cab
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Plum and (something) wine?I've got lots of plums still. I want to make another batch of wine, but I don't want another batch of plum; any advice on what blends well with plum for a wine?
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Jonnyboy
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Blackberry?, goes well with damsons anyway
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cab
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| Jonnyboy wrote: | | Blackberry?, goes well with damsons anyway |
A cunning plan. Blackberry holds up well with the intense flavour of damsons, but might it be overpowering with plums? The ones I've currently got a glut of are like small Victorias.
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Jonnyboy
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Dunno, haven't tasted your plums.
You seem to have a noticably better climate, so your blackberries are probably juicier and more flavourful than mine, more like a cultivated blackberry I guess.
Do you need to make wine with them? what about something else?
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cab
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| Jonnyboy wrote: | Dunno, haven't tasted your plums.
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Think of Victorias, but smaller. Good fleshy plums at the moment that come away well from the stone.
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You seem to have a noticably better climate, so your blackberries are probably juicier and more flavourful than mine, more like a cultivated blackberry I guess.
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Don't know about 'better'. Things tend to be early here; the blackberries are big and fat, but we're rather dry so things like elderberries and rowans are relatively poor in these parts.
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Do you need to make wine with them? what about something else? |
From the earlier cherryplum harvest I already have plum jam, plum wine, plum brandy and plum chutney. I've got several pounds of stewed plums sitting waiting to be frozen this evening. We use few prunes, and we're struggling to eat all the desserts we've been making with the summer fruit gluts; some kind of blended wine would fit in well.
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ken69
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plumsJust a thought, Cab, Goosegogs...but there must be a scientific way of blending....acid with non acid, for example.Blueberries and gooseberries wouldn't mix, unless you are aiming for a very dry wine.
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cab
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Terry Garey talks about this in her book on home brewing; you're right, you need to think about balancing acidity, sweetness, tannin and flavours.
Plums have a bit of acid (you need to add very little), and they typically make a light, clean tasting wine. Very 'plummy'. Obviously that depends on the plums; I've made wine with these plums before, so I know what it'll come out like. Damsons, for example, produce a much richer brew.
Thinking about it, plum would probably go very well as a base fruity note in a mead (which would enrich it), or with a herb or spice (juniper strikes me as worth trying).
Any other ideas?
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bernie-woman
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Plum and ginger is nice - I have never made it but my granddad used to. Using fresh ginger
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Jonnyboy
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Redcurrant would be good, or something like tayberries
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cab
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| bernie wrote: | | Plum and ginger is nice - I have never made it but my granddad used to. Using fresh ginger |
Now THAT does sound like a good idea. I think I'd have to be deliacate on with the ginger to get it right (my last ginger wine was fairly fiery), but that sounds like it might be a winner.
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cab
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| Jonnyboy wrote: | | Redcurrant would be good, or something like tayberries |
Hmmm... Redcurrant. I've got a lot of those in the freezer...
You know, I may even have to go and pick more plums...
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ken69
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plumsI was going to suggest Fennel, but just looked it up, could possible come out as too earthy, a bit like turnip wine, but plum with a hint of fennel essence or peppermint flavouring would be unusual.
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jema
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Well we foraged a few pounds of plums today  So we will also be after a recipe.
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cab
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| jema wrote: | | Well we foraged a few pounds of plums today So we will also be after a recipe. |
Basic plum wine:
3-4lb of plums
2 1/4 to 2 1/2lb sugar
Half a gallon of water
1/2 tsp citric acid
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp pectolase (or similar)
1 teabag
Yeast
Put the plums in a straining bag, put that in a sterile bucket. Get the water boiling with the sugar, acid and nutrient, put the teabag in for a minute and remove.
Pour boiling water onto the plums and cover the bucket tightly. When it's cooled, add the enzyme and activated yeast. Give it a day or three, then with a sterile masher crush the fruit. Wait another few days and rack it into a demi-jon.
Top it up with boiled and cooled when you take it off the sediment for the first time, then treat as for any wine. Wants to have a good while in bulk to smooth out, and it benefits from cold treatment.
This is a dryish recipe, for a sweet wine (works well with damsons) use anything up to 7lb of fruit and 5-6lb of sugar (added in stages). You need a really, really intense plum for this, but I make a damson wine like this every year and it is superb (but girly).
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jema
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That will do nicely. We got just over 5lb and Snowball wanted a few.
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jema
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Do you chop the plums first?
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cab
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| jema wrote: | | Do you chop the plums first? |
I used to. I've taken to leaving them whole in the straining bag, pouring on boiling water, letting it cool and adding the enzyme and yeast. A couple to a few days later (put mine on this Saturday... I'll do it today) I mash them up in the bag.
Seems to make more of a difference for damson than other plums; when damson is made without stoning the fruit first there's a bitter taste that can be unpleasant in a dry wine (but which seems to be lost if you make it really sweet).
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jema
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well that is on with an addition of some used apple pulp.
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cab
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| jema wrote: | | well that is on with an addition of some used apple pulp. |
The apple pulp oughtn't do any harm. Might even add some extra body (plum can be 'thin', depending on the plums).
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jema
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Sort of what I thought. Hence the addition.
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