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Plum Wine

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fatesjoke03

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Jul 5, 2007
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I know, a little off topic but has anyone tried making a Plum Wine? I had my first taste over the weekend at a sushi bar and, honestly, it was similar to my first experience with mead. I have checked wiki and saw how it was made. I am curious to see if anyone on this board has had a similar experience and how it turned out.

Also, my first batch of mead is resting nicely. I have 6 more weeks before secondary is done and already looks good. I may re-rack to get sediment out since quite a lot has settled but so far so good. I am very excited.
 
Japanese plum wine is pretty darn good I agree.

I tried making sum. Took plums and sliced them up. Dumped them into water and added sugar. Meh :P It was from a homemade fruit wine recipe book that was local and in a binder. All the recipes were like that. I did learn a few things.

Plum skin is very tart and Japanese plum wine is very sweet. You would need a whole lot of sugar to overcome it and you probably do want the skin for tannins and color. If I was to do this again I would heat the sugar into a syrup and add that. There was so much sugar that it didnt all fully dissolve. If you wanted to avoid the skins cut an X into the skin and then boil the for 3-5ish minutes then put the plums into ice water. The boiling will loosen the skins from the fruit and you can attempt to peel it off. The ice water stops the heat from cooking the rest of the plum.
 
One of my all time favorite meads is the plum mead I made last summer. I took a traditional in secondary and added very ripe plums that I had crushed including the pits. I let it steep for a couple of weeks then racked off. The plums did kick up a bit of secondary fermentation, but the yeast pooped out pretty quickly.

Things I plan to do differently:
Add plums in primary as well, about 10 lbs.
Put the plums in a grain bag. I lost a LOT of mead as the plums are very fiberous and didn't want to settle.
Adjust the flavor at the END with a bit of acid blend to shore up the high notes.
Sulfite and sorbate the mead before bottling. This mead has suffered from oxidation and has not kept the bright plum fruit flavor - the blend of tart and sweet that is so yummy.

I plan on getting about 20 lbs of home-grown plums near the end of the month. I will put the fresh schooshed plums with pits in primary. I will take the other 10 lbs off the pits, stir in some pectinaze enzyme, let sit for a couple of hours, then freeze to await secondary. I have even be debating tossing in some rhubarb to highlight the whole the tart/sweet thing.

Leonora
 
I had the pleasure of tasting a japanese plum mead at the local HBS and loved it. A lot of the local brewers in the area including me drop off a bottle of thier latest when picking up supplies and if we are lucky we get to sample some of the other brews left at the store.
 
the LHBS wont let you do that here :( they said they cant have any booze in the store that isn't part of their inventory. something to do with taxes he said... they had helped me out alot with my first beer and i wanted to drop them off a few samples, they said thanks but they cant take them.
 
UCF,

I'm not sure what the laws are where you are but here in Idaho as long as it is not for sale, you can sample it or give it away. If there is a sale, there must be proof of sales tax and federal tax but otherwise, I share my meads and beers in my store with customers all the time. And I've been known to haul a bottle into a couple of the bars I go to as well. If there is no sale on the beverage, there is no problem. Your Mileage May Vary! It may also be how your LHBS is interpreting their law. From previous posts, aren't you just shy of normal majority? That might be a factor as well.

Wade
 
Leonora,

What kind of yeast did you use for your plum mead?

I bottled a few weeks ago some plum mead that I made last year. I don't have exact quantities of honey and plums at hand, but I did put the plums in the primary with Lalvin 71B. I am quite satisfied how it turnedout, color between red and brown, perfectly clear, lots of alcohol. Althaugh it has a very pleasant bitter note, I feel that it would benefit from adding some acid.

Djordje
 
that may be it lol..... im not sure if they know or not though... they might... they are always friendly when i'm in there though.... i must say, florida sucks though, laws are ridiculous here, the old people control everything, except in the places where disney controls everything.
 
Actually, Pennsylvania is probably worse. Not allowed to have any alchohol shipped here, Not sold in grocery stores, just State stores, and only this week did they pass a law allowing beer distributors to sell 6 packs. :angry3: No wonder I homebrew.

I think I might try a plum mead too... sounds like there are lots of possibilities for variation. I think some of the Japanese stuff is made from Umeboshi plums.
 
djordje_m said:
Leonora,

What kind of yeast did you use for your plum mead?

I bottled a few weeks ago some plum mead that I made last year. I don't have exact quantities of honey and plums at hand, but I did put the plums in the primary with Lalvin 71B. I am quite satisfied how it turnedout, color between red and brown, perfectly clear, lots of alcohol. Althaugh it has a very pleasant bitter note, I feel that it would benefit from adding some acid.

