emissary

Recipes 

So I'm on my way to the neighbors house to pick somewhere between 50 & 100 lbs of ripe red plums (don't know the variety yet). Wanting to put it all up in wine. The only yeast I have on hand is 1-packet of nottingham dry ale yeast, 1-packet of red dry montrachet, aaannnnddddd the yeast cakes at the bottom of an apfelwein and a blackberry apfelwein, both of which are ready for secondary. I've played with yeast cakes in beer, but never in wine, so here is my quandry.

Can I use one or both of these yeast cakes for my plum wine?

Should I? Why or why not? These are from the regular Edwort's recipe, so they are montrachet dry yeast. Would I be better off pitching the fresh yeast? Or should I just bite the bullet and order some stinkin yeast (of a more plum-wine suitable variety) and wait for the junk to show up (don't like this option as I am very impatient)?

I plan on breaking the fruit into several different batches with varying amounts of sugar.

So, let me know what you think. Thanks!

Yooper

Recipes 

I wouldn't. Montrachet is a famous H2S producer, and the lees from wine just don't taste very good. I wash and reuse ale yeast (and a few lager strains) but never wine yeast.

I'd order wine yeast. One thing that might be encouraging is I like to wash and then freeze my fruit before making wine. It makes the cell walls break up easier, and makes the fruit easier to smash. So, you have a while before you need the yeast anyway if you go that route.

You also might want to order pectic enzyme while you're at it- it is a miracle worker in getting fruit wines nice and clear. Possibly some acid blend, too! I'd also buy some powdered wine tannin, since the plums might need a little "help".

Check out this link, for a quick and easy reference to yeast strains: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/strains.asp

He also has some great recipes. I'd try this one: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques12.asp

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