looking for the basics of wine making

[Steinaken]

So I thought there might be a generic "how to" for generic wine recipes on the recipe page.. or stickied on the main forum, but oh well.

I want to make a feijoa wine (also known as "pineapple guava" I believe) - I have plenty of those around right now. I 'think' I just need to scoop the pulp (probably freeze it) then put pulp into water, add sugar, punch it down or stir it daily for an for an unknown amount of time, then strain off the pulp, take OG, sprinkle yeast and ferment until dry?

So questions I have - does the above line of processes look correct? Is there a rough guide for time for must? if it was a beer I would be adding the fruits in a secondary for a few days, but obviously this is for a wine... Is there anything else I should be adding before/during/after ferment stage? Do I need to boil between must and pitch? Is there a reason why I cant sink the pulp in a bag? or is it also about getting some more O2 into the must? And finally - do I need to age this? if so, in bottles or in a sealed secondary?

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Steinaken , There is no generic "how to" when it comes to wine because there are so many variations in what you are fermenting but basically, you want to allow the yeast to sit on the fruit and added sugars for a couple of weeks unless you know that that length of time will extract unpleasant flavors (eg, for dandelion wine , it's two days of maceration. For grapes its about two weeks. I have no idea how long one might allow guava to sit on the yeast but I would think a couple of weeks.
Brewing, as the word implies involves heat. Wine making tends not to: to cook fruit tends to set any pectins and you don't want to make jam or the cloudiness that set pectins cause..
The stirring is essentially to ensure that any fruit is always in full contact with the liquid. The presence of CO2 will mean that the fruit tends to rise to the surface and fruit at the surface is exposed to O2 and damp (rather than wet fruit) exposed to O2 will spoil and that spoiling spoils the wine.
You do ferment until dry but you will have determined the target ABV before you pitch your yeast. What is the sugar content of the fruit? How much added sugar do you need to raise that anticipated gravity to the target gravity to result in an ABV for the wine you are making. WIne is all about balance - ABV vs richness of flavor vs acidity vs mouthfeel vs tannin vs perceived sweetness. Most country wines (fruit other than grape) need some back sweetening.
You might macerate the fruit while it is contained in a bag. But that bag may still tend to float to the surface. But in any event stirring in wine making is helpful because during active fermentation the yeast benefit from exposure to O2. After you rack to a secondary and seal with an airlock (AND ensure that there is no headroom) then you want to avoid exposure to air as the yeast don't need it and the fruit will be oxidised.
Good wine tends to improve with aging. Poor wine simply gets older. Most - most fruit wines benefit from 6 months to a year of aging BUT bottle some wine in smaller bottles and taste every month or so. The wine won't bite you. And if you find that it is enjoyable after 3 months then open some then but you may find that after another 3 months that wine will taste even better and after 9 more months even more incredible...