Wacky measurements for 1st time fresh peaches wine

[Scooter68]

Just a thought and I know this is a bit late to help but.... I would have kept the peach pulp and skins in the fermentation container. Put them into a mesh bag perhaps but keep them in the game. That pulp and the skins have a LOT of good flavor and color to add to your wine. Too late for this go round perhaps but consider that for the future. I usually run my peaches through a slow juicer or a cone shaped ricer. Even then I usually put the skins back into the wine just to get the last bit of good stuff from the skins. Of course this means that you will need 2-3 times the normal pectic enzyme and the wine will take longer to clear but it is really really worth the effort.

As to how many peaches - that's really a number that doesn't matter. Peach sizes differ as well as the peach stone. The number to look at is the pounds of peaches used for the batch. (Last batch I made had about 24 lbs after destoning the peaches for a 3 gallon batch.) And of course as I said above using the skins and pulp will contribute a lot to the flavor and aroma among other things. Shoot I've actually kept the pulp and skins after the ferment and used them for a wicked vanilla ice cream topping. (Yeah you get that yeasty smell too but the oveall flavor of that was great. It inspired me to make a batch of Peach Vanille wine later.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

what type fruit?
as well on all my wines i never use simple syrup, i use dry sugar and stir using a cordless or a drill. if drill be very careful.
Dawg
AH peaches, i see. duh,,,
is their vascular fluid, to much pulp could account for some erratic readings,
if me, and you have a stir that fits a drill/cordless, or take a plastic coat hanger cut on straight just before the bend on one end, then on other end cut past that bend, you might even have to cut some of the bend off, stir really well, take reading and if more is needed add a little dry sugar then stir more, making sure to add only a little sugar at a time.
Dawg

Dawg..........................you are back! I have been praying for you and hoping you are alright. Many of us on here have been concerned. Good to hear you are up and about, up to your usual nonsensical self...............................................................DizzyIzzy

 

[Khristyjeff]

Just a thought and I know this is a bit late to help but.... I would have kept the peach pulp and skins in the fermentation container. Put them into a mesh bag perhaps but keep them in the game. That pulp and the skins have a LOT of good flavor and color to add to your wine. Too late for this go round perhaps but consider that for the future. I usually run my peaches through a slow juicer or a cone shaped ricer. Even then I usually put the skins back into the wine just to get the last bit of good stuff from the skins. Of course this means that you will need 2-3 times the normal pectic enzyme and the wine will take longer to clear but it is really really worth the effort.

As to how many peaches - that's really a number that doesn't matter. Peach sizes differ as well as the peach stone. The number to look at is the pounds of peaches used for the batch. (Last batch I made had about 24 lbs after destoning the peaches for a 3 gallon batch.) And of course as I said above using the skins and pulp will contribute a lot to the flavor and aroma among other things. Shoot I've actually kept the pulp and skins after the ferment and used them for a wicked vanilla ice cream topping. (Yeah you get that yeasty smell too but the oveall flavor of that was great. It inspired me to make a batch of Peach Vanille wine later.

Thanks @Scooter68 for your helpful comments. Your previous posts contributed in a big way to my plan for this peach wine venture!
I actually do have all the skins and pulp still in the fermenter so we should be on track there for flavor. The 10 pounds/gallon of peaches resulted in 24.54 pounds after destoning for a 3 gallon batch, so that tracks almost exactly with your notes.
You had mentioned that getting an accurate SG reading is a challenge and I agree! Starting SG from strained juice for me was 1.045. After pitching yeast yesterday, then adding simple syrup, tonight the SG is 1.072. I was shooting for a starting SG of 1.085 so do you suggest I just hope for the best, or add more sugar?

 

[hounddawg]

since I've never made traditional wine yet,,, just country, i have always use the skins, and pulp,
and i would not presume to speak for @Scooter68, from a SG of 1.072 to 1.085 just ball parking' but your main difference would be a little higher ABV,,, peach is a delicate flavor, so to much ABV will overwhelm your flavor, i can't remember , but didn't you add simple syrup at the start, the reason i have never used simple syrup,, as your adding water to your lite flavor peach wine, now this is just me, and only on fruit/berry from scratch, concentrates is a different animal altogether, and i freely without any reservations do believe @Scooter68 , is very skilled in country style wines, and more then likely tadeonal wines as well,, i defiantly rely on him among others,
Dawg

 

[Khristyjeff]

since I've never made traditional wine yet,,, just country, i have always use the skins, and pulp,
and i would not presume to speak for @Scooter68, from a SG of 1.072 to 1.085 just ball parking' but your main difference would be a little higher ABV,,, peach is a delicate flavor, so to much ABV will overwhelm your flavor, i can't remember , but didn't you add simple syrup at the start, the reason i have never used simple syrup,, as your adding water to your lite flavor peach wine, now this is just me, and only on fruit/berry from scratch, concentrates is a different animal altogether, and i freely without any reservations do believe @Scooter68 , is very skilled in country style wines, and more then likely tadeonal wines as well,, i defiantly rely on him among others,
Dawg

@hounddawg
Your posts are the ones I read about how you "step feed" your wines to get higher ABV, so even though I'm not trying for high ABV, I am trying to boost ABV a bit after I've already started fermentation. I was actually thinking you'd be a great resource to offer me advice on that.

