Plum Wine - First Batch

[BurtConnor]

I posted about this about a month ago

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/plum-wine-yeast-268234/

I had added the champagne yeast the Friday after this and the fermentation had pretty much stopped so I racked it off the sediment last night. I also thought I'd try a bit. It was delicious! Has a nice sparkly feel to it (I assume from the yeast). Have no idea what percentage it is. SG last night was around 1.050. When I tried taking a reading previously, the sugar hadn't dissolved properly, but the highest reading I got was 1.3. I have no idea if that is correct, but if it is, my calculations put it at around 30%.

The recipe I'm following says to leave it now until it is 'stable' (though it doesn't explain what it means by that), racking it again if there is any more sediment on the bottom. And then bottle it and leave it for a year. I am getting quite excited about this!

One thing I was wondering, Everyone says wine only gets better with age. We have a 9 month old baby. If I take care of 1 bottle until she is 18, will it be amazing, or is it just not worth the effort?

Cheers!

 

[Noe]

Your calculations have it around 30% of what?

And people have had a discussion before on here as to whether or not a fruit wine will keep that long but it probably won't. MOST fruit wines are good for a few years to five at best.
I do remember reading on a post somewhere on this site that someone had a batch of 11-12 year old cherry wine still in the secondary, under airlock, in the fridge. So if you keep it in cold storage in the secondary some are claiming that it will keep. But 17 years is a very long time for fruit wine and I think it will ruin long before that.

 

[BurtConnor]

30% ABV.

If it will only last 5 years or so, we might as well drink it then. It was a nice thought though!

 

[Noe]

No way it reached 30% ABV.

There is nothing wrong with making a batch when she is 14 and saving it until then though.

 

[BurtConnor]

As I say, I don't know if it was correct

What do you think it was? As I said before, og was 1.300, before all the sugar had dissolved. Fg was 1.050

 

[Noe]

How much sugar did you add? How big wad the batch?

 

[Yooper]

As I say, I don't know if it was correct

What do you think it was? As I said before, og was 1.300, before all the sugar had dissolved. Fg was 1.050

If you used champagne yeast, the maximum ABV could be 15-18%. I doubt your OG was 1.300, though, unless you have hydrometer unlike anyone else's- maybe you mean 1.130?

If it was 1.130, and it's currently 1.050, that would be 10.48% ABV.

(OG-FG) x 131= approx. ABV

 

[BurtConnor]

That's the one.

My hydrometer misses off the first digit after the decimal point. and 10.5% sounds more likely than 30%.

(btw, I used 7KG of sugar in a 23Ltr batch)