This recipe can be increased or decreased proportionately starting with a recipe for 3 gallons of wine.
15 lbs. ripe plums.
3 gallons hot water. About 140 degrees.
1 ½ tbs. Yeast nutrient.
1 ½ tsp. Peptic enzyme powder.
3 Campden tablets.
1 tbs. + 1 ½ tsp. Acid blend.
1 package Cote Des Blanc yeast.
7 ½ lbs. Sugar.

3 tsp. Spakolloid.
1 ½ tsp. Sorbistat stabilizer.

A wine hydrometer, a thermometer and a bucket or fermenter.

Crush fruit and remove stones. The fruit should be soft enough that you can squash it with your hand. Let the juice and fruit fall in a clean bucket that holds about 5 gallons.

Put all of the ingredients except the yeast, sorbistat, sugar, and sparkolloid in the bucket which we will now call the fermenter.

Add hot water and 5 lbs. of sugar and mix until you do not feel any sugar on the bottom of the fermenter. When cooled take a reading with a hydrometer. (I will put a hydrometer correction table for temperatures at the end of this recipe.) The hydrometer should read 1.090 degrees or around 23 brix if lower add a cup of sugar and mix and check again.

When cooled to room temp. (Probably over night) sprinkle yeast on top and mix lightly cover with plastic and use a large rubber band to hold plastic on and keep bugs out before fermenting starts.

Fermentation should start in one or two days. Put fermenter in the coolest place you can find. Stir down cap in morning and evening. After three days of fermenting take a hydrometer reading everyday. When the hydrometer reads 1.020 degrees carefully remove as much of cap as possible by hand and strain the rest through a coarse strainer into a carboy and fill to about 8 inches or more from the top put a baggie over top for two days then use a airtrap.

After three weeks siphon off lees (silt on bottom) into another container and fill as high as one inch from top. You can always top off with water if necessary but remember you are diluting your wine. Rack again in three months.

Use sparkolloid to clear after another two months. When clear you can sweeten to your taste, use sugar or sweet and low. If sugar is used add sorbistat to stabilize.

Temperature of liquid-------------------Correction

59----------------------------------------------none
68---------------------------------------------Add 0.009
77---------------------------------------------Add 0.02
86---------------------------------------------Add 0.034
95---------------------------------------------Add 0.05
104-------------------------------------------Add 0.068

For more information on Cellarmasters, click here, or contact one of us
Looking for a homebrew club in the Los Angeles area?  Check out our sister club, The Maltose Falcons
Web comments & suggestions, email webmaster@cellarmastersLA.org
Copyright © 2003 Cellarmasters Home Wine Club, Los Angeles, California, USA