Why add so much water to fruit wines?

[malachi555]

New to the forums, though I've been visiting here for well over a year. I started making fruit wines last year (2013) and ended up fermenting pomegranate, persimmon, plum and corn whiskey. The persimmon was the last batch I did and just before I added the called for amounts of sugar and water I decided to test the brix because I was really shocked by how much sugar I had been adding to the previous recipes. All the fruit I used were from my family's trees so I could afford to let them stay on a bit longer than store bought fruit.

The persimmon read 20 Brix before the sugar and water and it just made me wonder what the wine would taste like if I fermented only juice and a little sugar to raise it to 24-25. The 2013 used around 4-5 lbs per gallon and it turned out spectacular as a wine. But the persimmon was almost completely gone in final product.

This year I decided to just try straight fruit. I ended up with around 15 lbs per gallon.

I realize a lot of fruits just don't naturally have the same sugar content as grapes, but I'm trying to understand why most recipes just seem to bulk out the volume with water and not just enough sugar to get the desired alcohol level. Is it an economic issue to reduce the cost of the fruit, or is it to tone down the fruit's contribution to the wine?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

We advocate 100% juice when possible! Some fruits though are to high in acid to go 100% fruit juice, others may have to strong a taste and can actually feel like they are coating your tongue and blocking the flavor. The old 3 lb gal recipies have made so many light wines that people get turned off of country wines and dont take them seriously. Persimmon can easily be 100% juice. Some pectinase additions help the juice clear faster, not leaving the seeds of some berries in the must to long since you now have a lot more is something to what out for. WVMJ

 

[fabrictodyefor]

I'm pretty new to wine making myself, and in the beginning just followed recipes. However the plum I made last year was a little light on plum flavor, so with this years plums I added very little water. Guess next year about this time I will be able to compare!

 

[seth8530]

As mentioned above, it ask depends on the fruit you are using. I would tend to do 100 percent juice or fruit whenever possible. However, sometimes for balance or offer reasons it can be better to not use all fruit.

 

[garymc]

Muscadines are an example of a fruit which could be high in acid without the addition of some water. I also highly recommend proofreading.

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi Malachi, I have to agree with you. I cannot understand why so many published recipes use so little fruit and so much water. What is the point of diluting the flavor? Sure there may be fruit that is so acidic (oranges, perhaps) that they need to be cut with water and there may be fruit (bananas, for example) that don't have enough juice of their own, but simply to take berries or fruit with pits (plums or apricots or peaches) and drown the flavor in water does not seem like a wonderful idea to me. And I don't care how many medals some of these folk have apparently won. Their recipes don't get my vote, but then I cannot eat store bought bread either.

 

[BernardSmith]

Muscadines are an example of a fruit which could be high in acid without the addition of some water. I also highly recommend proofreading.

"High in acid" as in LSD?

 

[malachi555]

We advocate 100% juice when possible! Some fruits though are to high in acid to go 100% fruit juice, others may have to strong a taste and can actually feel like they are coating your tongue and blocking the flavor. The old 3 lb gal recipies have made so many light wines that people get turned off of country wines and dont take them seriously. Persimmon can easily be 100% juice. Some pectinase additions help the juice clear faster, not leaving the seeds of some berries in the must to long since you now have a lot more is something to what out for. WVMJ

Awesome! Thanks for the response. It would be nice to try to build a comprehensive list of various fruits and recommended methods for them. Or maybe even just the special fruits which require variations.

I realize that is a lot to try to put together with so many viewpoints out there. But even doing google searches leads to the same recipe over and over again which came out of that booklet in print since the 70s. After a while you start to wonder if the same recipe can really bring out the best each fruit has to offer. Usually, I'm on the lookout year-round for any fruit to ferment, refractometer in hand, from neighbors, farmers markets or other places. It seems like the recipes I find are the same for all of them.

 

[corinth]

Hi There,
You probably already know this but you might give "dragon blood " a try.
Corinth

 

[Turock]

Nearly all fruit wines should be made with no water addition. The flavor of the wine will then taste just like the fruit. All you need to do to set the brix is to take an initial reading of the juice to see how much sugar the fruit has, and then add only enough sugar to get the brix up to the potential alcohol content you desire.

The only reason recipes have you add water is because then it makes everything easier for you as a beginner. You don't need a PH meter, etc. But the result is very blah. Once you go "off recipe" your fruit wines will be so much better.

Also, it helps if you freeze the fruit first because then you have lots of juice to work with for testing.