Grapefruit wine

[loren601]

Today I started a 5 gallon 24 pound batch of grapefruit wine

 

[Arpolis]

Hey no fare. DETAILS DETAILS DETAILS!

Seriously Gratz on the starting of a new wine. It is always fun to get somthing new going to see what you can get. If you don't mind what recipe did you use? What is the starting gravity or potential ABV? What yeast was your choice? We all love to know how new wines start so that if you talk about it when it is finished, if we like the results some of us may give this a try.

 

[saramc]

How did you incorporate the fruit? I see you have a bag...peeled, membranes removed, simply sliced, etc? 24# of fruit, how much water did you add?
Your recipe would be most appreciated.

 

[loren601]

How did you incorporate the fruit? I see you have a bag...peeled, membranes removed, simply sliced, etc? 24# of fruit, how much water did you add?
Your recipe would be most appreciated.

I used a knifes and removed both the peal and membrane of the grapefruit as little white as possible. I even removed the center white part of the fruit.. I placed the "clean" grapefruit and 2 pounds of diced up raisins in a nylon bag and mashed the fruit. I got about 2 gals of juice and added 3 gallons of water. Then I put approximately 15 lbs of sugar. That's it

 

[saramc]

What yeast are you using and what was starting gravity? Any idea how long you plan to leave the fruit in the primary?
No airlock yet, just in primary bucket and lid/cloth resting on top?
White or pink grapefruit?

Very good move on the grapefruit prep! Later in the secondary you may want to add some zest or pith-free peel. I bet this would be good with some ginger. Or if you think you may backsweeten make a grapefruit zest infused simple syrup.

 

[JustinCider]

I have a one gallon batch of some ruby red grapefruit I'm going to bottle this weekend. Straight up rocket fuel at this point. It has fermented very dry and needs to be degassed like crazy. It seemed to be almost carbed when i racked it over and stabilized it last weekend. Heres my recipe...I cant remember where i copied it from.

GRAPEFRUIT WINE (Dry) (1)

6 large grapefruit
2 lbs granulated sugar (4 cups)
Handful Raisins
water to 1 gal
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1 crushed Campden tablet
1 tsp yeast starter
Sauterne yeast ( I used EC1118)

Scrub grapefruit clean. Peel one grapefruit thinly, making sure no white pith adheres to peel. Put peel in primary with half the sugar, the crushed Campden tablet, juice from all six grapefruit, yeast nutrient, and enough water to bring up to one gallon, stirring well to dissolve sugar. Cover primary with clean cloth.
After 12 hours, add pectic enzyme.
After additional 12 hours, add yeast.
After two days of vigorous fermentation, add remaining sugar, stir well, and allow additional two days vigorous fermentation in primary. Discard peel, transfer to secondary and fit airlock.
Rack every 30 days, topping up each time. After fifth racking, bottle and set aside at least 6 months. [Adapted from Dorothy Alatorre's Home Wines of North American]

I'm going to back-sweeten with some concentrate...it needs it badly. Also a quick side note on this...when i added the second batch of sugar per the recipe the fermentation got so crazy i had a volcano of juice go all over the table! It was really pretty cool looking during fermentation as you could watch a swirling vortex of action going on in the container.

O.G. 1.13
F.G. .999
A.B.V. 17.32%

Not very tasty at this point...I will add notes as time goes by.

:rockin:

 

[saramc]

Justin...from the photo it still looks a bit hazy. Am I imagining that? Just remember to allow it to test for 10-14 days after stabilizing and backsweetening because you typically drop more sediment..thus rack one final before bottling. What concentrate do you plan to b/s with? Looks nice though!

 

[Yooper]

Justin...from the photo it still looks a bit hazy. Am I imagining that? Just remember to allow it to test for 10-14 days after stabilizing and backsweetening because you typically drop more sediment..thus rack one final before bottling. What concentrate do you plan to b/s with? Looks nice though!

I agree. And if it's gassy, instead of degassing, I'd let it sit at least 60 days. If no new lees fall after 60 days, then it could sweetened. If no new lees fall again after 45-60 days, then I would consider bottling it.

That recipe looks like one from Jack keller's website.

 

[JustinCider]

Thanks for the info guys...I'll let it sit another month and see what happens. I've been searching the local stores for a ruby red to BS with but i can only find regular grapefruit concentrate. I've thinking of white grape as well...no clue really.

 

[saramc]

Thanks for the info guys...I'll let it sit another month and see what happens. I've been searching the local stores for a ruby red to BS with but i can only find regular grapefruit concentrate. I've thinking of white grape as well...no clue really.

Just remember a concentrate may cloud things back up. Just depends.

 

[loren601]

What yeast are you using and what was starting gravity? Any idea how long you plan to leave the fruit in the primary?
No airlock yet, just in primary bucket and lid/cloth resting on top?
White or pink grapefruit?

Very good move on the grapefruit prep! Later in the secondary you may want to add some zest or pith-free peel. I bet this would be good with some ginger. Or if you think you may backsweeten make a grapefruit zest infused simple syrup.

I used red grapefruits. I have it in the fermenting bucket with an airlock. My OG was 1.145

 

[Yooper]

I used red grapefruits. I have it in the fermenting bucket with an airlock. My OG was 1.145

That's way too high! I would dilute that. You may have a problem with fermentation getting stuck, as that is too high for yeast to really get going on.

In general, fruit wines are best at 1.085-1.095 or so.

 

[loren601]

What yeast are you using and what was starting gravity? Any idea how long you plan to leave the fruit in the primary?
No airlock yet, just in primary bucket and lid/cloth resting on top?
White or pink grapefruit?

Very good move on the grapefruit prep! Later in the secondary you may want to add some zest or pith-free peel. I bet this would be good with some ginger. Or if you think you may backsweeten make a grapefruit zest infused simple syrup.

I used red grapefruit. It's fermenting in a 6 gal bucket with an air lock. I'm not sure which yeast I used. I'm not to picky with yeast. My OG 1.154

 

[loren601]

That's way too high! I would dilute that. You may have a problem with fermentation getting stuck, as that is too high for yeast to really get going on.

In general, fruit wines are best at 1.085-1.095 or so.

I was thinking the same thing so I was planing to dilute with water in another day or so. If I need to I will turn it into a 6 gal batch.

 

[loren601]

I used red grapefruit. It's fermenting in a 6 gal bucket with an air lock. I'm not sure which yeast I used. I'm not to picky with yeast. My OG 1.154

I didn't realize I had responded to the post already. Drink*

 

[stantomike]

so i started a batch was going to be 3 wound up 5 gallon . so my sg was actually 2.0 when i added the yeast i started a extra 1 gallon batch without sugAR AND LET REST FOR THE 24 HOURS. added 24 hours into fermentantion of the 3 gallon batch after 3 full days frome the start of the orginal 3 gallons i sg again and was really close to 1. after adding that extra ggallon it was at1.0 i believe so i racked 3 gallons and waiting on 2 single 1 gallon containers to finish racking, this is my first attmep at making wine or beer. i dont drink anymore but thinking of infusing with cbd in future. another project.