Peach wine

Hey everyone!

I was wondering if anyone has ever made peach wine with the following recipe? I would like to carbonate this as well but not sure what the best way to be would be.

Also opinions on if this wine would be dry or sweet? I like more sweet wines so I would want to backsweeten. Anyone have any good ideas for doing this?


Thanks in advanced!

I would back sweeten with a must/sugar mixture or you could just back sweeten with a sugar/water mixture. If you wanted the peach flavor to really come out in the wine obviously you would do the must/sugar mixture, in fact you could probably get away with just back sweetening with must only if it was sweet enough. Anyways just my 2 cents. As far as carbonation goes I don't make sparkling wines so my experience in that area is fairly limited.

I am really unsure of how to backsweeten. If I did it with must and sugar, I would need to save some of the unfermented juice wouldn't I? The instructions of the link said to quarter the peaches and then squeeze as much juice out as I could and then dump the whole mess in the primary.

If you want to make it sparkling and sweet at the same time, this thread will be invaluable
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/

Essentially what you can do (there may be other options) is when it's finished fermenting, add your sugar/juice and get it tasting like you want.
Typically, you would add sodium metabisulfite (campden tablets) and potassium sorbate, which would critically stop the yeast from eating the additional sugar. Since it would essentially stop fermenting, there wouldn't be any C02 given off, and the wine would be still.
But, if you want sparkling, don't add the sodium or potassium. Bottle after you add the sugar/juice and make sure you add some to an old soda bottle. The soda bottle will be your "test." Whenever the soda bottle is firm (or before it gets to that point if you don't want much carbonation), you need to pasteurize ASAP, otherwise you will have bottle bombs on your hands. The thread above will help you a lot.

My only two concerns would be the cork's ability to hold in the CO2 during this whole process, and ensuring that the entire bottle reaches the necessary temperature to kill the yeast. Beer bottles are easy enough because they're pretty small, but wine bottles might be a bit more difficult.

...or you could probably use a keg and save yourself a lot of trouble

Good luck!

newbiewinemaker said:

Hey everyone!

I was wondering if anyone has ever made peach wine with the following recipe? I would like to carbonate this as well but not sure what the best way to be would be.

Also opinions on if this wine would be dry or sweet? I like more sweet wines so I would want to backsweeten. Anyone have any good ideas for doing this?

Thanks in advanced!

Click to expand...

What recipe?

sorry I forgot to post the link! http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Make-Peach-Wine-A-Simple-Peach-Wine-Recipe

I suggest you get some champagne bottles or heavy duty beer bottles if your going to try this. You could also keg it and push it with C02 but you would have to lay down some cash for that equipment.

I would really like to bottle it. I could by pass carbonating if I could get it to be a nice peachy sweet flavor but I have never back-sweetened before and am unsure what to backsweet with or how much of what.

Honda88 said:

I suggest you get some champagne bottles or heavy duty beer bottles if your going to try this. You could also keg it and push it with C02 but you would have to lay down some cash for that equipment.

Click to expand...

+1

If you're set on bottles you could probably get by with just table sugar (make sure it's dissolved in something to make sure it gets mixed in), but you should be able to find either peach juice or frozen peach juice concentrate (probably less likely).

If you go the juice/concentrate route, make sure it doesn't have any preservatives, as it will kill/severely inhibit yeast growth (carbonation).

You might backsweeten to taste with frozen-concentrated white grape peach juice.

it doesn't take very much sugar to carb a 5 gallon batch of finished alcohol. I would say two cups of dissolved sugar would probably carb it enough without blowing your bottles sky high.

If I'm not mistaken, beer brewers typically use 3/4 cup dextrose to bottle condition. The same amount is recommended for apfelwein.

you could use dextrose if you wanted too, I just figured it would be cheaper to use regular sugar..

I think what he's saying is it sounds like 2 cups would be too much to bottle condition.

I am going to make a 3 gallon batch of this and I am very unsure how much to of the juice/sugar mixture to add. I think I will try the pasteurize steps listed above.

