a bucket full of peaches....wine?

[safronsue]

they're small but lovely flavour and i'd love to make something from them. can someone recommend a recipe for wine or just tell me how to go about it. I've got basic equipment and stuff as attempted apple wine last year...with limited success i must add as only one out of 3 demijohns was drinkable. How would you process peaches though? there's no way they are peelable as too much fruit would be wasted. Can anyone help me make booze from my peaches ......please!

[safronsue]

I found this recipe but have some questions:
3 lbs peaches
1 1/2 - 2 lbs sugar (starting SG should be 1.085-90)
1 1/2 tsp. Acid Blend
1/4 tsp. Tannin
1 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1/2 tsp Energizer
1 Campden tablet (crushed)
Enough water to bring up to 1 gallon
1 pkg Yeast

acid blend could be substituted with lemon juice?
tannin with tea?
energizer with ???? yeast nutrient?

[Davie Crockett]

1.4 kgs peaches
1.2 kgs sugar
1 lemon
2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
half cup of strong cold tea
1 Campden tablet (crushed)
Enough water to bring up to 1 gallon
1 pkg Yeast
Yeast nutrient
Have a look here for tips on how to efficiently peel peaches http://localfoods.about.com/od/summer/ss/PeelPeach.htm
Peel the peaches, remove the stones and crush the fruit. cover the pulp with 3.4lt cold water. Stir in the crushed camden tablet and pectin enzyme then steep for 24 hours.

Bring a further 1.1lt water to the boil and dissolve the sugar in it.

Cool the syrup to blood heat then add it to the peach pulp together with the yeast, nutrient and juice of a lemon and cold tea.

Cover with a cloth and ferment for 4 days, stirring twice daily.
Strain the liquid off the pulp and transfer to a demijohn. Fit an airlock and leave to ferment on.

Rack off when cleared and fermentation has stopped. Bottle and leave for at least 6 months before drinking.

[MKG]

Those two recipes may look different, but they're broadly the same. Energiser is nutrient, Sue, and acid blend is a mixture of citric acid with other acids which are not necessary unless you're intending to mature your wines for as long as possible - so lemon juice is fine "for 99% of known household germs". And, as you can see, tea for tannin is perfectly OK.

However - don't peel the peaches. It's a waste of your time as it adds nothing but actually loses fermentable bulk. And I wouldn't actually crush the fruit, though I would cut it into very small pieces. Crushing peaches and apricots gives you a lot of goo which is very difficult to remove later.

You can leave your peach wine to mature if you like (although I wouldn't advise too long) but it tends to be very nice at an early stage - I sweeten mine slightly. Oh - and adding a half-pound of chopped sultanas (pour a kettle of boiling water over 'em first to sterilise) does wonderful things for the body - the wine's body that is, not yours.

Mike

[safronsue]

this is just what i was after. thank you so much. i will report back!

[Pach]

I have fermented peaches without adding yeast, I think you would need to keep skins though.

[safronsue]

i've prepared the peaches but figured i was wasting too much fruit by chucking the stones so i left them in and chopped the flesh off around them. so now i have the chopped up peaches with skin and stones in water with pectin enzyme and campden. is this ok or have i messed things up by leaving in the stones? The peaches were very small, apricot size and the flesh did not seperate from the stones like some peaches will.
Also, i could not fit in as much water as the recipe called for as i had 6 kilos of chopped fruit in the end and not a big enough primary for 14 litres. can i safely add more water at a later stage?

[MKG]

Yes and yes.

The stones don't matter a monkey's hoot. Some people get paranoid about cyanide content, but there's less in there than in apple pips. If you leave the stones in for a couple of months, you may (just MAY) end up with a very slight almond flavour - not necessarily a bad thing. But it's unlikely. The stones will, in any case, float to the top as the flesh drops off and you can simply scoop them out. But even if you don't do that, they're not going to be in there long enough to matter.

As far as water is concerned, at this stage all you're doing is extracting flavour and initiating a fermentation. You can top up when you remove the liquid from the pulp without any adverse effects.

Isn't winemaking a forgiving hobby?

Mike

EDIT: When you come to straining the liquid off the pulp, quite a lot of bits will get through (they always do with peaches). It doesn't matter, so don't get panicky about it. The bits will, eventually, sink to the bottom and you'll get them out at the first racking.

[safronsue]

thanks again. i haven't had much success so far with grapes and apples actually. Last year i produced 5 demijohns and only 1 was drinkable. I tried to get through without metabisulphate but, as with my late father-in-laws wine, it just went to vinegar. fingers crossed for this and then i may have the confidence to go ahead with some grape wine. we certainly have the fruit.

[marshlander]

easy ice cream?

Skin the peaches (drop one by one into boiling water for a few moments then into ice cold water just like you skin tomatoes, the skin should slide off easily. Then take out the stone - run a knife around the poles as far as the stone then twist the two hemispheres. Next put the peach pieces in the freezer. When frozen blitz them in a blender or food processor with double cream and a little sugar if needed.

[safronsue]

that's sounds delish too. thanks!

[Pach]

Yes and yes.

The stones don't matter a monkey's hoot. Some people get paranoid about cyanide content, but there's less in there than in apple pips. If you leave the stones in for a couple of months, you may (just MAY) end up with a very slight almond flavour - not necessarily a bad thing. But it's unlikely. The stones will, in any case, float to the top as the flesh drops off and you can simply scoop them out. But even if you don't do that, they're not going to be in there long enough to matter.

As far as water is concerned, at this stage all you're doing is extracting flavour and initiating a fermentation. You can top up when you remove the liquid from the pulp without any adverse effects.

Isn't winemaking a forgiving hobby?

Mike

EDIT: When you come to straining the liquid off the pulp, quite a lot of bits will get through (they always do with peaches). It doesn't matter, so don't get panicky about it. The bits will, eventually, sink to the bottom and you'll get them out at the first racking.

Actually I have found that the stones all sink to the bottom, and the flesh floats (after couple days). When fermentation is done (about 3 weeks), everything sinks, though I imagine you will syphon off the liquid long before that.

[safronsue]

5 days on and there is NOT a nice smell coming from the primary. is that normal? i was going to rack but now i'm feeling quite heady from the smell. doing other chores and hoping for reassurance before proceeding to rack into demijohns.

[GeorgeSalt]

You mentioned the Campden tablet.. but have you added anything else to the primary?

[safronsue]

i followed the recipe above. a smell receptor app needed! just racked it into demijohns and the taste on syphoning was not pleasant. is this all part of the process or have i messed up?