Plum Wime

[danbriant]

Im thinking of doing a spiced plum wine ready in time for Christmas. Its got 6 months to condition, should be long enough I guess.



I will be using demijohns all the time. So fermenting in demijohn then racking into another etc.



Now comes the interesting bit. The recipe.

I was thinking of using 1kg plums from the local market no idea of the type. Then was going to use mixed spice, maybe 1-2 teaspoons.

Wine Yeast (Any good types? Was going to use wilkos wine yeast)



Now comes my nemesis sugar....

How much should I add?

I want a reasonable wine but dont want something that's just insane.



I used 1kg in my ginger beer in demijohn with Gervin Yeast and it made it near 10% (Yer its strong :P) so for plum wine that would be I assume minimum strength?



Should I blanch the plums then mash slightly or just mash them cold?



Have I missed anything that I may need?

Going to start this weekend hopefully.

 

[syzygy]

I did some last year (have a few wild plum trees nearby)
per gallon demijon, I used 1.8kg of fruit, 1kg of sugar & 1 450g jar of honey.
Came out at just over 14%

 

[danbriant]

Whats the reason for the honey? To add body to it?

How many times you rack it? Whats the conditioning time for this?

 

[syzygy]

Yeah, honey just to add a bit more flavour/body.

Racking - I normally do twice, once when fermented out. Then add finings & rack once cleared.
Conditioning - a few month, but TBH I've got that much fruit wine some bottles could be left a couple of years before they'll be drunk