9 replies to this topic

[Brett C.]

Has anyone here ever made wine from saguaro fruit syrup? I'm looking for a recipe. Someone I know has a gallon of syrup and wants to try making wine out of it. I figured I'd check the brix and pH and go from there.

Brett

[growmegrapes]

now thats original!

[DesertDance]

Well, how different can it be than any other juice? They protect the Saguaros in Tucson. There is a big penalty for cutting one down. So this is syrup and not juice, right? I'd just check with my hydrometer and add water till the SG hits 0.09. Maybe add some acid blend, pectic enzyme, blah blah. You know the drill. Just adapt another recipe, and let us know how it turned out. The juice is delish! They make good drinks with it in Tucson.

[Vitruviano]

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/prickly.asp

did you consider using this (or another) jack keller prickly pear recipe? Bon Chance!

[Brett C.]

http://winemaking.ja...net/prickly.asp

did you consider using this (or another) jack keller prickly pear recipe? Bon Chance!

He made his from fruit, I'll have syrup to start with. But, it sounds like he added acid blend and sugar to suit.

Brett

[Chef Neil]

My buddy from ABQ. keeps saying he will send me a qt.
I keep waiting...
so nope- haven't done it yet- but would given the chance...
then again- I ferment anything/everything - jus' give me the time..

[Brett C.]

My buddy from ABQ. keeps saying he will send me a qt.
I keep waiting...
so nope- haven't done it yet- but would given the chance...
then again- I ferment anything/everything - jus' give me the time..

My wife wants me to try some other citrus wines. The 3rd batch of grapefruit I did turned out well and the first two make good "Sangria"! I started out with fruit and have only recently "graduated" to using grapes. I have made wine from just about everything I could get my hands on locally. At first, I started making wine as a way to make use of fruit we couldn't eat that would otherwise just go into the compost heap.We had apples, cherries, pears, plums, concords and wild blackberries.
My best batch was one I screwed up on and bottled a bit early. It turned out that sparkling blackberry was very popular. Our friends helped demolish that batch before it was 6 mos old.

[Brett C.]

We started the batch, hope it works. The syrup was so thick the hydrometer wouldn't even sink. It was also very strong tasting, so I diluted it 2:1 with water. This brought the brix down to 25 and gave me about a gallon of liquid. The liquid is dark brown and has a taste like molasses.
The initial pH was about 5.5, so I added some tartaric (about 16g) and that brought it down to about 3.8. I could just taste the tartaric, and was worried about overdoing it, so I left it there. I added about 80ppm SO2 and some pectic enzymes and yeast nutrient.
The person who bought the syrup took everything home so they could pitch the yeast and watch over it. This will be an interesting experiment.

Brett

[Chef Neil]

Our friends helped demolish that batch before it was 6 mos old

I had a peach mead- made 5 gallons-
it fermented fast- and I racked it, itr was clear from the day it stopped fermenting-
and I casually thieved glasses - it was dry- and ok-
by time it was 6 months old- I drank all but 3 bottles...
I have 1 bottle left going on two years- the last bottle was extremely good-
guess it is time to start another peach...

[Brett C.]

We started the batch, hope it works. The syrup was so thick the hydrometer wouldn't even sink. It was also very strong tasting, so I diluted it 2:1 with water. This brought the brix down to 25 and gave me about a gallon of liquid. The liquid is dark brown and has a taste like molasses.
The initial pH was about 5.5, so I added some tartaric (about 16g) and that brought it down to about 3.8. I could just taste the tartaric, and was worried about overdoing it, so I left it there. I added about 80ppm SO2 and some pectic enzymes and yeast nutrient.
The person who bought the syrup took everything home so they could pitch the yeast and watch over it. This will be an interesting experiment.

Brett

Well, it's been over a week and there's still no activity. We even re-pitched with EC1118 yeast and made a starter before pitching it three days ago. So, now I'm wondering if something was done while making the syrup that's preventing it from fermenting. At first, I thought perhaps preservatives had been added, but I don't think that was necessary given the high initial brix.
So, is it possible that cooking the juice down to make syrup somehow altered the composition to make it unfermentable?