This year we got plums on our trees, unlike last year where we only got a handful. I have been waiting for plums to make a new batch of my Plum Wine, one of my favorites. I am going to try and make the same recipe I did the first year I made it, which turned out the best (more plum flavor than the last batch which used the steam juicer).
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Process:
Rinsed all of the plums and removed any stems and all of the pits. I then roughly chopped the plums and put them in my primary bucket. I broke them up by vigorously stirring them with a large metal spoon for a few minutes. I then added all of the sugar and then added some hot water (160 °F), enough to reach the 6 gallon mark on my bucket (I am allowing about a gallon of extra volume in primary to allow for removing the plum pulp later). All of the sugar was dissolved by stirring the must.
After letting the must cool to room temperature I added Pectic enzymes, yeast nutrient, grape tannin, acid blend, and Campden tablets (crushed). I stirred the must well and then put the lid and airlock on the bucket and let sit for 24 hours. I will then pitch the yeast and seal the bucket again with a blow-off tube.
9-26-12: Put into primary bucket with Campden Tablets, OG measured at 1.125 giving an alcohol potential of 16.8% ABV.
9-27-12: Pitched yeast into primary bucket.
10-3-12: Punched down the fruit cap; broke it up with a metal spoon and pushed it under the must.
10-16-12: Racked to a 5-gallon carboy. Filtered the wine to remove the plum pulp, and ended up with about 4 gallons of liquid. I added 1 gallon of water to the carboy to top it up, and to replicate the water addition I had in the original wine recipe. This dilutes the wine and brings the alcohol potential down to 13.4% ABV. Before adding the water, the SG was measured at 1.002 (16.5% ABV), giving the current wine a strength of 13.2% ABV.
1-20-13: Racked to a 5-gallon carboy. Tasted very good, pronounced plum flavor with enough acidity balance it out. The FG was measured at 1.000, giving a strength of 13.4% ABV.
5-25-13: Looked at the carboy today, and noticed that there was wine in the airlock and no airspace left in the carboy. I know the carboy had been quite full, less than an inch of head space, but was surprised to see the volume increase. I’m assuming a bit of renewed fermentation took place, and this could be due to a small heat wave we have been having. In any case, I put a clean airlock on the carboy and took a little bit of liquid out to create some head space.
6-30-13: After almost a month, there is more wine in the airlock again. Time to bottle. Bottled into 48 12-ounce bottles and 3 750mL wine bottles.
Tags: italian plum, plum, recipe, wine