Planning - fig wine

[Srimmey]

Good day!

I am coming into ownership of a great many of fresh figs. My friend had a bumper crop this year and has “a **** load” of figs. She asked me if I wanted them and I said I would take as much as she was willing to send my way. She has harvested twice for me and they are currently chilling in her freezer.

I hope it’s at least 15 pounds. My version of “a **** load” is usually much more than most people’s. 15 pounds would be great, 30 pounds would be epic!

Here is my plan, please provide feedback. I’ve never made fig wine before.

5 lb of figs per gallon, hopefully enough for at least 3 gallons, preferably 5. Freeze figs, thaw, grind and press (like apples). Pulp goes in a brew bag for primary. Primary will be done in a big ‘ol bucket and be half a gallon more than the target amount in secondary (example… if my goal is 3 gallons, make 3.5 in primary). If you guys think I should use more figs per gallon, I am not apposed at all. I’m not afraid to do a 100% fig juice wine, as long as it won’t give people the squirts.

Table sugar OR a light honey (wild flower or orange blossom) to 1.100 OG. I like the idea of honey because it add some acid to the finished product without using any acid blend.

- pectic enzyme
- gofirm for yeast starter
- 7 gram for 3 gallons or 11 grams of 5 gallons of fermaid O on with the initial pitch (do I need more yeast nutrients? I don’t know how much nutrients figs pack in).
- should I add bentonite to primary?
- take gravity reading of pure fig juice before adding water (this will be important for secondary!).
- water to 3.5 or 5.5 gallons.

Yeast selection - I was originally thinking EC1118 because it’s just a nice clean yeast but I also thought QA23 might do the figs more justice. Also have D47 and 71B on hand. Would be happy to consider another yeast! 5g of yeast for a 3 gallon batch and 10g for 5 gallons.

- rack to 5 gallon carboy, stabilize and oak.
- back sweeten to 1.005. Use pure juice from figs. This would be saved from the initial pressing and frozen until primary is complete.
- more pectic enzymes since I added fresh juice in secondary.
- sparkloid if required, age 6 months before bottling + another 6 months in the bottle before turning over for public consumption.

 

[Srimmey]

Well this didn’t exactly go as planned…

Had about 15-16 pounds of figs so I shot for a 3 gallon batch. Ended up hitting about 4 gallons in the primary bucket.

The hiccup happened when I found I had a tear in my brew bag. I started moving the ground up fig goop from the bucket to the press but immediately noticed a ton of it was oozing out a rip in the side of a bag. I decided to pitch the bag and turn that into my primary bucket.

It’s so thick though, it’s like… fig mud. Also ended up making more of a mead, than wine… I wanted the extra acid from the honey.

I think the OG is 1.100 but it’s just so hard to say… it’s less than 1.110 and more than 1.074. 1.100 was “the most consistent” measurement.

Below is the process I ended up following. It will probably sit in primary for 4’ish weeks, depending on how long it takes for the goop to settle out.

Fig mead - 8/12/23



15-16’ish pounds mashed figs
6.5 pounds clover honey
2.5 gallons water
4 tsp pectic enzymes
6 grams go-firm
7 grams fermaid O
5 grams QA23 yeast
OG = 1.100?

1. Freeze figs for 24+ hours
2. Thaw fig the morning of brew day
3. Create yeast starter, set aside for pitching
4. Grind up thawed figs
5. Add water, honey and pectic enzymes to ground up figs. Stir vigorously
6. Let sit for 2 hours
7. Add fermaid O, stir vigorously
8. Pitch in yeast starter, stir gently
9. Stir gently every 12-24 after fermentation starts

 

[cottonwoodks]

I'm certainly interested in this process, as we are currently growing figs (not going to be a bumper crop year because of an unfortunate deep-freeze while they were all still actively growing last October), and this might be something we could do sometime. Do keep us all posted!

 

[turtlecrossing]

Would love an update when you have one! I'm about to try the same thing with figs. My approach will be similar to what I've done with plum wine/plum cider. For that, I had planned to press, too, but ended up with a plum mud, which made things tricky. Have you moved to secondary yet? How do things look?

 

[Srimmey]

Would love an update when you have one! I'm about to try the same thing with figs. My approach will be similar to what I've done with plum wine/plum cider. For that, I had planned to press, too, but ended up with a plum mud, which made things tricky. Have you moved to secondary yet? How do things look?

