What to do with leftover liquid from soaking fruit

gratus fermentatio · Jul 28, 2015

XGen said:
OK so, I decided just to ferment the liquid and see what happens before I do anything else. Like I said I have an infinite supply of this liquid so I can experiment as much as I like. I discussed this with the guy who owns my LHS and he recommended using a sparkling wine yeast due to the high alcohol tolerance. So I just piched this yeast in 20L of the liquid

Now it sitting at 16°C, is this temp ok or does it need to be higher.

Looks like you're well on your way to a tasty raisin wine. If you haven't done so already, you might want to add a dose of pectic enzyme, maybe some yeast nutrient too. Also, these currants you mentioned: do they look like little raisins? The reason I ask is that "Zante Currants" are sold as currants here in the US, but they're actually just raisins made from Zante grapes, NOT actual currants, which are of the Ribes genus, whereas grapes are of the Vitis genus. Just curious.
Regards, GF.

XGen · Jul 28, 2015

So almost 4 days now and just starting to get going.

Newsman · Jul 28, 2015

I'd dump in a couple tablespoons of yeast nutrient to help it along.

XGen · Aug 2, 2015

Newsman said:
I'd dump in a couple tablespoons of yeast nutrient to help it along.

8 days in and it's is still fermenting along quite nicely. a bubble every 5sec or so out of the airlock. I added some yeast nutrients yesterday to help it along as recommended by Newsman, so I'll see how far it goes.

XGen · Aug 28, 2015

Well, I'm back with an update.

Its been a bit over a month and fermentation has finally slowed down. I thought this would be a good time to check the gravity. I pulled a sample and measured it.

It Looks like 1.140 from 1.200 or 1.190. so around 7% alcohol. quite a bit lower than I expected due to the extremely long fermentation period. Well that wasn't the bad part. The smell that came off the sample was horrid, truly rancid. It kinda screwed me up for a second thinking to my self about what I have done. It stunk up my entire kitchen and living room, I had to open a window because my girlfriend said it smelled like something had died (that was my hopes). I figured I had come this far and against better judgment I decided that I should go ahead and give it a taste... Bad move. It tasted much worse than it smelled and as soon as it hit my lips I started gaging and puked in my sink. Its hard to describe the flavor. It was still very sweet but had a sour acidic twang that was overpowering. It was also quite thick so it really stuck in your mouth and gave a truly horrific aftertaste.

I think this experiment is over unless someone has a suggestion as to where to go from here? Is it good for anything else?

Newsman · Aug 28, 2015

Try again, this time cutting it 50% with boiled water. Tap water should be fine if your tap water tastes good, otherwise, get some "spring water" from the grocery store. And add yeast nutrients up front and oxygenate the hell out of it.

You might take a tip from the mead makers and de-gas it a couple times.