REALLY cloudy peach wine

[Alice Abbott]

Last year we made almost 50 gallons of wine from various fruits etc we picked from hedgerows and in our orchard. They have all been pretty successful except for the peach so I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas on this please?

We made 14 gallons and had such a glut of peaches that we probably put too many in each lot. The wine tastes beautiful - if a little strong. BUT it's completely cloudy. We've tried filtering but it just clogs up the filter, tried finings and even amylase. It still looks like chicken soup. Can anyone give us any suggestions to clear it please?

[Green Aura]

Mike will tell you better but we had success clearing a particularly cloudy wine with bentonite clay.

[MKG]

Clear 14 gallons of wine? That's a tall order. However ...

First of all, you need to have a rough idea why it's cloudy. That could be a) it hasn't finished fermenting (but I assume that it must have by now), b) it still has peachy bits in it, c) as you say that you used probably too many peaches, you may have a pectin haze, or d) any permutation of the others.

If it was purely a haze, it would probably have gone straight through your filter rather than clogging it up - it's a good bet, then, that suspended peach flesh is at least partly to blame. In which case, you need to get the wine as cold as you can (short of freezing) for a day or so. That will stop any thermal movements in the liquid dredging up the sludge and most of it should fall to the bottom. Then - very gently - either syphon or jug the wine from the top into a new container via a strainer (a couple of layers of muslin in a colander will do the trick). It would be best to include 5 mg per gallon of sodium metabisulphite (Campden tablets) during that transfer, but it's not a must-have if you really are gentle.

That process will result in a clear wine, a less murky wine, or it will make no difference at all. If it's clear, Sally's your Aunt. If it's clearer but still not see-through, the problem was partly caused by pectin. If it made no difference, pectin was totally at fault. This is where I tell you that you used the wrong enzyme. Amylase digests starch (and I assume there were no starch sources in the recipe?). It's pectolase which digests pectin. If you have any of that, you should stir some into the strained wine. Had you done that at the outset, the dosage would have been one level teaspoon per gallon. With all the alcohol now in the wine, the dosage goes up to two level teaspoons per gallon - rather a lot of pectolase. However, peaches aren't a pectin-rich fruit, so you may get away with the one spoonful dosage. You could then try to filter again (rather than straining) - you may just get a further improvement, although you also increase the risk of oxidation if you haven't dosed it with metabisulphite.

So - lots of pectolase or a hazy wine. A pectin haze never hurt anyone. The wine, as long as you've strained out residual solids, will be perfectly good (and a glassful of wine is intrinsically more translucent than a huge container-full). It will taste as it should and have the requisite desirable side-effects. Whatever you do, don't throw it away. If you can't bring yourself to drink a hazy wine (although I recommend that you make the attempt) then it's good for cooking, making jellies, preserving ... ermmm ... peaches, for instance, or even leaving some of it exposed for a few days (better in summer, though) when you stand a very good chance of creating a very nice white wine vinegar.

I still suggest drinking it

Let us know how you get on ...

Mike

EDIT: GA's suggestion is sound - I assumed that you'd tried that, as you said you'd fined it???

EDIT 2: There is always the possibility that it will clear itself with time - but it's only a possibility. Some wines do have stubborn hazes that just disappear after three to six months. Don't hold your breath.

[Alice Abbott]

Thanks Green Aura & Mike, I really appreciate that. Firstly, we won't be throwing it away - it tastes too good! We love our home-made wine and really enjoy it. I realise I should have told you some of the things we have tried up to now.

So far (and it's had far more attention than any of the other wines we made) it had a camden tablet in each gallon and also the standard liquid finings. It was put in to ferment in September last year and was fully fermented out and racked several times. We certainly did put too many peaches in when I look back. I did try some extra pectolase during the summer and as it has been in the barn since then it is now pretty cold and still cloudy.

I think we'll try a three pronged attack, straining it from cold first followed by the pectolase treatment again as you mention. Then the bentonite idea. Tht should cover all eventualities! If none of those work we'll just drink it as it is and be more careful with the fruit measurements next time. We didn't make any this summer as there weren't too many peaches (we had to prune the tree right back as the weight of the fruit broke off several large branches the year before) so I made jam, dried fruit rings and bottled peaches in apple juice or syrup. Next year should be good though...

[frozenthunderbolt]

My peach wine ended up like rocket fule - strong and a wee bit rank - all sound peaches so should have been fine. Do you peel yours first? We have oodles of 'Golden Queen' types most years - i must say it is a wee bit frustrating; i dont mind failing at fig wine et al where it just doesnt work, but something like peach *should* work.
Have a gloat Mike, then tell me where i went wrong ;-) lol

[MKG]

One does not peel one's peaches. One has someone to do it for one - the one who put them in the tins. So, having gloated, I note that peach wine depends very much upon the state of ripeness of said fruit - if they ain't spot-on ripe (at which point they're sugar-rich and pectin-low) then you're likely to have an imbalance. Which is a shame, because they make such damn good wine.

In the meantime, one (by which I mean those of us who do not have the ability - nay, privelege - to grow sprawling shrubs of peach-laden branches) continues to use the produce of those rather nice canner-men. From the sounds of it, that's lucky for me (one).

I have spent most of today reminiscing about Alice's post (and FTBs response) because the damn power went off for hours. Whilst in the depths of philosophy, one considered that, in general, fruits with polysyllabic names tended to be not good for winemaking. In particular, I thought about FTB, who is forced to deal with the infamous arapahoe-wa-hi-ti-ho-ini fruit - a pectin source if ever I saw one. I could name a few more, but my fingers ache. Then I thought about elderberry and blackberry and saw the basic error in my hypothesis. Such is life.

As you may have discerned, I have been sampling my own peach wine today - made from fruit canned in grape juice at a ridiculously cheap price. I have to say that it is a cheeky little number with suggestions of F1 tyre residue and - possibly - old granny. Seriously, it's excellent - extremely drinkable and clear as a bell.

So, thought one, what is it about the canning process which leads me (that's "one" again) to make brilliantly clear peach wines when all about me (oh - you know) are making hazy peach wines from "real" peaches.

Thoughts?

Mike

[frozenthunderbolt]

Judging by that post its the good stuff! INIterested to see what the arapahoe-wa-hi-ti-ho-ini fruit looks like. THink im having such trouble with it as it is invisible, makes fermenting the bastard a right trial!