So Dawg, I guess my question for you: Assuming my SG is now 1.072 and I want to boost it to 1.085 using straight sugar, realizing it's been fermenting for 1 day, how much sugar would you add? I'm just looking for ballpark, best guess. I'm shooting for good tasting (the skins and pulp are in fermentor as I type), 10-13% range for ABV.

Thanks, and so glad you're back.

 

[Steve Wargo]

Interesting @Steve Wargo. These peaches came off the "Peach Truck" from Georgia and we let them ripen 3 days laid out on a table. They were pretty soft and quite juicy when we processed them for the freezer. Good flavor.

I thought the article was a good read. It's not about winemaking, but does provide insight into sugar/starch contained in fruits at different maturation stages, before and after the fruit is picked.

More food for thought, and not usually a winemaking topic. There is an iodine test that can be done that will determine if starch is present in the must. Use a small glass, some clear as possible must juice, and a drop of two of iodine. If the contents turn blue-black there is a lot of starch that can be converted to sugar in the must using beta-amylase. This is usually, a distiller's practice. but can be applicable to winemaking if one wants to obtain higher starting gravities (SG) using the fruit's natural sugars, less processed sugar.. If this is not of interest then ignore the link below.

or See link below:
Lugol's Iodine Solution can be purchased at a health food store or possibly a local drug store.
https://www.braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Iodine_Test

 

[Scooter68]

I understand how confusing the SG measurements look so far. At a "Startiing SG of 1.060 (which is how I'm reading those photos you posted) if it ferments all the way to .990 you are going to have an ABV of about 9.19% which is just a tad low for where I'd want to be, BUT; if the fermentation had already been going on for at least 24 hrs before you got that reading, I suspect you are going end up with an ABV of at least 10%. As to step feeding I wouldn't worry about that but certainly I don't think a couple of cups of sugar dissolved in 1 cup water is going to reduce the flavor of your wine. From the quantity of peaches you stated I think the flavor will not be harmed at all with one more addition of what will probably end up as 2 3/4 cup of simple syrup. 24 lbs of peaches for 3 gallons of wine should give you an excellent full flavored wine, even with the use of simple syrup.

By the way what was your actual starting volume in the bucket? For me a 3 gallon batch of peach I would want at least 3 3/4 gallons of volume or even 4 gallons. There is going to be a good bit of volume lost as you remove the solids and dead yeast once fermentation is over. Peach by the way, for me normally requires filtering of the gross lees from after the first racking (At an SG of 1.010 or lower) . It's a painful process because I have to swirl the gross lees in a large stainless steel fine mesh strainer. Once I've done that I that that strained liquid and chill it in the fridge for a day or two. That normally gives some pretty good separation of the lees and recoverable wine.

Peach wine is a bit more work that most others but the result is certainly worth it to me. Sadly this year our local peach crop (nearby commercial orchards) failed due to a late freeze. So I have to wait and hope for a good crop next year.

Keep us posted on the progress.

 

[Khristyjeff]

By the way what was your actual starting volume in the bucket?

I started with just under 3 gallons, then with the addition of 3 pounds of sugar in water, was just over 3 gallons. Like you said, I'm going to lose a lot with the removal of the gross lees so will probably need to use an All In One Headspace Eliminator to remove the air in the 3 gallon carboy.

 

[Scooter68]

I'd still consider moving down to smaller containers if you are well under 3 gallons once the racking and filtering is all done. Even an All-in-one can only remove some much O2, If you do actually step feed it, since you started with 24 + pounds you won't dilute the flavor enough matter by doing a simple syrup (SS) and you'll also be able to get a new updated SG reading as soon as you stir in the additional SS and that will make keeping tabs on the potential ABV a bit easier. Even the little dilutrion of the ABV with the addtion will amount to probably less than 1% at most. (Assuming your SS is a 2-1 mix) Personally I think you should be good but you could help out your volume and ABV with one step feed anytime before the SG gets too close to 1.000.

