Wine Number 3 Fruit wine pulp fermented

[lockwood1956]

With this wine we are going to prepare a must using fresh fruit, so we will need to take steps to ensure that the must is balanced, checking acids adjusting tannin levels and such, and we will need to add Adjuncts to ensure that we get it to clear at the end.
So we will need extra equipment and additives, we are also fermenting in a bucket to begin with, this bucket need to be big enough to allow for the fruit pulp to form a cap on top of the must and not overflow...
the new stuff required for this wine are as follows:
Bentonite
Tannin
Vitamin B1 tablets
Straining bag
Acid Test Kit (optional)

We will also make up a yeast starter this time, using Gervin R2 yeast (or any quality white table wine yeast)this is because in the last two wines we used grape juice and sugar only, so there wasn't much chance of the yeast not starting the fermentation, however as we start to make wines that are a little more complex we need to take steps to ensure that nature doesn't ruin it for us with spoilage organisms and wild yeasts, so we will sulphite the must.
Preparing a yeast starter in advance makes for a more reliable start to fermentation as the yeast is active when it is pitched into the must. (it also is a way of being sure the yeast is viable)

The wine will be made from kiwi fruit, and we will probably sweeten it a little at the end.

Prepare and sanitise all of the fermentation equipment as detailed HERE

Prepare a yeast starter by adding some warm water (about 100ml) some white grape juice (about 100ml) 1 tsp sugar 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient 1/8 tsp citric acid 1 vitamin B1 tablet and add the yeast sachet

The yeasties like an acid environment, and we have given them food in the form of sugar, nutrients to be sure they are healthy a vitamin B1 tablet for the other salts and minerals they need, picture on the left is what it looks like before the yeast goes in, the one on the right is what the yeast does when it goes in, it will become active and start foaming fairly quickly.

[lockwood1956]

Preparing the fruit

The following recipe works as a good method for most soft fruit. (I used Kiwis as they were cheap and available)

Kiwi fruit Recipe
4lbs kiwi fruit
4.5 litres white grape juice
1 tsp pectolase
1 tsp bentonite
1 Vitamin B1 tablet (3mg)
1/8 tsp wine tannin
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1pkt good quality yeast I'm using Gervin R2 (sauternes strain...will ferment as low as 5deg C)

Note on yeasts:
Lavlin 71B-1122 or Gervin varietal D are both good for white fruit wines. But I ran out and no-one near me has it in stock, but the R2 is a good quality yeast, always use good yeast as I think it isnt worth losing quality for 99p a pkt, you can if you read the yeast tutorial make one packet last a year
see here

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=908

Note on acid:
I tested the acid content of this must and it is a little high, (5.5 TA expressed as sulphiric using a ritchie test kit) 4.5 would have been ideal, (thats 8g/l and 7 g/l TA expressed as tartaric) however because I am planning on sweetening this batch, the acid being a little high isnt going to be an issue, if it does turn out to be a problem then I can cold stabilise the tartaric acid out of the must that is present because of the grape juice. If you test your acid content and find it low (unlikely) then adjust it upwards using tartaric acid only.
acid testing tutorial here

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=886

acid adjustments covered here

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=1414

Don't worry too much at this stage about acid testing or adjusting as this recipe is fairly safe. But the route to great wines is in knowing how to adjust these parameters.

A list of the sugar and acid contents of various fruits can be found here

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/downloads/sugarandacid.pdf

Methods for extracting flavour from fruits
from jack Kellers excellent site http://winemaking.jackkeller.net
Cold maceration.
The fruit or berries are crushed or chopped or sliced and placed in the primary fermentation vessel (called simply the primary). Sugar, water and sulfites (crushed Campden tablets or potassium metabisulfite), as specified in the recipe, are added and stirred in well and the primary is covered and set aside for 8-10 hours. Then pectic enzyme is added, stirred in well, and the primary is refrigerated for a specified period (usually 24-48 hours). It is then removed and allowed to return to room temperature. Additional ingredients are then added, stirred in well, and the yeast culture (in the form of a starter solution) is introduced.
Hot water extraction.
The fruit or berries are crushed or chopped or sliced and placed in the primary fermentation vessel. The necessary amount of sugar is added and boiling water is poured over the fruit and sugar. A sanitized wooden spoon or paddle is used to stir the must to help dissolve the sugar. The primary is covered and set aside to cool to room temperature. Additional ingredients are then added in a timed fashion according to the recipe and then the yeast culture is introduced in a starter solution.
Direct heat extraction.
The fruit or berries are crushed or chopped or sliced and placed in a stainless steel cooking pot. A small amount of water is added to prevent scorching and the pot is placed on the stove on medium-high heat until the juices begin to flow from the base. Usually, the liquid is not allowed to boil. The base is stirred to heat it evenly. After a set amount of time, it is removed from the heat. The liquid is usually fermented without the pulp, but in some cases the pulp is left in the liquid and the two are fermented together. If the liquid only is to be fermented, the base is either strained hot or allowed to cool before being strained. The fruit and berries, or just the juice, are placed in the primary for fermentation. The sugar and water may be added while still hot, but most other ingredients are not added until the mixture cools to room temperature. This method is only used for particular reasons, as the cooking adds another flavour component to the finished wine that many find objectionable.
Fermentation extraction.
The fruit or berries are crushed or chopped or sliced and placed in the primary fermentation vessel. Other ingredients, including sugar, water, sulphites, pectic enzyme, acid blend, yeast nutrients, etc., are added in a time-dependent fashion and then the yeast culture is introduced in a starter solution. Flavours and aromas are extracted by the fermentation action of the yeast on the must. This occurs at a normal (room) ambient temperature

