Physalis wine

[Dicky]

I have recently acquired a fairly large batch of Physalis so I figure tha I'll turn them into a wine. They're pretty tastey when they're ripe enough.

Does anyone have any experience of this? I've look around on the Internet for recipes to get some idea but I'm out of luck.

I believe that Physalis is more commonly known as a Ground Tomato or a Cape Gooseberry in America. I did search these but had no real luck. It seems that people turn it into jam more than wine.

 

[Dicky]

Ground Berry, relative to a tomatillo apparently...if that's any help?

 

[dougdecinces]

I just racked a 2 gallon melomel to secondary with 32 oz white grape juice and 2.5 lb ground cherries. I like it so far. It's got a slight fruity/pineapple-y taste and was well-balanced acid-wise. It will need a long time to age, but it's certainly promising.

 

[Dicky]

Ok, grapes are a good idea for a blend. I had considered tangerines, but I think I like your idea better.

What yeast did you use? I'm thinking of using a champagne yeast to try and produce a fairly high alcohol content.

 

[dougdecinces]

I used Nottingham only because I wanted to serve it sparkling and semi-dry. It crapped out at 12% alcohol and 1.002 FG. I like using ale yeast for my meads just for this reason. As long as I add nutrient, it works fine.

I have no experience from this, but I heard champagne yeast can be a bit harsh. You may want to pick a wine yeast that, well, tastes better. Also--and you will have to remember I am very inexperienced with wines--you may want to add a lb of golden raisins per gallon to get improved body (maybe you can do that instead of grape juice).

 

[Dicky]

Noted, cheers. I went for some Gervin GV5 in the end. It good for low temperatures and apparently results in a better tasting product (did a little research).

I want it to be a fairly light flavoured wine, and I like the idea of grapes. Surely raisins are just dried grapes anyway so, it stands to reason that grapes would do the same?

I'll try it, see what happens, and let you know.

 

[dougdecinces]

I've just heard that raisins add body. I used them for a dandelion wine to good effect. I just boiled approximately a cup of water per lb of raisins and took my sanitized immersion blender to them to puree them. You can also do this in a food processor, or you can just chop them with a knife. You can either add them during or after the ground cherries. I would also line the fermentation bucket with a paint strainer bag. I have had racking problems with raisins.

Here are some people with more knowledge on the subject than I.

 

[johnnync]

some say to put a whole banana in will help with body

 

[Dicky]

I've tried using banana before in some cider. I wasn't too happy with the results so I'll give it a miss. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Apparently it's to do with the tannins in the grape skins giving the wine body, so using grapes would be fine.

Thanks for your help everyone.