Peach Wine First Attempts - Comments Please!

[john_america]

Hi,

Long story not so. I purchased a half dead peach tree a couple of years ago and nursed it back to health, It has since grown like a weed and last year produced its first real harvest of over 60lbs of peaches so I decided to make wine.

I had read and heard mixed reviews about removing the red flesh around the stone before fermenting, so I did two batches of peaches one with the red flesh and one with-out. I then froze the fruit for around a month before starting as I had other projects on the go.

I made the red flesh ones first and while I had a little trouble getting them to ferment properly (the water I started with was to cold) it worked after two weeks and was transferred to the carboy. Here I learnt a big lesson as I had used six gallons of water with the peaches in two plastic fermentation buckets and hey presto I ended up with Nine gallons of wine, so I got a 3 gallon carboy for the rest. This wine looks great with a nice amber color and is clearing nicely.

The second batch I did the same way and had the same fermentation problems but after 2-3 weeks I have transferred it to the carboy's, problem is it looks almost a butterscotch color and does not taste as sweet as the first batch.

I am now having difficulty with them fermenting in the carboy's

I have moved them to a warmer room and they are showing 65deg so should be ok but no bubbles.

I was considering wrapping the carboys in insulation to try to keep them warmer, would this help?

Any suggestions or comments will be appreciated.

Lastly I have kept both the "used" mash's and intend to try to make a further six gallons of wine using mixed apples and a 4 1/2 gallons of water to make up the fruit quantity, I figured half the wieght of the mash in apples should be sufficient. the mash was still fermenting nicely when I froze it.

Thanks in advance for any comments etc..

John

 

[Yooper]

Two things that come to mind right away for me. One is, do you have a hydrometer? If you do, you could easily take a reading and see if the wine is fermenting. And another item that I love is a "stick on" thermometer. They have them at winemaking shops (called a fermometer) but you can use a cheap aquarium thermometer also. They stick on the outside, so you can see at a glance what the fermentation temperature is.

Many yeast strains have a wide range of optimum fermentation temperature- often like 57-90 degrees as an example! So if the wine is above 60 degrees, it should be fine.

Depending how much sugar you started with, you could have already fermented as far as it's going to go. If you took a hydrometer reading at the beginning, I can guestimate if it's done or just slow if you could tell us the reading. It would be very common for it to be done in 2-3 weeks, so it could simply be done.

 

[john_america]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Both batches had 12lbs of sugar added to 6 gallons of water before I added the peaches. The hydrometer reading of the water before peaches added was 1.08sg (the water was cold).

I added the yeast a couple of days later (when it reached temperature) it was at 1.07sg but had already started bubbling slightly. After the yeast was added it bubbled madly until it got a chill then I moved them to warmer area and sat them on towels for additional insulation and they bubbled again for a few days.

I opened the primary fermentation buckets every other day and gently squeezed the peaches in the cheese cloth.

The hydrometer reading of the first batch which has been in the glass carboy for three weeks now is 0.990, and the reading of the second batch is also 0.990 but it started two weeks later and was at this point when I transferred it to the carboys?

The first batch was at 1.04sg when transferred.

Could the peaches cause a problem if I had left them in the primary fermentor for to long, the second batch was in Priamary for eight days longer than the first as I was not available to transfer it to the carboys?

Thanks,

John

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Both batches had 12lbs of sugar added to 6 gallons of water before I added the peaches. The hydrometer reading of the water before peaches added was 1.08sg (the water was cold).

I added the yeast a couple of days later (when it reached temperature) it was at 1.07sg but had already started bubbling slightly. After the yeast was added it bubbled madly until it got a chill then I moved them to warmer area and sat them on towels for additional insulation and they bubbled again for a few days.

I opened the primary fermentation buckets every other day and gently squeezed the peaches in the cheese cloth.

The hydrometer reading of the first batch which has been in the glass carboy for three weeks now is 0.990, and the reading of the second batch is also 0.990 but it started two weeks later and was at this point when I transferred it to the carboys?

The first batch was at 1.04sg when transferred.

Could the peaches cause a problem if I had left them in the primary fermentor for to long, the second batch was in Priamary for eight days longer than the first as I was not available to transfer it to the carboys?

Thanks,

John

At .990, it's done fermenting. Now it needs to clear a bit. Make sure it's topped up to avoid any chance of oxidation and be patient. Keep it covered and between 55-75 degrees and you'll be fine.

 

[john_america]

Thanks for the info,

I will keep racking it until no sediment apears and then bottle it.

Thanks again,

John

 

[john_america]

Latest update.

The second batch of wine has now been in the carboy's for three days and the sediment has started to settle. It now resembles the first batch in color, what a relief as I did not want to be drinking and serving cream colored wine.

Hopefuly it will all be great in the end.