Winemaking from fresh juice: Cherry Guava

[PatrickSweetman]

Just over 11 kg freshly collected windfall guava were juiced in a Hurom slow juicer, yielding 2.5 kg dryish pulp and 8 litres of juice. The juice was divided between 4 clean milk jugs and 200 g sugar plus some yeast culture was added to each. These containers are expected to throw a huge and heavy sediment/scum which will be filtered off with a muslin bag about day 3, 4, or 5.

The pulp from juicer was covered with 2.5 litres boiling water containing 500 g sugar. It will be strained after soaking overnight to give a lower class of juice which will be fermented to yield a second class of guava wine. This may be used for topping up the main wine, if needed.

Apart from discarding the most decayed fruit at collection time no effort was made to achieve sterility. Fruit with birdstrike, small bacterial/fungal lesions and partial squashing were all used as gathered. This is in accordance with the theory that the brewing yeast plus the added sugar will quickly overwhelm any other contaminating organisms through conversion of the sugar to alcohol.

 

[HollyGayle]

I love Guava juice so am interested in what happens. Cherry Guava...yum yum. I like fresh cherries, too. Bings are great. Oh, question. Would you use Bings in this combo? Or something more sour?

 

[PatrickSweetman]

I love Guava juice so am interested in what happens. Cherry Guava...yum yum. I like fresh cherries, too. Bings are great. Oh, question. Would you use Bings in this combo? Or something more sour?

These red berries are simply called Guava here in NZ, but internationally Cherry Guava to distinguish them from the larger tropical yellow guava. I don't know what Bings are, but wine can be made from almost anything by adding sugar, yeast, and if necessary, extra yeast food.

 

[PatrickSweetman]

In the first photo, by day 2 the fermentation gasses are entraining the suspended solids of the juice and forming a solid layer. I will filter these off before they foam out the top.

In the second photo, the dryish pulp from the juicer has been soaked overnight in 20% sugar and is here being filtered to produce a second class, but still good and tasty, juice.

 

[PatrickSweetman]

Day 03: Second class juice from the pulp from the juicer. The re-extracted pulp from this operation weighed 3.1 kg and still contained a lot of red colouration and spicy taste. I plan to use it in the breadmaker to make some sort of savoury muffin.

The primary juice is being filtered, but this will take 2 days because of the volume of pulp in the juice.

 

[PatrickSweetman]

The first class juice was filtered to give 2.2 kg soft red pulp (judged to have savoury cooking potential) and 7.5 litres of juice. 750 g sugar were added and several previous batches combined, along with some of the 2nd class juice, to give the carboy in the photograph. That has to be left until it clears, probably next Summer, and racked every couple of months or whenever excessive sediment builds up. Thus ends this photo blog.

 

[PatrickSweetman]

Recycling some of the byproducts: Bread/scones/muffins from the soft red pulp filtered from the juice. Guava soft pulp (600g). high grade flour (520g), Canola oil (20g), one egg, a tablespoon of sugar, a pinch of salt and some yeast were mixed to a dough in a Breville Breadmaker. The dough was firm and easy to handle. Portions of dough were cut and shaped, and then baked in the breadmaker. The bread was brown/purple coloured, had a nice crunchy crust and a soft spicy/fruity centre. It also had a bitter tannin taste, no not one for the children.

 

[HollyGayle]

Bing is the name of a real cherry, produced on a medium size tree. Sweet, lots of taste, refreshing, leaving a good aftertaste.

Ok, guava and cherry guava. Still interested in your process and the final outcome. I became very fond
of guava juice in the 80s. Currently my only source is weak and watery juice in a can.

 

[PatrickSweetman]

16 litres guava wine ready for bottling, but I will keep it in the bulk bottle a little longer, for ageing.

The wine is a clear red colour, is dry to medium dry, has a good deal of tannin and a little dissolved CO2. A bit tart. High in the guava taste, fruity and a bit like the spice, mace.

 

[PatrickSweetman]

Bing is the name of a real cherry, produced on a medium size tree. Sweet, lots of taste, refreshing, leaving a good aftertaste.

Ok, guava and cherry guava. Still interested in your process and the final outcome. I became very fond
of guava juice in the 80s. Currently my only source is weak and watery juice in a can.

See my last post HollyGayle. Probably my last for this thread. The wine turned out well. Maybe a bit too much tannin.

It was made from straight cold-pressed juice, sugar and yeast as an experiment, a variation from the usual fruit wine recipes where all sorts of additional things are added, and it looks like this is the way I will make wine from now on.

Similar juice-only experimental batches, mostly 4 litres each, of kiwifruit, persimmon and mandarin are looking good too.

 

[rowan57]

This is how wine making blogs should be done! Excellent.