Joy of Home Wine Making (25 page)

Also, please note that I don’t require you to boil the water and sugar or honey in these recipes. This is because the fruit already has a cooked taste. Use very hot but not boiling water to dissolve the sugar or honey.

Let’s start out with:

PEACHY CAN DEW WINE

water, about 3½ quarts

2 16 oz. (or so) cans of peach slices or halves in light syrup

2 lbs. sugar (if fruit is canned in its own or something else’s juices, add about another ¼-½ lb. of sugar)

1 cup fresh squeezed or frozen orange juice (optional)

2 tsps. acid blend

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

¼ tsp. tannin

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet champagne yeast

Heat the water. Drain the syrup from the fruit. Place the fruit into a nylon straining bag and put it in the bottom of a sanitized primary fermenter. Add the orange juice if you wish. It helps perk up the taste.

Measure out 3½ quarts of warm water to start with, and add the fruit syrup. Add 1½ pounds of the sugar and stir until dissolved. Be sure it is dissolved. Check the PA. For this wine you want about 12 percent potential alcohol.

You can never tell about fruit syrups. Supposedly there are standards as to how much sugar is in them, but with fruit solids and volume and all that, it’s best to check.

If the PA is below 12 percent (and it probably will be), stir in the other half pound of sugar. Stir it in well and check the PA again. Don’t worry if it is a degree off. This is art, not science. You could go up to 14 percent and a little beyond if you wanted
to, but this is best as a medium sort of wine. The fruit still has sugar in it, too, don’t forget.

Pour the water and sugar/syrup mixture over the fruit, and add the acid, yeast nutrient, and tannin. If you don’t have a little over a gallon of must in the fermenter, add another couple of cups of water and check the PA again.

After the mixture cools down, add a crushed Campden tablet, if you choose to use one. Cover and fit with an air lock. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme. If you don’t use the tablet, merely wait until the must cools down to add the pectic enzyme.

Twenty-four hours later, add the yeast.

Let ferment for five days, stirring daily. When the PA falls to 3 to 4 percent, remove the fruit. Drain it well, but don’t squeeze; it will simply turn to fine pulp that will end up displacing the wine. Let the wine settle, then rack into a gallon jug. Bung and fit with an air lock.

Rack the wine once or twice over the next three to six months. Sometimes this ferments out quite quickly, depending on the weather and the reaction of the yeast and fruit.

When the fermentation is done, taste the wine and decide how you like it. If you’ve gotten good canned peaches, it should taste pretty good, though you’ll probably be able to tell that it needs to sit in the bottle for a while. If the peaches weren’t the best, it might taste rather harsh. Fear not. Add stabilizer, sweeten it up a bit with a couple of ounces of dissolved sugar or boiled honey, and sit back and let the bottle and time do their magic.

NOTE: Canned pears can be used in place of the peaches in the recipe above. Also, if you run across some canned tropical fruits you’d like to try, such as mangoes, guavas, or papayas, they’ll work too.

CANNED BLUEBERRY OR BLACKBERRY WINE

This comes out very well. If you can find canned wild blueberries, use them!

water, about 3½ quarts

2 16 oz. (or so) cans of blueberries or blackberries in light syrup

2 lbs. sugar (if fruit is canned in heavy syrup, subtract another ¼ lb. of sugar)

2 tsp. acid blend OR zest and juice of 2 large lemons

¹
/
₈
tsp. tannin

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet Montrachet yeast

Heat the water. Drain the syrup from the fruit. Place the fruit (and zest if you are using it) into a nylon straining bag and put it in the bottom of a sanitized primary fermenter.

Measure out 3½ quarts of warm water to start with and add the fruit syrup. Add 1½ pounds of the sugar and stir till dissolved. Be sure it is dissolved. Check the PA. For this wine you want about 12 percent potential alcohol.

If the PA is below 12 percent (and it probably will be), stir in the other one half pound of sugar well and check the PA again. Don’t worry if it is a degree off. The fruit still has sugar in it, too, don’t forget.

Pour the water/sugar/syrup mixture over the fruit and add the acid, yeast nutrient, tannin, and lemon juice if you are using it instead of the acid. After the must cools, add a crushed Campden tablet, if you choose to use one. Cover and fit with an air lock. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme. If you don’t use the tablet, merely wait until the must cools down to add the pectic enzyme.

Twenty-four hours later, add the yeast.

Let the wine ferment for five days, stirring daily. When the PA falls to 3 to 4 percent, remove the fruit. Drain it well, but don’t squeeze; it will turn to fine pulp that will displace the wine. Let the wine settle, then rack it into a gallon jug. Bung and fit with an air lock.

Rack the wine once or twice more over the next three to six months. When the fermentation is done, taste it and decide how you like it. If you want it sweeter, stabilize it and sweeten it up a bit with a couple of ounces of dissolved sugar or boiled honey, and bottle it.

CANNED PIE CHERRY WINE

Another good one. Be sure you don’t get cherry pie
filling
. Some stores have pie cherries and others don’t. Check around.

water, about 3½ quarts

2 16 oz. (or so) cans pie cherries in light syrup

2 lbs. sugar (if fruit is canned in heavy syrup, subtract another ¼ lb. of sugar; if in water, add ¼ lb.)

1 tsp. acid blend

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet Montrachet yeast

Heat the water. Drain the syrup from the fruit. Place the fruit into a nylon straining bag and put it in the bottom of a sanitized primary fermenter.

Measure out 3½ quarts of warm water to start with, and add the fruit syrup. Add 1½ pounds of the sugar and stir till dissolved. Be sure it is dissolved. Check the PA. For this wine you want about 12 percent potential alcohol.