Question:
Nightrunner, Keith, Santa Rosa Plim are beautiful, soft-skinned sweet red plums. They make Heavenly jam and would, no doubt, make a wonderful wine. If I had not planted an apricot, I would plant a Santa Rosa plum. For yeast in fruit wines and most whites, I use Lalvin K1V-1116. It helps retain a lot of the fruit roundness, much like the nuances of Gewurztraminer. For reds like Cab and Cab Franc I use CSM. I get that and the fermirouge I use for red blends from the Wine Lab in Napa. Joanne
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hmm… No, in fact I’m not familiar with Santa Rosa plums at all… What are they lIke exactly? If they have a strong tartness to the skins like Prunus Americana, then you could likely subsistute them into any of Jack Keller’s or others wild plum recipes. If they lack that skin tartness, you could probably drop the bananas from the recipe, as most of thier function is to mute that sharp agrivating tartness. I’ve been thinking lately that it would be very interesting to make a wine from free-run wild plum juice (minimal skin contact), but I don’t know if I could harvest enough for even a gallon at this point. One thing is for sure in any case; even fermented on the skins, these plums make an absolutely splendid wine… Especially after some long aging. Yes, you are right that I seem to use EC-1118 exclusively. The winter before last is when my interest in winemaking began to get serious, and that was about the time I first came to the group. I found out a great deal about yeast from reading posts here, and decided that my first yeast would be EC-1118 because it sounded like it was pretty hard to kill or maim. Good choice, bad ordering… I ordered wayyyyy more than I needed, and being the rather tight person I am, I decided I’d use them all up before ordering any more yeast. Here it is a year later, and I’m just now running out, so I guess I’m open for any suggestions. If your interest leaned the way mine does, what would you be using? As for the high alcohol of EC-1118, yes… It will go like the wind if you let it, but then too it’s like a Corvette; it will only go as far as it’s gas tank will allow. I just make sure that I don’t give it too much sugar, and let it run dry every time. If my hydrometer and calculations are anyways accurate, I’m typically hitting around 14-15% ABV. This year I plan to shoot for a more sensible 11-12% and see how I like that now that I’ve begun to relax and lose some of that spoilage paranoia that goes with being new to the art… - NR stood before a Congressional panel investigating the side effects of swimming pool algae on Earth’s ozone, and declared: NR thanks for the recipe, Have you ever tried making wine with the Santa Rosa plum? I just planted a tree this year and it gave me a dozen or so plums that were very good. If anybody else hase used them please jump in and tell me about it. Also, I have noticed that you use almost exclusively EC-1118. I find this to be a fine yeast but often it can be take the alcohol a bit high for my personal taste. I was wondering why you use it so much. There are so many fine yeasts out there that seem to be better choices for some of the wine that you make. This ain’t no slam, just interest in you ideas. I use EC-1118 but not for everything. Tim ODonnell
Response:
I agree with your viewpoint completely, and I’d like to see the results of such a test too if such data is available. I’m not sure what the commercial practices are, but I imagine they use processed fruit or free run juice… - NR stood before a congressional panel investigating the side effects of swimming pool algae on Earth’s ozone, and declared: – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Also, if it were that particular, you wouldn’t be able to eat plums, peaches, or cherries that had sat any length of time, as the stones would be leeching cyanide into the fruit itself constantly. That sounds very reasonable, but I’d still feel better with some published results of lab tests! Does anyone know whether the plums are pitted when commercial plum wines are made? Or how I might find out? Send email to jsachs177 at earthlink dot net.
Response:
It’s not for me, it’s for my girlfreind muhuhuhahahah!!! Hehe, just kidding 
Well, there may indeed be some leeching, but bear in mind I only fermented on the skins for five days. With plum pits having such a long germination period (120 – 365 days), I really doubt that the pits could leech a dangerous amount of anything in a mere 5 days, especially when the first thing a seed does is absorb water, rather than expell anything. Also, if it were that particular, you wouldn’t be able to eat plums, peaches, or cherries that had sat any length of time, as the stones would be leeching cyanide into the fruit itself constantly. Just my opinion FWTW… - NR stood before a congressional panel investigating the side effects of swimming pool algae on Earth’s ozone, and declared: – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -I’m interested that you apparently don’t pit the plums before using them. We always did this — a very laborious process, since the plums we get are small. Since plum pits contains cyanide, isn’t some of it going to leach out into the wine, even with the pits intact? I’d be interested in hard information anyone has about this. Send email to jsachs177 at earthlink dot net.
Response:
I often wonder if the cyanide threat is overdone (my partner always loved eating apple pips for their flavour, & she’s still around!), but I do find plum, peach, nectarine, damson & sloe wines susceptable to that ‘bitter almond’ flavour if they’re not pitted first. In fact peaches & nectarines tend to suffer from it anyway – when it comes to sloes, they’re so small as to be a real pain to pit, so just get ‘em off the pulp early! It’s always a trade-off isn’t it? Dave
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m interested that you apparently don’t pit the plums before using them. We always did this — a very laborious process, since the plums we get are small. Since plum pits contains cyanide, isn’t some of it going to leach out into the wine, even with the pits intact? I’d be interested in hard information anyone has about this. Send email to jsachs177 at earthlink dot net.
