Posted: Sat Jul 28, 07 7:58 am Post subject: Plum wine from scratch?
We have a tree laden with small green plums that we think will be rather sharp. MOH fancies making some wine out of them, but we do not have a recipe.
Biggest snag - there are no home-brew shops here, so we'll have to rely on "normal" ingredients rather than specialist ones. So, only baking yeast, no grape juice concentrate ... and probably no flipping campden tablets!! However, we DO have demijohns and fermentation locks already.
Any ideas anyone?
Helen_A
Joined: 26 Jan 2005 Posts: 1548 Location: MK, Bucks.
Posted: Sat Jul 28, 07 8:32 am Post subject:
No specific recipes - but could someone be persuaded to post things to you?
Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 20809 Location: sunny wales
Posted: Sat Jul 28, 07 8:35 am Post subject:
I reckon if nothing else get some proper wine yeast posted over, baking yeast only tolerates a low alcohol percentage and can put odd flavours into the wine
chez
Joined: 13 Aug 2006 Posts: 35935 Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
Posted: Sat Jul 28, 07 8:56 am Post subject:
I scrub everything out with hot soapy water and don't use campden tablets unless it's really skanky - it seems to work okay. And you can sterilise things in a low oven, too?
I shove dried sultanas or raisins in instead of concentrate - 12oz per gallon - and sometimes use a litre of apple juice per gallon, as well.
Also, I buy online from these guys and can't recommend them highly enough - they are really helpful with advice etc. and maybe would be prepared to post out to you in France?
If you're only going to do one batch, then send me a PM and I'll post you a few campden tablets and a sachet of yeast. If you're going to do more, buy some kit in from one of the online retailers suggested, its well worth the postage.
Should be a plum wine recipe in one of the wine articles on the front page. Dead easy is plum wine, you won't need any grape concentrate but a cup of strong black tea helps immeasurably.
Thank you for all the helpful replies folks. I've had a quick look at the links and they seem great sites.
Cab, thank you for your very kind offer to post me some starter-supplies. I think MOH fancies making lots of different wines, so we'll bite the bullet and go for the online supplies. No point messing around, let's do this right!!
Interesting to hear that baking yeast is no good for wine - that alone has saved us a disaster!
I did have a quick look through the "wine maker's calender", but the nearest recipe was for apricot wine ... will try the one that HelenA found.
And if you did want to make a wine that needed some grape to give it body (I find that using dried fruit makes wine harder to clear), you can add a one-litre carton of ordinary grape juice per gallon.
And if you did want to make a wine that needed some grape to give it body (I find that using dried fruit makes wine harder to clear), you can add a one-litre carton of ordinary grape juice per gallon.
Plum wine does get a lot more body that way, and some people really prefer it. Its just a wee bit less 'plummy' though. Try both, see what you prefer.
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