine with the addition of some pineapple chunks and backsweetened with some pineapple juice and sugar. It is semi dry very flavorful wine. A huge success. I might have to try to replicate this.
i have a peach mango fermenting right now that I might take the lees off of when its Almost done fermenting and add some fresh fruit to it and see what happens.

Oh yeah, labor cost on this one is minimal. Re-used lees, (Pennies) one can of pineapple chunks from ALD’s ( maybe 79¢) a bit of sugar (50¢), one gallon of joy, priceless.

 

[BigDaveK]

Oh yeah, labor cost on this one is minimal. Re-used lees, (Pennies) one can of pineapple chunks from ALD’s ( maybe 79¢) a bit of sugar (50¢), one gallon of joy, priceless.

It's not too much of a stretch to include your time on WMT as a labor cost - research, good will, teaching.
Oh, and I'm glad you liked the wine!!