Response:
Also, if it were that particular, you wouldn’t be able to eat plums, peaches, or cherries that had sat any length of time, as the stones would be leeching cyanide into the fruit itself constantly.
That sounds very reasonable, but I’d still feel better with some published results of lab tests! Does anyone know whether the plums are pitted when commercial plum wines are made? Or how I might find out? Send email to jsachs177 at earthlink dot net.
Response:
Thanx for all the recipies. Now all I got to do is pick one or two or given the number of plums I have maybe three!!! Carol
Response:
These have the skin tartness, but are very sweet. I love plum wine and can’t wait to get enough from his tree for a gallon. I made a plum wine last year and it was very nice. It has a very nice pink blush to it. I back sweetened it a little to take some of the edge off, and I only let it on the skins and fruit for 5 days. I then squeezed the bag off and continued until primary was finnished, I truly is a mellow wine. I also mixed it with a batch of cranberry. Now I have to tell you that Cranberry-Plum is an excellent combination, It is a wonderful holiday wine. Good luck with you future wines. Tim ODonnell – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hmm… No, in fact I’m not familiar with Santa Rosa plums at all… What are they lIke exactly? If they have a strong tartness to the skins like Prunus Americana, then you could likely subsistute them into any of Jack Keller’s or others wild plum recipes.
Response:
I’m interested that you apparently don’t pit the plums before using them. We always did this — a very laborious process, since the plums we get are small. Since plum pits contains cyanide, isn’t some of it going to leach out into the wine, even with the pits intact? I’d be interested in hard information anyone has about this. Send email to jsachs177 at earthlink dot net.
Response:
Hmm… No, in fact I’m not familiar with Santa Rosa plums at all… What are they lIke exactly? If they have a strong tartness to the skins like Prunus Americana, then you could likely subsistute them into any of Jack Keller’s or others wild plum recipes. If they lack that skin tartness, you could probably drop the bananas from the recipe, as most of thier function is to mute that sharp agrivating tartness. I’ve been thinking lately that it would be very interesting to make a wine from free-run wild plum juice (minimal skin contact), but I don’t know if I could harvest enough for even a gallon at this point. One thing is for sure in any case; even fermented on the skins, these plums make an absolutely splendid wine… Especially after some long aging. Yes, you are right that I seem to use EC-1118 exclusively. The winter before last is when my interest in winemaking began to get serious, and that was about the time I first came to the group. I found out a great deal about yeast from reading posts here, and decided that my first yeast would be EC-1118 because it sounded like it was pretty hard to kill or maim. Good choice, bad ordering… I ordered wayyyyy more than I needed, and being the rather tight person I am, I decided I’d use them all up before ordering any more yeast. Here it is a year later, and I’m just now running out, so I guess I’m open for any suggestions. If your interest leaned the way mine does, what would you be using? As for the high alcohol of EC-1118, yes… It will go like the wind if you let it, but then too it’s like a Corvette; it will only go as far as it’s gas tank will allow. I just make sure that I don’t give it too much sugar, and let it run dry every time. If my hydrometer and calculations are anyways accurate, I’m typically hitting around 14-15% ABV. This year I plan to shoot for a more sensible 11-12% and see how I like that now that I’ve begun to relax and lose some of that spoilage paranoia that goes with being new to the art… - NR stood before a Congressional panel investigating the side effects of swimming pool algae on Earth’s ozone, and declared: – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -NR thanks for the recipe, Have you ever tried making wine with the Santa Rosa plum? I just planted a tree this year and it gave me a dozen or so plums that were very good. If anybody else hase used them please jump in and tell me about it. Also, I have noticed that you use almost exclusively EC-1118. I find this to be a fine yeast but often it can be take the alcohol a bit high for my personal taste. I was wondering why you use it so much. There are so many fine yeasts out there that seem to be better choices for some of the wine that you make. This ain’t no slam, just interest in you ideas. I use EC-1118 but not for everything. Tim ODonnell
Response:
NR thanks for the recipe, Have you ever tried making wine with the Santa Rosa plum? I just planted a tree this year and it gave me a dozen or so plums that were very good. If anybody else hase used them please jump in and tell me about it. Also, I have noticed that you use almost exclusively EC-1118. I find this to be a fine yeast but often it can be take the alcohol a bit high for my personal taste. I was wondering why you use it so much. There are so many fine yeasts out there that seem to be better choices for some of the wine that you make. This ain’t no slam, just interest in you ideas. I use EC-1118 but not for everything. Tim ODonnell – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Here’s my latest in wild plum wine batch incarnations. These wild plums are of the species Prunus Americana, and when picked ripe make an astoundingly good wine IMHO. Note that this recipe began as one based upon ideas gleaned from Jack Keller’s recipes for wild plum wine, and has evolved to this over a year’s time. 5 pounds ripe Prunus Americana fruit of excellent quality 2 lbs bananas 3 cans Welch’s white grape concentrate (Niagara) White cane sugar