Thank you for checking in!

It has made great progress, after 2 rackings it is looking much better.

The sludge fermented for a total of 2.5 weeks before it was racked into a 5 gallon carboy. The SG at that point was 1.000 so I threw in some meta K and potassium sorbate. The racking was very challenging because of all the fiberous material that came through. I had to pump the racking cane constantly and stop every 30 seconds to unclog the suction port on the bottom. Hopefully I didn’t cause any oxygenation…

Once it was all in, I chopped up another 4 lb of pre-frozen figs for back sweetening. Unfortunately enough yeast came through on the racking to over come the meta k and potassium sorbate so fermentation took off again. I dowsed it with a ton of pectic enzymes and closed the door for another 2 weeks.

Finally last Sunday I racked it again. Added more meta k and potassium sorbate along with 1 tblsp of honey. Also threw in some oak chips and sparkloid in hopes that it would start to mellow.

This second racking was much better but there was a considerable amount of volume loss. I started with a volume of around 4 gallons in my primary buck, I’m down to less than 2. It’s smells like fermented plant matter (not the most appealing smell I’ve encountered) but it’s starting to improve. I’ll rack it off the oak in about 4 weeks. Then it may be time to bottle or find another way to store the 1.5 ish gallons long term.

 

[suzeQ]

Thank you so much for sharing. Please let us know how it turns out as there's not a lot of fig wine/mead info out there. I bet you could get a beer growler super cheap at goodwill store there in Oregon for you 1/2ish gallon.

 

[mac_1103]

I've got almost 40 lbs in my freezer. That's after using 7 lbs for a fig stout, 15 lbs for a big batch of jam, eating about 10 lbs and giving away at least that many more. I'll probably pick another 10-15 lbs today and there will still be a lot more ripening on the trees. Seems like I have no choice but to make a big batch of fig wine.

 

[mac_1103]

Started my fig wine. Kept it simple - 20 lbs of figs, 8 lbs of sugar, water to about 5.5 gallons, enzyme, nutrient, acid and tanin. SG was 1.091 and it tasted great. Looked like a nice rose going into the fermenter. We'll see what comes out.

 

[Srimmey]

Started my fig wine. Kept it simple - 20 lbs of figs, 8 lbs of sugar, water to about 5.5 gallons, enzyme, nutrient, acid and tanin. SG was 1.091 and it tasted great. Looked like a nice rose going into the fermenter. We'll see what comes out.

I wish you luck!

Right now mine is still smelling fairly funky. I’m not 100% sure how I feel about fermented figs. They have a very vegetative nature.

 

[cottonwoodks]

I wish you luck!

Right now mine is still smelling fairly funky. I’m not 100% sure how I feel about fermented figs. They have a very vegetative nature.

I have to say that the elderberry wine I made last year had such a horrible funk smell when I finally bottled it that it stuck in my head for days. But after a year of aging, it was gone and the wine was starting to be wonderful (even more so six months later). So maybe that will happen with the figs too. I also have a batch of aronia berry wine going as well, which is also very funky (and earthy). It will be fun for you to see how this fig wine turns out!

 

[suzeQ]

I have to say that the elderberry wine I made last year had such a horrible funk smell when I finally bottled it that it stuck in my head for days. But after a year of aging, it was gone and the wine was starting to be wonderful (even more so six months later). So maybe that will happen with the figs too. I also have a batch of aronia berry wine going as well, which is also very funky (and earthy). It will be fun for you to see how this fig wine turns out!

So true. I was opening bottles of cucumber/basil wine to toss from a few years back when I decided to give it a try. Tastes like 7up/sprite, flat but very smooth. I won't be making it again but it's amazing what some age does.

 

[Srimmey]

I have to say that the elderberry wine I made last year had such a horrible funk smell when I finally bottled it that it stuck in my head for days. But after a year of aging, it was gone and the wine was starting to be wonderful (even more so six months later). So maybe that will happen with the figs too. I also have a batch of aronia berry wine going as well, which is also very funky (and earthy). It will be fun for you to see how this fig wine turns out!

I hope mine follows in your footsteps….

It’s bottled now but it’s still rathe harsh. I will revisit in 1-2 years with hopes of improvement.