I am brewing some Plumb wine and really need some advice.

This is my first time and I have fermented on the Pulp in a bucket, a
gallon of plumb wine (using greengages from a tree in my back garden)
for about 6 days.

It produced a nice thick cap and I stirred it every day (usually
twice). I neglected to take the gravity at the start (following a
recipe from an ancient boots book that instructed to add all of the
sugar etc. at the start), but all looked ok.

I took the gravity and it was down at 0.992, so I added about 50 grams
of extra sugar and stirred it up, took a reading at 0.994; I then left
it for another 36 hours.

Today there was no CAP and I took the SG, it was down at 0.990, so I
have strained it into a demijohn and added an airlock. But, there is
no gas escaping from the airlock at all, is this OK or have I ruined
this wine by leaving it in the bucket too long or adding the sugar ?

Thank you for any advice that you have.

Best Regards

Steve.

Steve,
It may be so slow that you don't notice it. I've never seen so much
as a bubble in my secondary. But I'm not master at this, I can only
tell you what I know.

On Aug 13, 2:36 pm, wrote:
> I am brewing some Plumb wine and really need some advice.
>
> This is my first time and I have fermented on the Pulp in a bucket, a
> gallon of plumb wine (using greengages from a tree in my back garden)
> for about 6 days.
>
> It produced a nice thick cap and I stirred it every day (usually
> twice). I neglected to take the gravity at the start (following a
> recipe from an ancient boots book that instructed to add all of the
> sugar etc. at the start), but all looked ok.
>
> I took the gravity and it was down at 0.992, so I added about 50 grams
> of extra sugar and stirred it up, took a reading at 0.994; I then left
> it for another 36 hours.
>
> Today there was no CAP and I took the SG, it was down at 0.990, so I
> have strained it into a demijohn and added an airlock. But, there is
> no gas escaping from the airlock at all, is this OK or have I ruined
> this wine by leaving it in the bucket too long or adding the sugar ?
>
> Thank you for any advice that you have.
>
> Best Regards
>
> Steve.

Hi Steve....with a gravity already at 990 I personally wouldnt expect
to see bubbling, since 990 is fairly indicative that fermentation is
pretty much over, and all the sugar has been used, leaving your wine
completely "dry". If any fermentation is occuring at all, it is, as
your first respondant said, going to be so slow as to be virtually
invisible unless you happen to be in the room at the moment it might
burp.

Sean

I agree - .990 means it is about done. now is the time to let it clear.

You really should have known the original SG, but I'm guessing it was
higher. smile. If it is too low alcohol, you might need to fortify with
a little everclear. When it clears in a few weeks, you need to taste to
see if you want to add sugar or honey to sweeten it. Though I had a
cranberry wine that was .990 - tasted horrible - and now after 3 years
now, it's not bad. smile. Hoping it is good by Thanksgiving.

I had a Mango/Peach that was .992 and needed sweetening prior to bottling.

I'd love to try making a Plum wine sometime, but I hear it's hard to
clear. Let me know how it clears.
DAve

snpm wrote:
> On Aug 13, 2:36 pm, wrote:
>> I am brewing some Plumb wine and really need some advice.
>>
>> This is my first time and I have fermented on the Pulp in a bucket, a
>> gallon of plumb wine (using greengages from a tree in my back garden)
>> for about 6 days.
>>
>> It produced a nice thick cap and I stirred it every day (usually
>> twice). I neglected to take the gravity at the start (following a
>> recipe from an ancient boots book that instructed to add all of the
>> sugar etc. at the start), but all looked ok.
>>
>> I took the gravity and it was down at 0.992, so I added about 50 grams
>> of extra sugar and stirred it up, took a reading at 0.994; I then left
>> it for another 36 hours.
>>
>> Today there was no CAP and I took the SG, it was down at 0.990, so I
>> have strained it into a demijohn and added an airlock. But, there is
>> no gas escaping from the airlock at all, is this OK or have I ruined
>> this wine by leaving it in the bucket too long or adding the sugar ?
>>
>> Thank you for any advice that you have.
>>
>> Best Regards
>>
>> Steve.
>
> Hi Steve....with a gravity already at 990 I personally wouldnt expect
> to see bubbling, since 990 is fairly indicative that fermentation is
> pretty much over, and all the sugar has been used, leaving your wine
> completely "dry". If any fermentation is occuring at all, it is, as
> your first respondant said, going to be so slow as to be virtually
> invisible unless you happen to be in the room at the moment it might
> burp.
>
> Sean
>

Thank you very much for the advice everyone; I am now a little happier
knowing that I have not ruined it on my first attempt.

It sounds like the worst impact of this is that It wont produce as
much alcohol and I need to fortify it later on; which is a million
times better than the situation that I feared.

Thanks again.

Steve.

n.b.

Does anyone know the formula for calculating the alcohol content if
you dont have the original SG, thanks.

Steve.

> Today there was no CAP and I took the SG, it was down at 0.990, so
I
> have strained it into a demijohn and added an airlock. But, there is
> no gas escaping from the airlock at all, is this OK or have I ruined
> this wine by leaving it in the bucket too long or adding the sugar ?

