Gentlefolk,

All the recipes for feijoa wine of cider that I can find seem to have
buckets of sugar and water added to them, which is not something that
sits too well with me: does anybody know of a recipe for feijoa wine
or cider that does not have any added sugar (or why they all seem to
'pad out' the recipe with sugar and water?)

(I'm considering emulating my apple cider recipe (juice them, ferment
them, bottle them, leave them, and drink them!) but I dont know how
that would work out with feijoas!)

Advice? Recipes? Answers?

Cheers!

"misanthropic_curmudgeon" > ha
scritto nel messaggio > All the recipes for feijoa wine of cider that I can
find seem to have
> buckets of sugar and water added to them, which is not something that
> sits too well with me:

You have to give the yeast something with which to create alcohol. Sugar,
honey, corn syrup-- the yeast won't care.

misanthropic_curmudgeon wrote:
>
> All the recipes for feijoa wine of cider that I can find seem to have
> buckets of sugar and water added to them, which is not something that
> sits too well with me: does anybody know of a recipe for feijoa wine
> or cider that does not have any added sugar (or why they all seem to
> 'pad out' the recipe with sugar and water?)

Yeast converts sugar not starch to ethanol so the starch has to be
converted to sugar somehow or the sugar has to come from somewhere.
Added sugar is cheaper than most of the natural sources.

Consider mead. It is made from honey. In a sense it is fermented
without any "added" sugar because it came from the bee hive with sugar
in the first place.

> (I'm considering emulating my apple cider recipe (juice them, ferment
> them, bottle them, leave them, and drink them!) but I dont know how
> that would work out with feijoas!)

I don't know about feijoas and haven't looked up the word. Cider from
unpasteurized apple cider is wonderful, done that. Waiting for it to
turn into wine is wonderful, done that as well. Distilling it from
apple wine to apple brandy is good as well. I've never done that myself
but I have had commercial apple brandies.

> Advice? Recipes? Answers?

With sugar it has to be there at the start of the fermentation whether
it's added as refined sugar or converted from starch with enzymes like
the malting process does with grain. Many fruits have enough native
sugar to be directly fermentable.

"misanthropic_curmudgeon" >
wrote in message
...
> Gentlefolk,
>
> All the recipes for feijoa wine of cider that I can find seem to have
> buckets of sugar and water added to them, which is not something that
> sits too well with me: does anybody know of a recipe for feijoa wine
> or cider that does not have any added sugar (or why they all seem to
> 'pad out' the recipe with sugar and water?)
>
> (I'm considering emulating my apple cider recipe (juice them, ferment
> them, bottle them, leave them, and drink them!) but I dont know how
> that would work out with feijoas!)
>
> Advice? Recipes? Answers?
>
> Cheers!

Most fruits do not have a high enough sugar content to reach a desired
alcohol content. That is why you need to add sugar to bring the specific
Gravity up to around 1.09-1.10. How much depends on the fruit. You need to
also check that your acid level is between .50-.65% (tartaric) adjust with
an acid blend (1 teaspoon per gallon to increase .01%) or calcium carbonate
( 2.5 grams per gallon to decrease .01%).

The best site I have found on the web for wine recipe's is Jack Keller's
site.
Here is his recipe for Feijoas wine

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques31.asp


Cider wine 1 gallon ( from Winemaker's Recipe Handbook)
14-16 LB Apples or 1 gal juice
1/3 LB. Sugar ( S.G. around 1.09-1.10 )
1/2 tsp. Pectic Enzyme
1/2 tsp. Yeast Energizer
1 campden tablet crushed
1 pkg. of Wine yeast

For more then one gallon just multiply the ingredient by 2- 5 except for the
yeast one package will work for 1-5 gal.

Robert

In article >,
Doug Freyburger > wrote:

> misanthropic_curmudgeon wrote:
> >
> > All the recipes for feijoa wine of cider that I can find seem to have
> > buckets of sugar and water added to them, which is not something that
> > sits too well with me: does anybody know of a recipe for feijoa wine
> > or cider that does not have any added sugar (or why they all seem to
> > 'pad out' the recipe with sugar and water?)
>
> Yeast converts sugar not starch to ethanol so the starch has to be
> converted to sugar somehow or the sugar has to come from somewhere.
> Added sugar is cheaper than most of the natural sources.

> I don't know about feijoas and haven't looked up the word.

I hadn't heard of them before. I looked it up. It's a fruit, with
about 8% sugar.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA

On Dec 22, 7:06*am, Doug Freyburger > wrote:
[snip]

Thanks for the comments, Doug,

> I don't know about feijoas and haven't looked up the word.

They're a small fruit from South America, very pleniful and easy to
grow Down Under, being the same lattitude. A green leathery bitter
skin, with a sweet tangy white flesh inside. Most people cut them in
half and scoop out the innards, while 'real men' bite the end off an
squeeze it out. Ripe when they fall from the tree.


> Cider from
> unpasteurized apple cider is wonderful, done that.

Yeah: I put down a couple of batches nigh-on a year ago: one from an
old apple tree in my back yard, and another two from some Granny
Smiths and a red apple from the neighbours: the first was dry and
potent, the second was sweet and lame. The second batch of the
Grannys and reds had some enzyme added (on the suggestion of a local
brewer) which dried it right out and earnt it the nickname 'the
anesthetic'!

I was hoping to do someting similar with the feijoas.


> With sugar it has to be there at the start of the fermentation whether
> it's added as refined sugar or converted from starch with enzymes like
> the malting process does with grain. *Many fruits have enough native
> sugar to be directly fermentable.

Sounds like the enzyme I've used: I'll give it crack with the feijoas:
Cut them, scoop them, juice them (to get rid of the bulk), 'enzyme'
them, yeast them (with a commercial cider yeast), ferment them (in an
airlock), bottle them, and taste them.

On Dec 22, 1:38*pm, Dan Abel > wrote:
> In article >,
> *Doug Freyburger > wrote:
>
> > misanthropic_curmudgeon wrote:
>
> > > All the recipes for feijoa wine of cider that I can find seem to have
> > > buckets of sugar and water added to them, which is not something that
> > > sits too well with me: does anybody know of a recipe for feijoa wine
> > > or cider that does not have any added sugar (or why they all seem to
> > > 'pad out' the recipe with sugar and water?)
>
> > Yeast converts sugar not starch to ethanol so the starch has to be
> > converted to sugar somehow or the sugar has to come from somewhere.
> > Added sugar is cheaper than most of the natural sources.
> > I don't know about feijoas and haven't looked up the word.
>
> I hadn't heard of them before. *I looked it up. *It's a fruit, with
> about 8% sugar.

Does anybody kmow what that means in terms of fermenting? How does
that compare to apples (which I've done) and grapes (which most-
everybody does)?