Djordje
Click to expand...

ANYWAYS, back to the topic!

I plan on posting my actual recipe for the Plum Mead in the Patron's Recipe section as soon as I get time. It's in the fermenter now and doing well.

I have used a couple of different yeasts. This time I used D-47 as I wanted a deeper flavor note from the yeast. Last time I used 71-B which gives a higher/sharper flavor note.

Sounds like you used the plums and pits in your fermentation to get the bitter note? I was debating putting some prune juice in the primary to boost the darker notes to support the sharp plum flavor.

All the best,
Leonora
 
ucflumberjack said:
that may be it lol..... im not sure if they know or not though... they might... they are always friendly when i'm in there though.... i must say, florida sucks though, laws are ridiculous here, the old people control everything, except in the places where disney controls everything.
Click to expand...

Brrrrregh! wrong agiane your home brew store is just a greedy dick. Down in south florida hear my LHBS store lets us bring in samples all the time. you have to as part of the local home brew club meetings that are held there. But even on an off day just to try between you and staff. They even usally have some home brew on tap. Whats the name of your home brew store Im guessing that you live in Orlando! Heard that guy was a "Fn @$$ hole".

Back on topic you guys mentioned prune juice what about adding prunes them self to the mix wouldnt that increas sweetnes without bitterness possibly replacing the sugar you added Rhianni and be easire to rack off of all at the same time ! My question though is how do they make that clear yellowie plum wine that you get sometimes!
:happy10:
 
teljkon said:
My question though is how do they make that clear yellowie plum wine that you get sometimes! [/color]
:happy10:
Click to expand...
Yellow plums? The one local winery makes a golden plum wine using yellow plum varieties.
 
off topic: ive heard the same about my LHBS from a few people. not very personable when i go in there. i think he has lost all the fun of running a brewshop. its a very very small place with tons of crap crammed into it and they dont really like people to come in, they like to do mail orders more than walk ins. ive only seen two different guys in there, one is nice half the time, the other just seems to busy to care.... they hardly even want to BS about beer..... on the upside i finally contacted the orlando brewing club. its cfhb.org. i think they are the guys that run meadlennium, if i remember correctly there was a bit of drama a while back with them so maybe they are dicks too, ya never know... i think im going to their next meeting though so time will tell.
 
Yeah thats the Orlando home brew store. Ive heard about them several times never positive. Theres A compation up there I think this weekend some place around you I know that afew pepes from my club are up there. With a few entrys!! I think it was like the space cost club though I dont know. Any ways If you feel like making the hike down to south florida we do a ocktober fest next weekend and the American german club dose one also on the same weekend down in my neck of the woods!

Maybe, when I win the lottery and I open a home brew a supply store Ill do it in orlando! :tongue3:

:happy10:
 
Teljkon,

I have to ask: I know that Lumberjack hasn't reached majority yet but at least he can spell and I have some respect for his recipes and his posts, he's serious about this obsession. He's very active on both the asking and suggesting side. He's taken things beyond where I would and I'm 48. I honor that, he's got a great creative streak that I wish I had. I'm at a point where I want to perfect a couple of recipes. Lumberjack keeps coming up with ideas that intrigue me. And damn it! I'm a gonna have to try some of the different directions he's been going!

So, what's your story? You seem to be here for a reaction rather than to contribute.

I'm not judging, I'm just saying...
 
People,

May I respectfully suggest that you take this off-topic discussion about LHBS to another thread, please. This began as a good question about Plum Wine. It meandered into Plum Mead and then got totally hijacked.

Please respect the content of the thread and poster! If you want to continue this discussion please start a new thread in a more appropriate area. Or take it off line.

Thanks,
Leonora (who is asking nicely the first time....)
 
Well that seemed a little intense....Didn't know you were a moderator....I'm sorry, didnt mean to hijack the thread, it just kind of happened lol....

does anybody ever make plum wine from plum juice? couldn't you press them and use the juice as your must, maybe add some sugar or honey to kick the abv up? do they have enough of their own sugars to make a straight up plum wine like grape wines?
 
Ill agree that we Hijacked the thread I apolagize, I was actualy attempting to close it off the best I could. As far as it goes for you Wildaho i will only correct you. You are very much judging and thats fine but ill hold my tounge beyond that.

I will also say yes my spelling is poor, Im a product of the spell check generation. For short and relaxed posts I dont find it necessary to spell check them as it makes them more like work than fun and enjoyable like it should be.

Slighjtly back on topice: Im curious about plum sake I wonder if anyone has tried one.
:happy10:
 
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