What kind of wild fruits have you fermented?

spenghali · 01-24-2012, 09:00 PM

I have come across a few random trees around town that have some tiny fruits on them, still trying to identify what they are. I really would like to start fermenting almost anything I can get my hands on for free, more for my amusement than for making a delicious beverage. What have you all fermented from the wild? Are there any famously poisonous trees/shrubs that I should avoid? Hopefully I can post a pic of what I have found later today. Thanks for any input.

garnede · 01-24-2012, 10:44 PM

Yes there are poisonous trees and shrubs, always be sure of why your picking before you use it.

So far I have only used mulberry, but I just started too. Lots of wild edibles to be used.

**Yooper** · 01-24-2012, 10:50 PM

I've done wild chokecherry, pin cherry, sour cherry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, elderberry, peach, crabapples, grapes, dandelions, cranberry, apple, and so on.

Any edible fruit is possible, and so are edible flowers like lilac and dandelions.

Serviceberries would be good, but we don't have many around here.

spenghali · 01-24-2012, 11:12 PM

I'll do a search for how everyone has done this, but in general, do you just mash the fruit (sterilize it?), then add some good water, pitch some champagne yeast and call it a day?

**Yooper** · 01-24-2012, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spenghali

I'll do a search for how everyone has done this, but in general, do you just mash the fruit (sterilize it?), then add some good water, pitch some champagne yeast and call it a day?

In general, there aren't enough sugars in the fruit to make wine, so it's common to add sugar (often 2 pounds per gallon) so that you can have alcohol in the wine.

You mash the fruit, and pour a sulfite solution over it to kill bacteria and wild yeast. You can add other ingredients if you want, for flavor, like a squeeze of lemon or some tannin or acid blend, and dissolve the sugar in water and fill up to a gallon (or whatever the batch size is). The next day, add the yeast and cover the wine. Stir daily for about 5 days, then transfer the wine to a carboy or jug with limited headspace and put an airlock on it. Rack (siphon) whenever there are lees more than 1/4" or so after 45-60 days. That's about it.

Hydrometer readings help, so you know if you've added the correct amount of sugar to get a 12-15% ABV wine (so it preserves it), and so you know when the wine is done.

When it's clear and no longer dropping lees, it can be bottled.

spenghali · 01-24-2012, 11:32 PM

thanks for the info, I'll consult some other threads/stickies for further information. Never made wine before, this could become really interesting come summer and fall, there are plenty of wild fermentables here in Oregon. Also excited to use these for a saison at some point.

Dicky · 01-25-2012, 02:09 PM

I've done a few and I only started recently too.
What i've found is: you're going to make some mistakes. For example i added too much acid blend to my elderberry wine, and i lost my entire batch of physalis and raspberry wine because I didn't pasteurise them correctly and they sort of blew their corks and went bad. But you live, you learn!

I have a sloe and blueberry wine on the go at the moment. Won't know how that has gone for another year though.

Dicky

easydays · 01-26-2012, 12:45 AM

Here the first wine to get made is Rubarb as it is the first fruit ripe in the spring. It looks pinkish while fermenting, comes out white and very nice to drink.
Currently have chokecherry and elderberry fermenting and of course our mead has been in the carboy, 3rd racking for 1 year.
I use a steamer/juicer for all my fruit now. All you wind up with is pure juice, nice not to have to stain or rerack all of the old fruit out of the carboy.

Arkwright · 01-26-2012, 01:25 AM

Iv used blackberry and wild cherry (there good together) picked apples and I found a muskiedime vine (wild grape) I plan to brew from later this year.

Pith · 01-26-2012, 01:27 AM

When you've worked out what the fruit is, do a google search for it + "wine". Jack Keller's website will likely come up. His recipes are often/usually tried and tested, so he's a trustworthy source unless he explicitly says otherwise in the recipe page.