Preface: I've dabbled in cider/mead/beer, but have not produced anything especially good, and I'm at a point where I feel like I know just enough to know that I don't know anything at all. I'd like to try a pretty qualitative approach in hopes of producing somewhat repeatable results or at least getting a better feel for what the various inputs I can make into the process do, from a practical perspective.
I have a reasonably good PH meter, everything needed to titrate TA, and a refractometer. If possible, I'd like good "starting values" to work from.
In terms of materials, in addition to nutrients, campden tabs, etc, I've got many, many pounds of frozen Shiro plums and maybe 10 pounds of frozen Italian prune plums. Shiros are a large yellow variety with sweet flesh and a tangy/bitter skin. The current crop is nearly ripe, so if fresh fruit works better at any point, it is an option as well. On hand I've got Wyeast 4783 and 4134 smack-packs, as well as Red Star Premier Cuvee. I'd like to produce a semi-sweet or sweet wine that makes use of as much of the plum character as possible.
I also have 60lbs of wildflower honey, so this could easily be a mead instead, if anyone has an especially solid suggestion along those lines. I didn't want to post the same request in two spots and spam the place up, so I didn't post it in the mead subforum since that seems less likely.
Does anyone have a suggestion on a detailed protocol to follow, preferably with defined ranges for TA/PH/SG to start with, ratio of fruit to add in primary/reserve for secondary, nutrient addition schedules, degassing schedules, temperature control ranges, etc? Everything I've been finding seems to either be very basic, which hasn't really produced anything very good in my other ventures, or is more data-driven but oriented toward folks with a much better understanding and higher experience level, and thus leaves me with big gaps.
I have a reasonably good PH meter, everything needed to titrate TA, and a refractometer. If possible, I'd like good "starting values" to work from.
In terms of materials, in addition to nutrients, campden tabs, etc, I've got many, many pounds of frozen Shiro plums and maybe 10 pounds of frozen Italian prune plums. Shiros are a large yellow variety with sweet flesh and a tangy/bitter skin. The current crop is nearly ripe, so if fresh fruit works better at any point, it is an option as well. On hand I've got Wyeast 4783 and 4134 smack-packs, as well as Red Star Premier Cuvee. I'd like to produce a semi-sweet or sweet wine that makes use of as much of the plum character as possible.
I also have 60lbs of wildflower honey, so this could easily be a mead instead, if anyone has an especially solid suggestion along those lines. I didn't want to post the same request in two spots and spam the place up, so I didn't post it in the mead subforum since that seems less likely.
Does anyone have a suggestion on a detailed protocol to follow, preferably with defined ranges for TA/PH/SG to start with, ratio of fruit to add in primary/reserve for secondary, nutrient addition schedules, degassing schedules, temperature control ranges, etc? Everything I've been finding seems to either be very basic, which hasn't really produced anything very good in my other ventures, or is more data-driven but oriented toward folks with a much better understanding and higher experience level, and thus leaves me with big gaps.