My concern is adding too much juice/sugar mixture. Any ideas on this?

newbiewinemaker said:

I am going to make a 3 gallon batch of this and I am very unsure how much to of the juice/sugar mixture to add. I think I will try the pasteurize steps listed above.

My concern is adding too much juice/sugar mixture. Any ideas on this?

Click to expand...

Disregard this post as I did not see the second page!

If you pasteurize, you almost can't add "too much." As long as it tastes good, you'll be fine. Just make sure you follow the steps in the thread I linked to, especially the test soda bottle (and it can't be a water bottle) part. The more you add, the more you need to keep an eye on your test bottle.

Does anyone have any better peach wine recipes for a little bit more peach flavor and sweeter taste? I am a little concerned with the recipe link I posted earlier.


Thanks

Here is an update on this.

I quartered 20lbs of peaches and then mashed them and put the mess into a strainer bag. After adding all the necessary ingredients(sugar, water etc) I let is sit for 7 days.

I started with around 1.110 and I just transferred it into my secondary with all the yeast as I had to stir it 2 times a day. It is already around 10% which is right in the ball park that i would like. I know its going to get a little more in it which is fine with me. However, I do not want it to be over kill.

The directions say to let it sit until the yeast sediment on the bottom is about one inch thick but I don't think I want to do that as it will have way too much alcohol in it.

However, I would like to carbonate this.

I was thinking about transferring it out to my primary after it has settled a bit and leave as much sludge as I can behind. But if I want to carbonate later, I can not put sorbate in as it will kill my yeast. Could I add sorbate to it and clarifying agents,degas, and put it back in my carboy to clear and later add champagne yeast to it again to carbonate the additional sugar I add at the end?

FYI this is my first go at making fruit wine and wine not from a kit!! I started on kits to get my feet wet.

I just need a little guidance here on what to do. I was thinking about getting a small corney keg and pushing it with CO2 but I do prefer bottles since this peach wine gets better with age.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

newbiewinemaker said:

I was thinking about getting a small corney keg and pushing it with CO2 but I do prefer bottles since this peach wine gets better with age.

Click to expand...

You could always bottle from the keg. Look for the Sticky titled something like "We don't need no stinking beer gun" for instructions on how to do it on the cheap. Worked great for me on the last cider I did.

newbiewinemaker said:

Could I add sorbate to it and clarifying agents,degas, and put it back in my carboy to clear and later add champagne yeast to it again to carbonate the additional sugar I add at the end?

Click to expand...

In short, no. Sorbate doesn't "go away".

Also, it's hard to stop an active fermentation and sometimes it's unsuccessful and off-flavors can result from stressed yeast. Next time, start with a lower OG for the wine, and let it ferment all the way out, then stabilize (with campden and sorbate) and sweeten to taste. It's really the easiest way. Trying to stop it when you decide to is unpredictable at best.

You can try holding it near freezing to stop the active yeast and it might work as long as it stayed cold. Then you can rack off of the lees and see if it did halt fermentation. I'd give it less than 50/50 of working, though, unless you keep it cold continously.

Yooper said:

In short, no. Sorbate doesn't "go away".

Also, it's hard to stop an active fermentation and sometimes it's unsuccessful and off-flavors can result from stressed yeast. Next time, start with a lower OG for the wine, and let it ferment all the way out, then stabilize (with campden and sorbate) and sweeten to taste. It's really the easiest way. Trying to stop it when you decide to is unpredictable at best.

You can try holding it near freezing to stop the active yeast and it might work as long as it stayed cold. Then you can rack off of the lees and see if it did halt fermentation. I'd give it less than 50/50 of working, though, unless you keep it cold continously.

Click to expand...

What would you guess the finishing % would be if i let it ferment dry? It was at 1.03 yesterday and most kits I have done finish around 0.998. So it really doesnt have much more to go does it?


Thanks

TexasWine said:

You could always bottle from the keg. Look for the Sticky titled something like "We don't need no stinking beer gun" for instructions on how to do it on the cheap. Worked great for me on the last cider I did.

Click to expand...

