Wild Plum Wine

[koolmoto]

Free wine = happy wine. Came up on 100lbs+ of wild plums. Figured I would make wine out of it, naturally. Any words of wisdom before I set forth into the ferm?
I only have EC1118 yeast right now. Saw another thread with a link to some recipes. Might do the first or second recipe.

 

[Rice_Guy]

* use lots of pectase to help clear it
* I pit my plum and then freeze to help juice it
* I would look at what you have for carboys, ,,, you could scale four pounds per gallon making a thin wine or do ten pounds per gallon making a best of contest, knock your Sox off wine, ,,, ie how many five gallon (or sixes) do you have empty, ,,,, I used to work where the accounting folks wanted low cost of goods, so I always vote for make a contest winner

 

[koolmoto]

* use lots of pectase to help clear it
* I pit my plum and then freeze to help juice it
* I would look at what you have for carboys, ,,, you could scale four pounds per gallon making a thin wine or do ten pounds per gallon making a best of contest, knock your Sox off wine, ,,, ie how many five gallon (or sixes) do you have empty, ,,,, I used to work where the accounting folks wanted low cost of goods, so I always vote for make a contest winner

Hey, I'm im it to win it as well. Go big or go home. 10lbs per gallon sounds good to me. I think right now I have an empty 5 gallon and 2 three gallon carboys but might go pick up a couple more 5 or 6 gallon carboys for this tomorrow. My 6 gal and other 5 gal are in use right now.

 

[wood1954]

Pay attention to the ph wild plums can be pretty harsh.

 

[koolmoto]

Pay attention to the ph wild plums can be pretty harsh.

10.5 gallons of must. It tastes amazing- sweet and sour, but not too sour.

After I added 1.5 gallons of water and 15lbs of sugar, the PH is 3.42 with a TA of 10g/L. The PH seems good, but is the TA too high and I should do something about it? I heard in another thread that PH is important for fermentation and I can adjust the TA later. The specific gravity is dialed in at 1.090. Must is too thick to use my hydrometer so I used the refractometer. Added 2.5Tbsp of pectic enzyme, 1Tbsp DAP and 35ppm of sulfite.

Tomorrow morning I will add 1tsp chestnut wine tannin and tomorrow night I will add an EC1118 yeast starter with goferm.

 

[Chuck E]

I would leave the TA as it is. pH is pretty close to perfect.

 

[Rice_Guy]

pH is a measure of how fast chemical reactions run, or in microbiology IF a family even grows.
TA is like being a kid and riding with your hand out the window, wind is fun/ enjoyable but an insect splat can hurt.
I have seen good cranberry wine with a TA of 18g/liter, many of my acid fruits are built to be 10g/liter and then back sweeten to 1.015. Running to 20g/liter has given problems, it doesn’t wash off the taste buds fast enough and would be like an insect splat on your hand you remember the impact, ,,,, and it becomes hard to finish a full glass.

 

[Scooter68]

All the numbers sound great! The "pudding" must issue is not uncommon. You might try the hydrometer once more just before you are ready to add the yeast. I've had to play games with peach wine 'pudding' must. Doing the twist with testing tube. Push the hydrometer down do the rapid twist of the tube keep that twisting action until the hydrometer stops rising.* Raise the hydrometer, release it and repeat the twisting action and find that normally the two methods will end up with an SG reading pretty close to each other. I figure if I split the difference and it's in the range I'm looking for all is good.

* I put the testing tube on a flat surface and spin it back and forth between my hands like a kid rolling out some clay. with the hydrometer in it. Just be careful not to tip it all over. Seems to do the trick - especially after the must has had about 24-36 hours to begin to break down the fruit.

 

[winemanden]

Free wine = happy wine. Came up on 100lbs+ of wild plums. Figured I would make wine out of it, naturally. Any words of wisdom before I set forth into the ferm?
I only have EC1118 yeast right now. Saw another thread with a link to some recipes. Might do the first or second recipe.
View attachment 63853

Lucky you Moto. We had a chap in our wine making club who used to make a wonderful wine from wild plums (called Bullaces in UK). He wouldn't tell anyone where he got them and unfortunately he died without revealing his secret. Enjoy!

 

[koolmoto]

@Chuck E @Rice_Guy Ah, that's awesome to hear about the numbers. Glad I have so much room with TA, I had no idea. Thanks!

Great technique with the rolling, @Scooter68 I'll definitely try that.

@winemanden Ah, too bad. This tree I picked from was no secret at all- it is next to a side walk on a busy suburb street. However, it had the most plums I have ever seen on a tree before. The 100lbs I picked were probably only 1/3 of the fruit on the tree and that was after the neighborhood had already taken their share!