NOTE:
many older recipes recommend pouring boiling water over fruit, (direct heat extraction) to sanitise it and prepare it, however this releases any pectin present in the fruit (the stuff that makes jam set) and can cause problems later on, when trying to get the wine to clear, so my advice would be not to employ this method, but use sulphite for sanitising the must, and prepare your fruit another way. Some fruits can be pressed to release the juice (grapes for example) others need to be pulp fermented, which is what we are going to do here. Other ingredients can be juiced by freezing and thawing, or chopping and pressing, or even put through a kitchen juicer.


We need to prepare our fruit to be used in the must, with kiwi fruit they have a hard skin on them that can be a bit troublesome to remove, if you try to get really ripe fruit you can cut them in half and just squish them into the straining bag, discarding the skins. If the fruit isn't ripe enough for that, then peel them (a potato peeler works as long as they are firm) and chop them up and freeze them for a few days. then when they thaw they will almost turn to juice themselves.

We are using a straining bag so that we can dunk it up and down into the must and release all the goodness, and it makes it really easy to remove the fruit pulp when we are done with it. don't be tempted to squeeze though.

so.. once your fruit is ready to go into the straining bag, either pulped by you or still in its frozen state, add 4.5 litres of white grape juice or water and sugar to SG 1.070 as there is sugar in the kiwis that hasnt been released yet, add to this the bentonite (dissolve it in hot water first) tannin, pectolase, and yeast nutrient, add 5ml of sulphite solution (or 1 crushed campden tablet) to this and leave to stand for 24 hours.

The sulphite at this stage will keep at bay any wild yeasts or spoilage organisms, we need to wait 24 hours before we add our yeast starter, otherwise the sulphite will prevent fermentation starting, after 24 hours the level of free sulphite will have dropped enough for the yeast to work (basically put...some of the sulphite binds itself to particles in our must, and so is no longer free and effective)

[lockwood1956]

pitching the yeast

The yeast starter we prepared has developed a viable colony of yeasties (the lag phase) and has been fizzing merrily for 24 hours now, and they are raring to go....

If your starter has gone a little "flat" then its likely that the yeasties have eaten all of the sugars available to it, not a problem as you are going to introduce it to some more very soon (if in doubt pop 1/4 tsp sugar in and wait for it to fizz again before pitching)

By adopting this method we will always get a healthy start to fermentation, and the yeasties are already accustomed to their new environment as we added some grape juice to the starter.
If you haven't used yeast starters before, watch how quickly your ferment will get underway, and how active your must becomes.

see in the first picture how active the starter is, the middle pic is the straining bag in the must, and the third picture is the starter after about 1 minute, you will see it has started to fizz already... but fermentation should be underway in a few hours.

Every day (at least twice a day) dunk the straining bag in and out of the must, and give the must a good stir. if we weren't using a straining bag then the fruit pulp would rise to the surface and form a "cap" that would need to be "punched down" into the must to release its goodness, and more importantly to stop it drying out and becoming attacked by spoilage organisms.


we will move to the next stage at S.G 1.020 so check it every day.

the next stage will be removing the fruit pulp and racking the must to a clean DJ (secondary fermenting vessel)


note:
the terms Primary fermenter and secondary fermenter are quite often misused, it isn't secondary fermentation, that is something completely different (either bottle conditioning or Malo lactic fermentation are secondary ferments) this is just primary and secondary containers, primary is where the Aerobic part of fermentation takes place, we then move to a secondary vessel for the Anaerobic phase where we keep Oxygen out by using an airlock device. (pedantic I know... but it is important to be clear on these kind of details, or else confusion can occur )

[lockwood1956]

So today S.G. is at 1.010 so a little lower than reqd...we planned on racking at 1.020, but it wont really matter, the wine has had the straining bag lifted in and out of the must at least twice a day, and was stirred also at that time.

It is time to rack to DJ.

lift out straining bag, and allow to drain (do not squeeze) when done, use the lid of the bucket and hold it underneath the straining bag while you transfer the pulp to your compost bin (so you don't make a mess and anger your life partner/mother/flatmates!)

Rack the wine into the DJ, top up with cooled boiled water if necessary, fir bung and airlock and leave to ferment out.

This is the point at which many ferments stick or slow down, as long as we have a strong ferment going we should be OK.

[lockwood1956]

S.G at 0.996 but its been the same for three days in a row, so proceeded, I wanted to wait till it was at 0.990 but they dont always go that low, and three days the same indicates its done (or its stuck!)

so racked degassed added 5ml 10% sulphite solution and topped up, now waiting for it to clear, it was made using the same grape juice as wine No1 so I suspect it may need finings to help.


notice classsy slippers in pic 1

[lockwood1956]

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