Niche Winemaker

[randyspudge]

Hey everybody. I'm Randy. I got into winemaking in fall of 2019 when I made some cheap, crappy wine out of grape juice. I then moved on to apple cider and mead. I took a hiatus and returned in 2023 with a desire to make wine/liquor out of region-specific fruits like mulberries, American persimmons, pawpaws, elderberries, but I am most interested in American persimmons. The best alcohol I've ever made was 140 proof persimmon schnapps out of American persimmons. I plan on experimenting with all of these fruits in the coming months so long as they are available to me, so I will keep you guys updates with my experiments on these fruits, and any recipes involving these fruits would be much appreciated.

 

[Agent]

I fiddle with similarity local and abundant sources for my winemaking. Tomato and Rhubarb have been my perennial go-tos.

The danger is understanding what flavor a recipe is shooting for. Rhubarb and elderberry are notorious for being noticeable in small doses, but there's always a die-hard that want it to kick them in the teeth.

 

[fluketamer]

did you get to 140 by distilation or did you start with moonshine already made.

i imagine soaking some persimmons in everclear for a few weeks would make a good liquer with syrup.

 

[randyspudge]

did you get to 140 by distilation or did you start with moonshine already made.

i imagine soaking some persimmons in everclear for a few weeks would make a good liquer with syrup.

I was only planning on making persimmon wine initially. I basically used only persimmons as the source of sugar. I waited 3 months after it finished fermenting and threw it in the still, getting 140 proof initially and loving it, but diluted it to 80 proof to savor the schnapps. This year I want to make a much larger batch of the schnapps.