Gentlefolk,

All the recipes for feijoa wine of cider that I can find seem to have
buckets of sugar and water added to them, which is not something that
sits too well with me: does anybody know of a recipe for feijoa wine
or cider that does not have any added sugar (or why they all seem to
'pad out' the recipe with sugar and water?)

(I'm considering emulating my apple cider recipe (juice them, ferment
them, bottle them, leave them, and drink them!) but I dont know how
that would work out with feijoas!)

Advice? Recipes? Answers?

Cheers!

"misanthropic_curmudgeon" >
wrote in message
...
> Gentlefolk,
>
> All the recipes for feijoa wine of cider that I can find seem to have
> buckets of sugar and water added to them, which is not something that
> sits too well with me: does anybody know of a recipe for feijoa wine
> or cider that does not have any added sugar (or why they all seem to
> 'pad out' the recipe with sugar and water?)
>
> (I'm considering emulating my apple cider recipe (juice them, ferment
> them, bottle them, leave them, and drink them!) but I dont know how
> that would work out with feijoas!)
>
> Advice? Recipes? Answers?
>
> Cheers!



Most fruits do not have a high enough sugar content to reach a desired
alcohol content. That is why you need to add sugar to bring the specific
Gravity up to around 1.09-1.10. How much depends on the fruit. You need to
also check that your acid level is between .50-.65% (tartaric) adjust with
an acid blend (1 teaspoon per gallon to increase .01%) or calcium carbonate
( 2.5 grams per gallon to decrease .01%).

The best site I have found on the web for wine recipe's is Jack Keller's
site.
Here is his recipe for Feijoas wine

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques31.asp


Cider wine 1 gallon ( from Winemaker's Recipe Handbook)
14-16 LB Apples or 1 gal juice
1/3 LB. Sugar ( S.G. around 1.09-1.10 )
1/2 tsp. Pectic Enzyme
1/2 tsp. Yeast Energizer
1 campden tablet crushed
1 pkg. of Wine yeast

For more then one gallon just multiply the ingredient by 2- 5 except for the
yeast one package will work for 1-5 gal.

Robert

I've just read Robert's reply and am sure his knowledge and advice far surpasses mine in the area of winemaking. All of what he says about SG and acidity are perfectly true.
Sugar is not there to 'pad out' the recipe. Sugars are what yeast feeds on, essential for creating alcohol. A low level of sugar will yield a low level of alcohol - it controls how the wine finishes up ie light or intoxicating! Many fruits do not have much sugar content and sugar in some form or another needs to be added to reach an alcohol % level which helps preserve the wine and gets you tipsy after a drink.
I'm a complete amateur and have made several wines over a span of many years, mostly failures in taste but always drinkable if used as a mixer. However the last couple of wines I've made have tasted good and preserve well and involve adding a small quantity of sultanas which create the yeast after a few days of soaking in the diluted fruit pulp. I have just started to make feijoa wine using this method - the mash is less than 48 hours old. I'll keep you posted on its progress. Cheers.