Hummer,
I was wondering about what benifits there are to leaving the peach skin on. I'm just imagining all the little peach fuzzies floating all over the place. Also how long many days do you stir to keep the hydrogen sulfide down?
By the way, congrats on having 16 batches going! If I had that much going on... my wife just would not appreciate it
Flavor, color, and the work it takes to remove the skins. Of course, on a single batch, removing peach skins is not that big a deal. A dip in boiling water for a few moments, then they come off easily. But I don't think it's necessary or desirable, check Jack Keller's peach wine recipes.
I happened to process
a lot of peaches and didn't have time or interest in removing skins. I did wash the fruit by hand in the process of removing the pit, so I don't think any remaining peach fuzzies were a problem.
With one exception I didn't ferment the peaches in a nylon strainer or pressing bag as
Novalou did, but that would be an advantage if you don't have a press. With the pulp in a bag, you can progressively squeeze the juice out. You'll still get a lot of fine fruit solids, probably more than with pressing, but that will just take time and successive rackings to clear. I pressed my fermented must using a pressing bag [which is not as fine as a (paint)strainer bag] in a basket press. If you press by hand you might have difficulty getting juice out of a very fine mesh bag, it'll clog pretty quickly.
You should stir the must every day throughout the initial fermentation, until you press the pulp off and transfer to a carboy. I had a problem with H2S on some of my batches, which thankfully I was able to cure. I didn't stir often enough, particularly given the heavy fruit content. I did use several doses of yeast nutrient and some yeast energizer. In the end, they all came out wonderfully.
At the same time I had 37 batches going with apricots, apples, cranberries, and various combinations with peaches and Alexander's wine grape concentrates. Did some wines from red and white grapes, too. I hope to finish bottling them all in the next week or so.
Here's some pics of the project beginning with a 900 lb. bin of Palisade peaches, the best peaches in the world.
Apricot Peach Fruit Potpourri