I have made a lot of wines, both from whole fruit and from juice. And I am thinking that in a lot of cases fresh homemade juice would be better and easier than putting whole fruit in a primary. Cider illustrates my point well. If you chop up apples, put them in a straining bag, and get it all fermenting in a primary, you will end up with a thin week apple wine or cider. but if you make the same beverage from apple juice the flavor will be much better. Would the same apply to other fruits?? peaches, pears, strawberries?? I would think more fruity flavor would be extracted by juicing the fruit and then you can go directly in to the carboy. Thoughts???
wouldn't juice be better and less work??
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summersolstice
Well-Known Member
Juice is certainly easier. Why not use both like they do when making red wine? I think that whole fruit in the secondary adds a fullness and complexity that juice alone can't provide. Just my opinion.
Hey- long time no "see" solstice!
Anyway, I agree. Juice would be easier. But just like with beer brewing, extract is easier. Easier doesn't necessarily mean "better". Sometimes complexity is needed, and comes from the peels/pulp of the fruit.
I actually did this with chokecherries. A friend had a juice extractor, and wanted to learn to make wine. I use berries that I crush. He gave me enough juice for three gallons, while I made my own wine my old way. Both wines came out very good, but the juice wine was a bit thinner in body without much in the way of legs and certainly not as complex as the chokecherry wine fermented with the whole crushed berries.
Skin provides tannin in many fruits, while pulp provides body and fullness. For a concord grape wine, I don't think it would matter a bit. But for my crabapple wine that has rich full fruit flavor, I wouldn't want to start with just juice.
Yopper, thanks for the input. That was exactly the well thought out well composed type of reply I was looking for. What you have said makes sense. I can totally see where you are coming from and how fermenting directly on the fruit would add extra flavors not achieved by juice alone.
Quick question did your friend use just juice or did they juice some of the cherries and then add water??? The only reason I ask is by going with just juice you will use more fruit per batch and in theory pack in more juice flavor. Think of it like this lets say you ferment 3 pounds of whole fruit in 1 gallon of water. You get both the juice and the extra body. If you take that same 3 pounds, juice it then top up to have 1 gallon you will have about the same amount of fruit flavor with out the extra body of fermenting on whole fruit. BUT if you juice enough fruit to make a full gallon of say 10 0r 15 pounds of fruit you are going to pack in a lot more flavor. Just a thought. With that said I wonder if a combination of the two techniques would ultimately yield the best product??
Quick question did your friend use just juice or did they juice some of the cherries and then add water??? The only reason I ask is by going with just juice you will use more fruit per batch and in theory pack in more juice flavor. Think of it like this lets say you ferment 3 pounds of whole fruit in 1 gallon of water. You get both the juice and the extra body. If you take that same 3 pounds, juice it then top up to have 1 gallon you will have about the same amount of fruit flavor with out the extra body of fermenting on whole fruit. BUT if you juice enough fruit to make a full gallon of say 10 0r 15 pounds of fruit you are going to pack in a lot more flavor. Just a thought. With that said I wonder if a combination of the two techniques would ultimately yield the best product??
They used just a juice extractor, and it was 100% juice. I used fruit, and water, and sugar.
gratus fermentatio
Well-Known Member
For me the juice question is simply this: How much juice equals X amount of fruit?
Not many juice wine recipes out there & no set formulae for juice to fruit ratios as each fruit is different; this makes it tough to calculate when attempting to convert a recipe from fruit to juice.
Regards, GF.
Not many juice wine recipes out there & no set formulae for juice to fruit ratios as each fruit is different; this makes it tough to calculate when attempting to convert a recipe from fruit to juice.
Regards, GF.
good to know, thanks for the info!!!