I read the forum and there was discussion about it spoiling? If I do carbonate this wine, I will be putting it in champagne bottles with corks and wire caps and storing for a long period of time to allow the wine to age. Would it be better to just age then wine in bulk and then carbonate or bottle age and open all bottles into keg and push with CO2 and then do this?


Thanks

newbiewinemaker said:

What would you guess the finishing % would be if i let it ferment dry? It was at 1.03 yesterday and most kits I have done finish around 0.998. So it really doesnt have much more to go does it?


Thanks

Click to expand...

It depends on the yeast strain, and how happy the yeast is, but it could finish at .990.

If it's at 1.030, and it started at 1.110, it's at nearly 11%. It could go as high as 18%, if you used a yeast strain like EC1118 or premier cuvee.

Yes I used EC1117. I am ok with it having a high percent of alcohol I just need it to be sweet! I hate dry wines!

newbiewinemaker said:

I read the forum and there was discussion about it spoiling? If I do carbonate this wine, I will be putting it in champagne bottles with corks and wire caps and storing for a long period of time to allow the wine to age. Would it be better to just age then wine in bulk and then carbonate or bottle age and open all bottles into keg and push with CO2 and then do this?

Thanks

Click to expand...

First a disclaimer. I've never tried to age a wine and then carbonate it, so I'm not sure how that would work out. Maybe a more experienced hand can chime in on that. If it were my wine, I'd carbonate in a keg and bottle it now (via the stinking beer gun sticky) as opposed to bulk aging and then trying to carbonate it. If done properly you shouldn't have any issues with spoilage.

You definitely don't want to bottle age and then open all those bottles to put in a keg, only to bottle it again. Your going to run a high risk of ruining your wine doing that plus you're double handling for no benefit.

Sulphur, sweeten and carbonate would be my suggestion. You can do that after bottle ageing too. While I realise we're talkin peach wine here it is how Champagne is made. Bottle age, sweetening and a dose of sugar to carbonate.

Ok guys i need some help! My peach wine has been in the secondary for awhile now. I degassed it, added potasium sorbate and then added sparkoloid. It smells and tastes awful. What did I do wrong and is there anything I can do to fix it? I have put alot of work into this and do not want to have to dump it out. Any suggestions?

Thanks

How long has it been working?
I'm in the middle of a peach wine too and I asked a similar question a few weeks back. It didn't have any color and tasted/smelled extremely sour and just generally nasty.
The general consensus was to let it work. I'm not quite finished yet, but it could just be that it needs to age. Does it look infected?

I am not sure what infected wine looks like and it looks fine. It has a good color at least.

When you say it tastes horrible, what do you mean? Describe the taste a little. It may be Normal or there may be a lacto infection. Tasting notes would help.

Sorry its been so long. It taste very watery but has a good peach nose on it. Im not sure what I did wrong. It has not cleared and it has been quite some time. I have already tried clearing agent. I just got some bentonite and im gonna try to get the haze gone. I may jusy try to clear it and backsweeten with frozen concentrate and bottle and hide away for a year and see what happens

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Peach wines have a tendency to be watery. That is why in many recipes you use raisins, tannin extract, banana, other fruits/juices... to add body. Looking at the original recipe you posted it added some orange juice. I probably would have also added some kind of tannin source myself. Looking at your update I was not sure you used the orange juice.

Also peaches have a lot of pectin in it which causes hazy ness in the wine. It is good to put a healthy amount of pectic enzyme in the must before pitching yeast.

Here is what I would do in your case. Pick up some pectic enzyme and add twice the recommended dosage to your wine and also add 1/2oz of raisins per gallon you have. (Forgot your batch size without re-reading). Put the wine in a cold dark place under airlock for about 30 days. Rack off the raisins and let it sit another 30 days. It should clear up and if not bentonite should help. Pick up some Welche's white grape peach concentrate. It is hard to find some times and you may have to find some hole in the wall store to get it but it will be worth it. Stabilize and back sweeten with the concentrate till it is the sweetness you desire. This wine should perk up and be just fine.

Thanks for the help! I happen to have everything on hand so I will try this. Thanks again!

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