North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[mIEKAL aND <qazingulaza@gmail.com>]

All good advice Murph but I would also recommend for small scale vintners to
get a Finnish steam juicer, & make wine with juice rather than putting it in
a bag & floating it in the primary. Body & character are vastly improved &
since the steam juicer semi-sterilizes the fruit I typically use 1/5 to 1/8
of the SO2 needed to keep a batch from turning.

I just put in a row of Illinois Everbearing to see if I could convince the
birds to let me pick enough fruit to make wine.  I'm right on the edge of
hardiness for I.E. so it will be interesting to see if I can keep them
alive.

~mIEKAL



On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 7:13 PM, Richard MURPHY <murphman108@msn.com> wrote:

>
> Hello Vintners;
>
> When you make wine, especially fruit wine, it is important to preserve the
> character of the fruit it's made with. Mulberries have some sugar, but are
> fairly bland. Some of the (malic) acid will be consumed during fermentation.
>
> Typically, it takes about 3 to 4 lbs. of fruit to make a decent gallon of
> wine; unless it's lemon or some other LOUD fruit.
> The fruit is crushed. A blender is OK. Pectic Enzyme is added, and 1
> Campden tablet, and this whole mess is allowed to sit overnight covered in
> the fridge. 24 hrs. is better.  THen, in most cases, the juice is squeezed
> from the pulp, which is discarded.
> Then, apple juice or water is added to make one gallon total.
> Now, the juice is checked for Specific Gravity (sugar content) using a
> hydrometer. Sugar is added until the right gravity is reached.
> Then, acid is checked. I actually check pH, not acid, using the wine pH
> test strips: 2.8 to 4.2 pH.
> Shoot for 3.4 or 3.6, by adding acid blend or malic acid. Citric is not
> advised for this.
> Good sugar, good acid, Campden & Pectic Enzyme already aboard; time for the
> primary ferment.
> Innoculate and get ready!
>
> PS    Don't be a hero. Use the Campden tablet!!
>
> Murph
>
>