I grow Alderman, Ozark Premiere, and Elephant Heart Japanese plums. Alderman and Ozark are only good if I have time to thin them, so, naturally, I always harvest a crop of disappointing fruit. But, the fruit is not wasted. In September they go into the freezer, then removed and thawed in the basement during winter. The snow-covered yard prevents me from tooling around outside, and I look for ways to pass the time.
Last year the plums were pressed right after thawing and the juice fermented. Initial sugar was a low 9.2 brix. Brought up to 15.2 with added sugar. This yielded a moderate alcohol, pseudo wine-like drink that is a terrific red color, tart, and quite pleasing to drink.
This year the initial sugar was not much better. At 9.6 brix the ~12 gallons of must needed four 4lb bags of sugar to bring it into wine territory of 22.6 brix. Fermenting on the skins this time around.
- roughly 12 gallons
- initial 9.6 brix
- four 4lb bags of sugar, up to 22.6 brix
- 12 tsp of pectic enzyme
- 6 tsp of yeast nutrient (at fermentation start)
- split into two 6 gallon fermentation buckets
- 71B and QA23 yeast
The internet brain butters you up real good. Nice to use for additive calculations and timing, but not sure if I believe this:
Updates as fermentation progresses.