Help! Plum Wine/Cyser Tastes Terrible

[megafauna]

Lets start out by saying I'm new-ish at this. I have probably finished 12 or so 5 gallon brews that I have enjoyed. These were ciders, root beers, ginger beers and other non-beer things (i.e. no hops/used malt once).

So I just recently made a plum wine, or maybe its more of a cyser. I used a mix of organic plums and cherries I got through a connection. I cooked the plums and cherries down for a while to get out the liquid, strained a fair amount of it, then threw it all in the carbouy. I had also added honey and I was getting PotABV reading around 9%. I pitched the yeast (D47) the next morning once the temperature had stabalized and saw action in a day or so.

So this was about a week and a half ago and I took a reading today and it's reaching about 1%PotABV. I tasted this sample and it is TERRIBLE. It doesn't taste totally rotten, but sour and 'almost' rotten.

I plan to rack it off to secondary today, do you think some of this flavor will go away? I don't want to put all the effort into it if I am stuck with that taste.

Help!!!!

 

[BigKahuna]

It's week old wine...you didn't really expect it to be drinkable before it even finished fermenting did you?

Rack it into a clean carboy, and let it finish for 3 or 4 months. Keep racking it as it drops lees, and it will be fine in a year or so.

 

[megafauna]

Not necessarily drinkable, but not so nasty. Like I said, in my previous experiences, things tasted decent coming out of primary and only got better. I just didnt want to put a bunch of work into this if it was going to end up terrible.

Mostly, I was wondering if the taste can improve once I take it off of the lees, or if the damage is already done

 

[Yooper]

Not necessarily drinkable, but not so nasty. Like I said, in my previous experiences, things tasted decent coming out of primary and only got better. I just didnt want to put a bunch of work into this if it was going to end up terrible.

Mostly, I was wondering if the taste can improve once I take it off of the lees, or if the damage is already done

It might improve tremendously, but it may not. The only way to know is to wait and see. You may have a fantastic mead (melomel) there.

My experience with cherries is that when they are fermented, they are very harsh and astringent. I added a little honey (this was a regular cherry wine) and it smoothed out beautifully. Time does wonderful things.

 

[BigKahuna]

It might improve tremendously, but it may not. The only way to know is to wait and see. You may have a fantastic mead (melomel) there.

The only first hand I have on this is my Strawberry mead tasted like rotten strawberry ass and smelled worse when it came off the fruit. It's finally getting good, but going to be great!

 

[Poobah58]

Can't imagine what rotten strawberry ass tastes like.

 

[unclewilson]

let sit and rack off !!when you bottle add about a eight of a cup of sugar to the bottle and enjoy !

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Lets start out by saying I'm new-ish at this. I have probably finished 12 or so 5 gallon brews that I have enjoyed. These were ciders, root beers, ginger beers and other non-beer things (i.e. no hops/used malt once).

So I just recently made a plum wine, or maybe its more of a cyser. I used a mix of organic plums and cherries I got through a connection. I cooked the plums and cherries down for a while to get out the liquid, strained a fair amount of it, then threw it all in the carbouy. I had also added honey and I was getting PotABV reading around 9%. I pitched the yeast (D47) the next morning once the temperature had stabalized and saw action in a day or so.

So this was about a week and a half ago and I took a reading today and it's reaching about 1%PotABV. I tasted this sample and it is TERRIBLE. It doesn't taste totally rotten, but sour and 'almost' rotten.

I plan to rack it off to secondary today, do you think some of this flavor will go away? I don't want to put all the effort into it if I am stuck with that taste.

Help!!!!

Having made plum melomel using D-47 yeast, I can tell you from experience that your melomel is going to be tart. There is a lot more acid in plums than one might think, remove the sugar & you're left with tart. Mine is about as tart as a pinot grigio, or a gewurztraminer, but it's also quite tasty. It took a long time (2 years) to mellow, but I think it was worth the wait. I'd say go ahead & rack, then just wait & see, you might be plesantly surprised in a year or two. Regards, GF.

 

[will_cbe]

let sit and rack off !!when you bottle add about a eight of a cup of sugar to the bottle and enjoy !

Be sure you stabilize before you add any sugar.