Peach Wine

2018

Around June 30 price of peaches dropped to $0.67/lb. By 7/4 they were up to $1.29, but I think was literally just that day, a few days later they were down to $0.90. Shoot for the end of June.

I bought 50 peaches (~15 lbs) for 6 gallons. I cut them into chunks and let them sit for 2 days in water with 1T of pectolase. They didn't break down as much as other fruit, so in future batches, cut them up smaller and add more pectolase.

I didn't record this at the time, but I think the PAV was around 17% and the end product was just a bit too sweet. I did let it go a long time (~6 weeks) to try and get that sweetness down, but it was still just a bit too much. In the future I think the highest I should go is 15% for a strong, sweet wine.

2019

Price dropped to $0.57/lb around June 15. Bought 6lbs. Cut into thin strips and mixed with 1.5T pectolase. Added about 3 liters of water.

Took 1:20 to cut a single peach.

Two days later mash looked good. The peaches were really soft so I just mashed them with my hands and filtered out what I could with a sieve. I had to add about 0.5 gallon to bring it up to 2 gallons. I started by adding 1lb of sugar, I expect to add at least one more. I ran out of yeast nutrient, so we'll see how it does without.

A day later I checked and fermentation had not started. New wine supplies had arrived that day. So I used the new nylon bag to filter the mash. I then used the hydrometer to get it up to ~12% PAV. I didn't weigh as I went, but it was probably at least another 4lbs of sugar. Added 2t yeast nutrient and yeast. Over the next few days it was bubbling vigorously.