On Thu, 10 Aug 2006, Janet Galpin wrote:

I just wanted to come back to this point about boiling. Last summer I
made plum wine and it is still very murky. I've been looking again at
recipes and they all seem to say add boiling water to the plums. This
isn't quite the same as boiling them but I think it's what I did last
year.
I'm about to try geengage wine and I'm wondering whether to just chop
them up and mush them (they're very ripe and juicy) with some
pulverising instrument or my hands. Will this do? Am I likely to lose
some of the flavour etc if I don't add boiling water?

I see no point in using boiling water. What is the purpose of it?

I have made plum or greengage wine from time to time because we have a
great glut of them here most years and it makes a change from blackberry
wine. Here is my method:

Stone and mash the fruit, adding one Campden tablet for each 4 lbs. of
fruit (4 lbs. for one gallon of wine). The Campden tablet will not only
kill off the wild yeasts but also stop the fruit from taking up oxygen
and darkening. Add the yeast starter. I don't add water or sugar at this
stage. Let the yeast ferment on the natural sugars in the fruit which at
this stage are quite high. I noted with greengage that the sugar content
in the fruit itself was higher than I normally get in grapes!

After a couple of days fermenting in a bowl, covered with a cloth to
keep crawly things out, the sugar content will have gone down but also
the yeast will be breaking down the cells in the fruit which obviates
the need for using a pectolase. Strain the pulp and put the fermenting
juice into a gallon jar (I'm very pedantic so I don't call them
demijohns which are five gallon jars usually in a wicker basket).
Dissolve your two pounds (or whatever) of sugar in water - I boil it to
do it quicker - and let it cool to room temperature. You mustn't put hot
syrup into the must or you'll kill the yeast! Of course, if you've
dissolved the sugar in a minimum of water you can add cold water to
hasten this stage. Finally add the cold syrup to the must and then make
up to the gallon with cold water. It may take a day or two to get the
fermentation started again so don't worry unduly.

David

--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France