It's almost impossible to ruin wine if you follow a few simple
precautions. Please tell us how much wine you have (is this a US
gallon or an Imperial?) and how much sugar you added and we can tell
you if the alcohol sounds high enough to protect the wine. Also, did
the plums taste ripe? In fruit wines you often shoot for around 10%
alcohol, that is the minimum for a wine to keep. If you will drink it
all in a year, the alcohol doesn't matter as much if you keep the
finished wine cold.

As to next steps, you will want to ensure the container is topped
completely now. Try to make sure you have very little airspace in the
container, I'm assuming it's a glass gallon or 3 liter container. If
it's not glass you may want to hunt a glass one up; it will protect
your wine better than most anything else.

0.990 sounds dry and sounds fine. You should consider adding sulfite
now. I really don't care for campden tablets because they are hard to
crush but powdered sulfite is a little harder to use in small
quantities. What you could do is put 1/8 teaspoon in a one ounce
container of water and mix it up, then add 2 teaspoons of that water
to your wine. Don't strain your wine anymore, rack it. By straining
it you helped degas it so that was actually not a bad move.

That should get you going in the right direction.

Joe

Hi Joe,

Thanks for the advice, I have now topped the demijohn right up to the
shoulder leaving a little air space at the top (just the small neck);
it's an imperial (UK) Gallon glass demijohn.

I will go and buy some powdered sulfite tomorrow.

I added one kilogram of sugar into the bucket at the start of the
process and then another 50-70 grams approx a day before moving to the
glass. is this all the info you need to tell if there is enough
alcohol in there?; I do intend to leave the wine for a year or over if
possible.


Steve.

On 15 Aug, 02:53, wrote:
> Hi Joe,
>
> Thanks for the advice, I have now topped the demijohn right up to the
> shoulder leaving a little air space at the top (just the small neck);
> it's an imperial (UK) Gallon glass demijohn.
>
> I will go and buy some powdered sulfite tomorrow.
>
> I added one kilogram of sugar into the bucket at the start of the
> process and then another 50-70 grams approx a day before moving to the
> glass. is this all the info you need to tell if there is enough
> alcohol in there?; I do intend to leave the wine for a year or over if
> possible.
>
> Steve.

Sorry, forgot to mention that the plumbs did taste ripe.

Thanks.

On Aug 14, 4:55 pm, wrote:
> On 15 Aug, 02:53, wrote:
>
> > Hi Joe,
>
> > Thanks for the advice, I have now topped the demijohn right up to the
> > shoulder leaving a little air space at the top (just the small neck);
> > it's an imperial (UK) Gallon glass demijohn.
>
> > I will go and buy some powdered sulfite tomorrow.
>
> > I added one kilogram of sugar into the bucket at the start of the
> > process and then another 50-70 grams approx a day before moving to the
> > glass. is this all the info you need to tell if there is enough
> > alcohol in there?; I do intend to leave the wine for a year or over if
> > possible.
>
> > Steve.
>
> Sorry, forgot to mention that the plumbs did taste ripe.
>
> Thanks.

Steve,
I'll look up plums when I get home from work and get back to you but
it sounds like you are in good shape.

Joe

On Aug 15, 2:45 pm, Joe Sallustio > wrote:
> On Aug 14, 4:55 pm, wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On 15 Aug, 02:53, wrote:
>
> > > Hi Joe,
>
> > > Thanks for the advice, I have now topped the demijohn right up to the
> > > shoulder leaving a little air space at the top (just the small neck);
> > > it's an imperial (UK) Gallon glass demijohn.
>
> > > I will go and buy some powdered sulfite tomorrow.
>
> > > I added one kilogram of sugar into the bucket at the start of the
> > > process and then another 50-70 grams approx a day before moving to the
> > > glass. is this all the info you need to tell if there is enough
> > > alcohol in there?; I do intend to leave the wine for a year or over if
> > > possible.
>
> > > Steve.
>
> > Sorry, forgot to mention that the plumbs did taste ripe.
>
> > Thanks.
>
> Steve,
> I'll look up plums when I get home from work and get back to you but
> it sounds like you are in good shape.
>
> Joe- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

If you used around 5 pounds of plums I think you are in good shape.
There are websites out there that give directions on fruit wines, one
I saw said 20 lbs plums to 9 pounds of sugar in 5 gallons (US). That
is about exactly what you did sugar wise.

The reference I have says ripe plums are around 8% sugar, acids are
around 9g/l and the predominant acid is malic. (That is the raw
juice, yours was diluted by 'X' amount of water and sugar to lower
values.)

If anything I think you may have a bit too much alcohol, but that is
better than too little. Alcohol and acids are what makes a wine
stable and it looks like you are good on both. If is tastes a little
flabby because the acid is lower (because of the water added and
possible higher alcohol) you can just add a little acid; lemons would
work if you don't have any from a wine shop. I would start with
juice from half a lemon and go from there.

In other words, I think you are in fine shape. If you are in Europe
Trevor Panther has been making fruit wines for a long time and is an
expert, so is Ben Rotter. You may want to discuss with them. Ben has
a website and Trevor posts here.


Joe