 

[koolmoto]

All the numbers sound great! The "pudding" must issue is not uncommon. You might try the hydrometer once more just before you are ready to add the yeast. I've had to play games with peach wine 'pudding' must. Doing the twist with testing tube. Push the hydrometer down do the rapid twist of the tube keep that twisting action until the hydrometer stops rising.* Raise the hydrometer, release it and repeat the twisting action and find that normally the two methods will end up with an SG reading pretty close to each other. I figure if I split the difference and it's in the range I'm looking for all is good.

* I put the testing tube on a flat surface and spin it back and forth between my hands like a kid rolling out some clay. with the hydrometer in it. Just be careful not to tip it all over. Seems to do the trick - especially after the must has had about 24-36 hours to begin to break down the fruit.

Used your hydrometer method and found the SG was actually .01 lower than the refractometer. That made me remember I didn't calibrate the refractometer, so I calibrated it with some plain sugar water to the hydrometer's reading of the same stuff. Found that I needed to add some sugar to my must. Added 3.5lb sugar and the newly calibrated refractometer reading was 1.09 while the hydrometer read 1.086. I am fine with this range, so I think I'm definitely good now. Thanks for saving my wine - might have come out a little wimpy if it wasn't for you!

Added my yeast starter after, so it's off to the races!
update: a nice 12 hour yeast ball

 

[koolmoto]

Fermentation is complete @ .992 SG & about 12.6%ABV. That went fast because it was such a large container and I couldn't keep the temps low in this summer heat. It fermented around 80-85 degrees the whole time. I just strained a glass, tasted it and WOW. It tastes fantastic to me (though I have no experience). Quite tart, but not overwhelmingly so. It has a beautiful plum nose despite the hot ferm temps - perhaps because of my rich plum to water ratio. Now I will press it, add a small bit of sulfite and put it into some carboys to clear and age.

 

[Rice_Guy]

* it will be less tart after degassing
* did you try a pinch of sugar as a guess about finished flavor?

 

[koolmoto]

* it will be less tart after degassing
* did you try a pinch of sugar as a guess about finished flavor?

Ah, good to know. I haven't degassed yet.

Yes! I just did a taste test with 0%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 5%, 8%, 10% of 1:1 (sugar to water) simple syrup mixed in. Anything 5% or above ruined the flavor, so I decided that I will back sweeten to at least 1%, possibly 2%. The slight sweetness improved the mouth feel and reduced the tartness, though I expect the tartness to reduce with aging as well.

 

[hounddawg]

Fermentation is complete @ .992 SG & about 12.6%ABV. That went fast because it was such a large container and I couldn't keep the temps low in this summer heat. It fermented around 80-85 degrees the whole time. I just strained a glass, tasted it and WOW. It tastes fantastic to me (though I have no experience). Quite tart, but not overwhelmingly so. It has a beautiful plum nose despite the hot ferm temps - perhaps because of my rich plum to water ratio. Now I will press it, add a small bit of sulfite and put it into some carboys to clear and age.
View attachment 64135

not a clue where your from, i got better then 30 wild plum trees i have scattered for the horses, mules, dexter cattle, deer and the rest of gods critters, but mine are tiny, purple and way over 80% stone, they are tasty,
but, well come deer season, they deliver some very good, burger, stew meat, and chili meat,,,
Dawg

 

[koolmoto]

not a clue where your from, i got better then 30 wild plum trees i have scattered for the horses, mules, dexter cattle, deer and the rest of gods critters, but mine are tiny, purple and way over 80% stone, they are tasty,
but, well come deer season, they deliver some very good, burger, stew meat, and chili meat,,,
Dawg

These ones were bigger for being wild plums - probably only 20% stone. Seeing as it was on a sidewalk from a busy street in California, they didn't come with any venison though that sounds like it might have made a good pairing...

 

[koolmoto]

After fermentation was complete, I transferred to carboys and let it sit for 4 days. Today, I racked into new carboys and left the thick lees/sediment. I then degassed the freshly transferred wine with a power drill.

The wine is still very cloudy and does not look as though it will want to clear easily. Is kieselsol and chitosan or bentonite recommended for this type of wine or is time and further rackings going to be sufficient? I tasted it again and it was much less tart and tasted smoother/better. I think I'll hold off on back sweetening for now.

 

[hounddawg]

kieselsol/chitonite = dualfin or super kleer, they work good, but time and patience is better,,, just my 2 cents,,, you did use plenty of pectic enzyme ?
Dawg

 

[Chuck E]

I'm a "let time take its course" kind of guy.

 

[koolmoto]

kieselsol/chitonite = dualfin or super kleer, they work good, but time and patience is better,,, just my 2 cents,,, you did use plenty of pectic enzyme ?
Dawg

Ok cool. Perfectly happy to let time do its thing. Yes I did use plenty of pectic enzyme.