 

[Khristyjeff]

I'd still consider moving down to smaller containers if you are well under 3 gallons once the racking and filtering is all done. Even an All-in-one can only remove some much O2, If you do actually step feed it, since you started with 24 + pounds you won't dilute the flavor enough matter by doing a simple syrup (SS) and you'll also be able to get a new updated SG reading as soon as you stir in the additional SS and that will make keeping tabs on the potential ABV a bit easier. Even the little dilutrion of the ABV with the addtion will amount to probably less than 1% at most. (Assuming your SS is a 2-1 mix) Personally I think you should be good but you could help out your volume and ABV with one step feed anytime before the SG gets too close to 1.000.

That sounds like good advice. I'll plan on adding simple syrup 2:1 sugar to water before the SG gets to 1.000. Thanks.

 

[Scooter68]

Forgot to mention, for that 3 gallon batch 1 mix (2 cup sugar 1 cup water) yields about 2 3/4 cups that that should help out with out raising the ABV too much or diluting the wine either. Plus it will increase your volume a little bit more too,.

 

[Khristyjeff]

Forgot to mention, for that 3 gallon batch 1 mix (2 cup sugar 1 cup water) yields about 2 3/4 cups that that should help out with out raising the ABV too much or diluting the wine either. Plus it will increase your volume a little bit more too,.

So, my SG was down to 1.006 when I added the simple syrup. However I didn't see your comment before I added 4 cups sugar to 2 cups water. Hopefully will be OK. Worst case scenario, I end up with some @hounddawg -style wine.

 

[Scooter68]

Should be fine. Did you retake the SG after the addition? That will tell you how much you potentially raised your ABV (not exact but a good idea +/- 1/2 percent roughly.

 

[Khristyjeff]

SG was down to 1.010 today so I'm trying to rack the juice to a 3 gallon carboy. I'm using The AIO pump and free run tube but with peach being so fleshy, it's a slow process. I have about 2 gallons of juice so far but now believe I need to press or put in a mesh bag or push through a strainer to get the last gallon. Any suggestions? Thanks for any advice.

 

[Scooter68]

All of the ideas you mentioned are ones I've used. Peach just takes a little extra work Since it's still fermenting that 3 gallon carbody doesn't and really shouldn't be full. Once you have, pressed or strained out the last of the juice, I personally would put that either back into the carboy (Still leaving plenty of head space), or put it in a fridge to help speed settling. That will also temporarily slow the fermentation of that recovered juice while it's in the fridge. It should restart once you get it separated and added back to the carboy.

 

[Khristyjeff]

Thanks Scooter. I am going to save all your suggestions for the next time I do this. Great detail.
I tried pushing the mush through a strainer and and quickly realized that was a no-go. Then I ended up taking the last bit of mush and placing it little by little in a mesh brew bag then squeezing out the juice from the flesh; seemed to work well. I got a little more than 1 gallon from this.
It is all in the 3 gallon carboy now, so I'll still have to deal with solids that need to settle.

 

[Scooter68]

Looks great and a lot like what I've had several times. Whatever works to take that last juice from the peach pulp. I've twisted and pressed my mesh bags and usually end up getting a hole in them after the effort but that's just one of the costs of making wine.

 

[Jovimaple]

I am expecting about 80 lbs of peaches in August - half from Washington and half from Colorado. I will be using a large chunk of that for wine, or at least that's the plan! I am going to freeze them with pectic enzyme.

I plan to slice them before freezing, thaw, then press/juice them through a mesh bag lined press so I can put the mesh bag with the pulp and skins in the must during AF.

@Scooter68 Do you see any issues with this plan? Any benefit to peeling them before freezing and then freezing the peels separately? I was thinking I could skip the peeling step since I want the peels in the must anyway.

 

[Khristyjeff]

I am expecting about 80 lbs of peaches in August - half from Washington and half from Colorado. I will be using a large chunk of that for wine, or at least that's the plan! I am going to freeze them with pectic enzyme.

I plan to slice them before freezing, thaw, then press/juice them through a mesh bag lined press so I can put the mesh bag with the pulp and skins in the must during AF.

@Scooter68 Do you see any issues with this plan? Any benefit to peeling them before freezing and then freezing the peels separately? I was thinking I could skip the peeling step since I want the peels in the must anyway.

From my recent experience, your plan sounds good. Having the pressed peaches in a bag is the way to go. No need to peel the peaches. The skins add flavor and just become part of the single color globby mess anyway. I'd post pictures of said glossy mess, but they're too disgusting for weak stomachs.

 

[Jovimaple]

From my recent experience, your plan sounds good. Having the pressed peaches in a bag is the way to go. No need to peel the peaches. The skins add flavor and just become part of the single color globby mess anyway. I'd post pictures of said globby mess, but they're too disgusting for weak stomachs.

Strawberries are gross after fermentation, too. Sad and globby is right!