Peach Wine

[Moley]

As advertised on TV, melons, peaches, plums, grapes and cherries 49p at ALDI.

I don't have a recipe for melon (that's not to say there isn't one), we've got a plum tree, eating grapes aren't much use for wine and you'd need 8 packs of cherries for one gallon of wine, but I went and fetched some peaches.

So for all those people who think country wines are something complicated or mysterious, first wash your hands and clean under your fingernails.

3 pounds of peaches per gallon
This is 5 packs, 6-and-a-bit pounds for 2 gallons, a massive £2.45

Wash 'em and cut out any bad bits, twist them in half and remove the stones.

Smash 'em into a bucket, get your fists in and mash 'em.

Cover with boiling water and put a lid on.

That's it, part 2 tomorrow.

 

[Wez]

ahhhhhh..... i was looking forward to the rest of it

will check back tomorrow - Mrs Wez wants to have a dabble :)

 

[dandan]

Found this one for melons the site has quite a few wine recipes on! Melon Wine Click here some wired wines like onion wine, garlic wine and Brussel Sprout Wine worth a look though!

 

[Moley]

Thanks for the link dandan, I don't think I'll bother with the melon but will browse that site :

ahhhhhh..... i was looking forward to the rest of it
will check back tomorrow - Mrs Wez wants to have a dabble :)

Ok, I will let Mrs. Wez in on the secret.

All I was planning on doing tomorrow was boiling 4 lbs white sugar + 2 lbs brown sugar in a little more water, adding that to the peaches and laying into them a bit more with a sanitised potato masher, making it up to 2 gallons with cold water and adding 2 teaspoons of citric acid and a teaspoon of tannin (but you could use a cold cup of tea (no milk)), and 2 tsps pectolase when it's below 30°C. Later I'll check the gravity and add yeast and nutrient.

That's the sum total of the ingredients, shouldn't be much over a fiver for 13 bottles. :party:

 

[Wez]

Thanks for that - i think we'll be avin a bash!

 

[Wez]

so you ferment it in the bucket rather than in demi's?

At what stage do you filter off the peach debris?

I'm going to have a go at this as my first home made wine...

:

 

[Moley]

This morning while boiling my beer I also boiled up my sugar syrup. A slight re-think, I only used 5 lbs (for 2 gallons), I can always feed with more later or top up with grape juice when I rack.

Added the syrup, topped up with cold water, added pectolase (1 tsp/gal) and gave it another squish. I've just added (per gallon) 1/2 tsp tannin and 1 tsp each Citric, Nutrient and Yeast.

I will probably let the ferment get started and leave it in the bucket for another 4 days, but I'll skim out the majority of the pulp after 2.

OG 1.094, my target medium-dry, 996 - 998, around 13% abv unless I add other fermentables later.

 

[Aleman]

I love peach wine (See my recipe for Chablese in the wine recipe section) . . . You don't want to ferment on the pulp for too long three days is about the limit. Also once its fermenting a cap of fruit forms above the wine and you need to push this back under the liquid surface a couple of tines a day.

 

[Moley]

As Aleman quite rightly says, stir at least twice a day.

It's had 3 days, that looked to be enough, so everything scrubbed up, sanitised and ready to go:

Jugged through a nylon sieve into a fine-mesh nylon straining bag inside a funnel into a DJ, pausing a couple of times to rinse out the bag when it got too clogged. BTW, the tap's nowhere near the funnel, just looks like it is.

The pulp being returned to a sanitised bowl then at the end, all into the bag and squeezed gently

Ending up with this:

And for the compost, all that's left of 6 pounds of peaches:

 

[Wez]

I'm enjoying this one M :thumb:

 

[Moley]

Thanks Wez, that's all there is to it, when the yeasties have recovered from the trauma of being jugged and poured and strained, have got used to their new home and I'm sure they are not going to try to climb out of the airlock I will top the DJs up to the neck (probably just with cooled boiled water), tuck them away behind the sofa and let them get on with it.

 

[Wez]

Nice one!

Then bottle and take them on the Narrowboat?

Loads of new Narrowboaters each night for me to natter to at the moment on the evening dog walk :thumb:

You ever been through Polesworth?

 

[Moley]

You ever been through Polesworth?

Certainly have, Summer before last we did a loop of the Severn, Worcs & Brum, Stratford, Grand Union, Oxford, Coventry, BCN and home.

Next time out the boat will be very well stocked with wine and beer. Come to think of it, it was quite well stocked with kit-brewed beer when we went out over Whit, saved me a fortune.

Oh, by the way, no disrespect intended but I consider this to be a brewing forum with a bit of winemaking on the side. I joined this other forum before I found yours and consider it to be a winemaking forum with a bit of brewing on the side. I'm not suggesting that you copy this one, but you might also like my Waste Not Want Not Wine.

 

[Moley]

when the yeasties have recovered from the trauma of being jugged and poured and strained, have got used to their new home and I'm sure they are not going to try to climb out of the airlock

Well they've had a good try at it:

Traps are going away at a nice steady one 'bloop' per second now.

 

[leondz]

Looks fantastic, I bet it doesn't stink too badly while it's fermenting either - is this the first batch you've made to this recipe, or do you know how it tastes?

 

[Moley]

I think I used this recipe a few times 15-20 years ago and seem to recall it was quite worthwhile, but all of my old notes are long gone, I've only come back to winemaking and brewing this March and haven't bottled any of my new wines yet, so I really can't speak with any authority just yet.

 

[Wez]

I'm AM going to do this - i just need to nip into Matchless and get some of the potions I need :

 

[Moley]

Wez, you're going to be too late.

Don't go overboard with the stuff to buy, but a pot of GP wine yeast is probably less than a packet of S-04 and is good for at least 10 brews, my pot of Nutrient was 85p, Pectolase aropund £1.15, Citric is the juice of a lemon and use a cup of tea for the tannin.

However, I don't know how long the peaches are going to be at that price and if you don't hurry I will have bought them all - my jars are topped up now, SG is already on 1.040 and it tasted great from the trial jar, so I think I might start another 5 gallons this afternoon.

 

[Moley]

Well I did start another 4 gallons and it's all fermented out to dryness already and thrown a good sediment, so I've racked all 6 gallons today, de-gassed, added Campdens, Sorbate and finings.

To recap: 2 gallons started 6th June, OG 1.094, FG 0.990, 14.1% abv.
4 gallons started 12th June, OG 1.097, FG 0.992, 14.2% abv.

All down the cellar to clear now, will back-sweeten to 1.000 when I bottle.

Oh, and there's this lot under my chop saw bench

and a few more in the other corner

How's yours doing Wez?

 

[leondz]

Which are those buggers in DJs on the far right? They're fantastically clear :thumb: