Today was the day to pull the fruit pulp bag! Stirred the must well then tested:
Washed/sanitized lid, airlock, and lip/outside of ferment bucket.
Yay!!! We have ‘bubbling’ in the airlock.
The yeast starter is doing well! To a gallon jar:
Mix well until fully disolved, then sprinkle yeast on top of mixture. Cover jar with a paper towel and a rubber band. Set timer for two hours.
Wait another 2 hours, then repeat. I will be doing this until 10:00 PM tonight when I will pitch into the must.
This morning….time to add some of the wine ingredients.
Mix together will small amount of cool filtered water and pitched into must, stirred well
Stir until dissolved in small amount of cool filtered water and pitched into must, stirred well.
Next……the yeast starter. I will be using “Premier Cote de Blancs” for this batch
Our little JRT is at the vet today for dental work. To keep myself busy, I started the second batch of Plum Wine. As I just finished assembling the must, the vet called. Our poor little pooch needs to have 7 (seven!!!) extractions. He is 13 years old – which means he is 91 – the poor thing. I am off to buy some soft food. He will probably wish he could have some wine after today!
Plum wine: Today’s batch
One of the daily check-ins you learn to do when fermenting, is to always say ‘good morning’ and ‘good-night’ to your bubbling brew! Checking in several times to push the cap down is very important daily.
This morning the Brix is at 26, S.G. is 1.100, and PA is about 13.5% This is good, the decreases indicate fermentation is happening. It also is not fermenting too quickly.
Acid: was much better at .875 (3.5 reagent * .25). Our target is .65 so still need it to adjust by .225. This equates to adding an additional 1.5 tsp of acid blend (.225 / .15). I still am not going to add in the additional acid because I want to make sure what is already in the must is fully dissolved. It is easy to add acid and much harder to adjust down if it is too high.
PH remains consistent at 3.2
Well we picked another 36 pounds of plums in minutes and the tree is still full!!!! Looks like another batch of wine will begin tomorrow!
Woke us this morning with a busy morning schedule. My sweetie and I plan to have dinner this evening, so no working late into the evening! First was the check on the wine must and the yeast starter. I fed the happy yeast more sugar, warm water, and some more nutrient. It is a strong starter so once pitched, it should soon begin to ferment the plum must. First, however, I needed to check the specific gravity, PH, and acid.
Brix/Specific Gravity (S.G.)/Potential Alcohol (PA)
To test specific gravity, I use a tool called a hydrometer. This tool measured the specific gravity of sugar in wine must, helping to determine the potential alcohol when finished. Using Pearson’s Square, I will be able to determine if I needed to increase/decrease the sugar in my must to achieve my desired finished alcohol percent.
To find the part of my wine must that is ‘juice’ (D) and ‘strong syrup’ (E)
To use this information, we need to equate the parts to fluid ounces. Using proportions and ratios:
For every 128 ounces, 84% should be juice and 16% should be syrup.
For 6 gallons: 20 *6 = 120 ounces should be syrup or about 15 cups of syrup. After adjusting, I started with:
Acid
For my acid test, I use a wine makers acid text kit. For country wines (those made from fruits other than grapes) the goal is to have a Tartaric range o .55 – .65. When testing, the reagent is drawn into a ml syringe. As it is added to the test tube of must, I keep track of how much was injected into the sample until it has a color change. (For this light wine – it will turn magenta pink.) I had to add 5 ml before the color changed. For each ml you multiply by .25 giving the acid content in percent of tartaric. So mine equates to 1.25 My goal is .55 – .65. My must needs more acid per the test. I need to add the equivalent of .60 to change my results. Each tsp. Of acid blend, adjust .15 tartaric, so I need to add 4 tsp of acid blend. I added to the must but will retest tomorrow when the must has had the chance to mix.
PH
Using a basic PH strip, I tested my must and it is reading at 3.2.
Pitching the Yeast
After adjusting the must of sugar, adding acid blend, and testing PH, I pitched the yeast. Hopefully by tomorrow morning, I will wake to fermentation in the bucket!
So this morning the must was at 85 degrees, allowing me to add the additional ingredients. To sterilize and kill any wild yeast naturally occurring in fruit, a sulfite agent called campden was added. Next acid blend, tannin, yeast nutrient, and yeast energizer were mixed together in filtered water, then also added to the must. Because campden kills wild yeast the final two ingredients must be added after the SO has dissipated. Pectic enzyme naturally breaks down the structures of plants – so for fruit, it allows the fruit to breakdown and release more of its natural juices. It is added 12 hours after the campden. Finally, the wine yeast will be added 24 hours later. If introduced too early the campden will prevent fermentation.
It is very helpful to make a yeast starter, when making wine, because the yeast can begin to work and multiply. The allows them to be very healthy and active when pitched into the must. Often people will sprinkle the yeast on top of their must, if the yeast is an old culture or the must balance not quite right, this can also spoil all that hard work put into preparing the entire batch of wine. Better to have it fail outside of the must than in your must!
Put 8 gallons of water on to boil. Pitt and coarsely chop the 36 pounds of plums. Add them to the primary fermenter where 7.5 pounds of sugar has been dissolved with 2 quarts of boiling water. The fruit bag should be inserted and tied on the outside of the fermenting bucket. When finished chopping plums, add enough boiled water to bring to 6 gallon marking. Now wait for the temperature to drop to 70 degrees Fahrenheit before adding for a 6 quart batch the amounts shown in parentheses:
A yeast starter will be prepared and peptic enzyme will be added at that time
Next post….add ingredients and creating yeast starter….
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