Response:
Here’s my latest in wild plum wine batch incarnations. These wild plums are of the species Prunus Americana, and when picked ripe make an astoundingly good wine IMHO. Note that this recipe began as one based upon ideas gleaned from Jack Keller’s recipes for wild plum wine, and has evolved to this over a year’s time. 5 pounds ripe Prunus Americana fruit of excellent quality 2 lbs bananas 3 cans Welch’s white grape concentrate (Niagara) White cane sugar Pectinase Grape Tannin Campden Tablets Lalvin EC-1118 yeast Start by washing and inspecting the plums for any nasties such as worm holes, moldy spots, etc. Once you are sure you have 5 lbs of very nice plums, place them in a plastic bucket and freeze them overnight. Thaw them the next day, and wash in warm water, taking care not to break any fruit open or squeeze any that already are. Once they are fully thawed, drain them well, and mash them into a 2.5 - 3 gallon fermenter. Use your hands or a press, but be careful not to break any stones. Once they are all mashed into a nice pulp, slice 2 lbs of ripe bananas into the same vessel, and them pour the thawed contents of 3 cans of Welch’s White Grape Juice concentrate over the fruit. Add one gallon of fairly hot water (150F is good), and stir well. Allow to cool, and add 2 well crushed campden tablets, 1/2 teaspoon pectinase, and 1/2 teaspoon grape tannin. Stir well, cover, and let sit for 24 hours, then add enough cane sugar to raise the SG to a target value, say 1.112 for a high alcohol wine, or 1.080 – 1.090 for a more sensible wine. Do NOT try to achieve a residual sugar level by high initial SG, as EC-1118 will eat nearly everything it can get, and one of two things will result; sweet rocket fuel, or a yeast so plugged by high SG that it will ferment very poorly. In my experience, it seems anything above 1.114 SG is too high for EC-1118 to live in properly, and will choke it badly. If you want sweet, back sweeten at bottling. Rehydrate the yeast according to the packet instructions, and pour in concentric rings over the top of the must. Don’t stir. Re-cover the fermenter and observe over the next few hours. By that time, the yeast should be foaming quite a bit. You’ll note that I don’t use yeast nutrient or energizer in this recipe, as it doesn’t need it, but if you have problems starting your fermentation, you may need to try these chemicals. At any rate, let the must sit undisturbed and covered for 24 hours, and then stir well to mix the yeast thoroughly. The yeast will soon lift the fruit pieces up into a foamy sort of cake layer that could be up to 3" thick. You need to stir this down back into the fluid once or twice daily to keep it from spoiling. Make sure to keep the fermenter covered. At the end of five days of strong fermentation, scoop as much of the fruit pieces out as you can and dispose of them. Flower beds love this sort of refuse. Re-cover the fermenter and observe for the next few days. Anytime the surface of the must becomes thickly coated with a layer of fruit particles, skim it off. Stir the must gently once a day, always covering it back up when done. At the end of 15-20 days, the fermentation should have ceased. When it does, rack the wine (leaving any sediment behind) into a 2 gallon vessel with airlock. Each 4-8 weeks, you should rack into a clean vessel, leaving any sediments behind. After two months you may want to add another campden tablet. When clear, bottle dry or sorbate, sweeten, and bottle. I find that this wine clears very well and rather quickly, but YMMV of course. Age one year before tasting, you’ll be glad you did. - NR panel investigating the effects of swimming pool algae on Earth’s ozone, and declared: – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -PLUM 4 lb. plums 3 lb. sugar 1 lb. crushed wheat pectic enzyme/starch enzyme wine yeast Remove the stones and place with the crushed wheat and sugar in a fermentation bucket and add 5 pints of boiling water. Stir thoroughly and when cool add the wine yeast and enzymes. Stand for 10 days and strain into a demijohn and ferment out. Rack and top up demijohn adding a crushed Campden tablet. <snip for brevity Hi everybody or anybody. Need recipies for plum wine. Any help will be appreciated. Carol
Response:
Hi everybody or anybody. Need recipies for plum wine. Any help will be appreciated. Carol
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PLUM 4 lb. plums 3 lb. sugar 1 lb. crushed wheat pectic enzyme/starch enzyme wine yeast Remove the stones and place with the crushed wheat and sugar in a fermentation bucket and add 5 pints of boiling water. Stir thoroughly and when cool add the wine yeast and enzymes. Stand for 10 days and strain into a demijohn and ferment out. Rack and top up demijohn adding a crushed Campden tablet. PLUM 1 5 lb. plums 3 lb. sugar 8 pints water wine yeast/yeast nutrient Wash and bruise the plums and place into a fermentation bucket. Pour the boiling water over them. Squeeze the fruit through well washed fingers daily for 4/5 days. Strain through a fine sieve on to the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Start the wine yeast and add. Pour into a demijohn and ferment out. Rack and top up demijohn adding a crushed Campden tablet. PLUM 2 3
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