wild damson wine

[chimpo]

Hi everyone, been reading a bit on wine making and as i,m new to this ive seen a few recipe variations and got a little confused and unsure how much water / sugar to add.

Made my first beer a couple of months ago and all went great, this year our 4 damson trees yielded mountain of plums and there is only so much jam we can use or pass on.

Right now ive 2 gallons of Pure Damson juice ..... damsons were simmered until soft then mashed and put through the small home brew apple press i was toying about with to extract the juice , leaving the skin and stones behind but getting out as much goodness as possible.

help on the next steps would be greatly appreciated as i'm on a very fast learning curve.

 

[Tau]

Two pounds of damsons with 1.3kg sugar, 1 camden at start before adding yeast, 1 tsp nutrient and 2 tsp pectolase (needed) and whatever wine yeast you have. The 1.3kg of sugar (can use less 1kg would do) is based on at least 2 rackings and topping up, this gives a dry damson wine.

As you have juice, not sure on the amount, if you know the original weight of damsons used to get 2 gallons then divide until you get to 900g /2lbs. Then use that amount.

Alternatively, if you have a hydrometer take a reading of the juice sugar level and add the amount of sugar you require to get above 10% abv which you need to be able to store the wine.

 

[chimpo]

Thank you Tau, Its having the juice confused me and also could not figure out whether the recipes etc for the damsons included the stones inside.
I have all you mentioned or nearly all apart from the pectalose which i,m awaiting delivery ( fingers crossed on tmw)
I have a hydrometer so I can use that, again unsure on whether I add water before taking a reading.
I also might be able to do another pot of plums and rather than just fill it and cook i will weigh plums raw and measure the amount of juice yielded though this may vary a bit depending on how juicy each pot of plums has been.

 

[chimpo]

hope the pic shows up ,,, not very good at this

the homebrew press

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMK1BQBlgzb6L1NqRtkxO5ioT5WjG8EwSBD4PoG

damson juice

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipO8BGTHm6hPv-OUnXH2vxkWUgkjWG9MwYnuSqPp

 

[chimpo]

Right i,m getting a reading of 1.055 from the fruit juice and figured out the sugar to add to 1.095. what i,m not understanding is why recipes add water or how much to add. Beer kits defo a lot easier :)

 

[Tau]

It might be a bit overpowering in damson flavour without water, you probably only need a 1.5 ltrs of juice if you put the skins through as well. Plus the malo/lactic stage of fermentation will take much longer, months rather than weeks, if its all juice.

It recommends not to finish fermentation off with camdens or stabiliser.

 

[chimpo]

Yes I agree water will need to be added , I picked some more from the garden this morning to see exactly what weight the pot holds that ive been using to simmer plums.
4.5 kg (10 lbs ) which when simmered, then put inside a filter bag then pressed yields approx 4 liters (0.5 of which will be water added to start simmering). SO all in all 25 lbs of Damsons were used to get the 10 liters of Damson juice.
I have a a 25 litre FV vessel which i'm going to use . I think 4 lbs of plums per gallon demi john so if I use my 10 liters (25lbs) in the 25 litre FV vessel it may be ok.
I was also going to add a liter of Red grape juice as i seen that online.

Pectalose wont arrive to Monday so Ive put a Campden tablet in each demi john of pure juice for now and put in a store thats dark and cooler so hopefully it will be fine.

From what ive read the plan is then to put in 25 liter FV add cooled boiled water to bring level to 20 liters and test SG to figure out how much sugar is needed to bring to 12% the pure juice in demi jars is 1.055 at the moment. Once all is added and sorted have it a 25 liter mark then hope for the best

 

[chimpo]

brew now in FV and pectalose and campden added and sitting for a few days before adding sugar. SG on the 20 litres is 1.030 at the moment , hopefully got this bit right after reading a bit.
currently at 76 grams per litre and for 20 L = 1520 g
to get to 12.7% thats 250 g /L so thats 5kg in total . So 5000g - 1520 = 3480 grams to be added

Does this all get added in at start as i seen somewhere but cant find it again that some as kept back for later ?

 

[Tau]

Does this all get added in at start as i seen somewhere but cant find it again that some as kept back for later ?

Add it all, don't keep opening the lid once the yeast is in, its tempting to look but increases chance of infection.

 

[chimpo]

This one seems to be working away nicely, checked today and its still bubbling away from time to time , just left the quilt wrapped around it to keep it warm. Will be interesting to see how long it bubbles away.

 

[chimpo]

The FV hasnt bubbled in a week that ive noticed so time to rack off, SG 0.994 . Once racked of and with a modified plastic coat hanger ive been taking a few goes at removing the Co2 seems to be taking an absolute age this evening . Also added 5 campden tablets to the approx 20 liters ive racked off, Could of maybe got another liter but didnt want to risk getting andy lees across.

1095 - 994 /7.36 = 13.72 % its sure not looking weak so far

 

[cheapbrew]

Hmmm this reminds me I have some from last year that should be nice by now, did you boil the damsons? or a better question, is it starting to clear or really cloudy? boiling can make it hazy and can take forever to clear.

 

[chimpo]

Hmmm this reminds me I have some from last year that should be nice by now, did you boil the damsons? or a better question, is it starting to clear or really cloudy? boiling can make it hazy and can take forever to clear.

Its clear and i havnt added finnings yet. I used a home made press and a 5 tonne jack and extracted the juice from the plums, wasnt sure what way it would work out but so far so good.