Last year, before my grandma's victoria plum tree was cut down, I used
its fruit to make a wine. I bitterly regret not using more plums than
the recipe (Garey or Keller) gave me. For I ended up topping up
excessively (it was my first big homemade wine from scratch) and it is
now flabby and weak flavoured. So I would encourage using a good
amount of plums. I guess you will have to make sure you check the
acidity and balance the wine if you use more plums than suggested.

I am sure many would disagree with me...

Jim

On Jul 13, 12:48 am, Tater > wrote:
> On Jul 9, 11:42 am, AxisOfBeagles > wrote:
>
> > My plum tree is once again producing prodigious amounts of fruit.
> > Having nothing better to amuse myself, i want to take a crack at a
> > sweet plum wine. Went to Keller's site and got a recipe
> > (http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques12.asp). But I have a problem
> > with recipes - I don;t feel in control of the winemaking. What should
> > the initial SG be? What should the aicidty be (TA, pH, etc)? Final SG?
> > Is there risk of continuing fermentation? What yeast will cease
> > fermenting early enough such that I can have significatn RS and still
> > be confident fermentation is complete? Etc...
> > Anyone have any other plum wine (sweet) info that might give me more
> > data? All help appreciated.
>
> > --
> > I'm using an evaluation license of nemo since 44 days.
> > You should really try it!http://www.malcom-mac.com/nemo
>
> I just bought my first house last year, and it included plum trees!
>
> hence the reason i read this forum, i've decided to try plum wine.
>
> anyway, you have any hints as to what a new homeowner should be doing
> to his plum trees? mine are so heavy with plums now that the branches
> are breaking, also, the plums were ignored for the past ten years.
>
> tasted finelast fall, only decided to do wine in march, so no testing
> yet.
>
> oh, by tthe way, search for bunches of plum wine recipies and read
> thru a bunch of winmaking books. *I* have learned the following (but
> not sure if accurate)
>
> plums: as much as possible
> water: to lower acidity
> sugar: enough to match desired SG
> acid blend: to raise acidity
> peptic enzyme: to assist clearing
> yeast nutrient: to help feed yeast
> yeast : 1 pkg per 5 gallons
> campden: kill off "bad" yeasts
> yeast energizer: super yeast food
> tannin: to add zest
>
> note, havent made any plum wine yet, so my assumptions can be wrong.
> I'll find out!
>
> as for most other controls, jacks site says a lot, books same a lot to
> (target PH, target SG, beginning and end, etc)