Great Peach Wine Experiment Begins

The Great Fake Wine Experiment has been so much fun it's propelled me into trying a different one. This time it's peach wine. It began on January 7, 2012.

Non-sequitor: While I'm writing today's blogposts, I'm listening to an Amanda Palmer channel via www.pandora.com . For those not familiar with Pandora on the computer, it's an internet radio website that allows you to listen to music. You type in an artist that you like in the search box, and Pandora begins playing music from that artist and others that perform similar music. I've loved Pandora for at least 7 years, probably longer, but I can't remember when I first learned about it.

Charles or Melda - you could listen to singers like Frank Sinatra, Perry Como or Tony Bennett :-)

Back to Peach Wine








Original Peach Wine Recipe 
1 gallon fresh peaches
3 gallons of water
9 pounds of sugar


Gayle's Adapted Peach Wine Recipe
2 #10 cans of peaches
3 gallons of liquid - peach juice + enough water to make 3 gallons
1 10-pound bag of sugar



Again, I used a 5-gallon water container purchased from Wal-Mart. I emptied it, measuring out the required 3-gallons of water for the wine. Then I put the canned peaches in a colander sitting over a bowl and drained them. I saved the juice.

While you're draining the peaches, put the sugar in a large pot and cover it with enough water to melt the sugar, and sit that on the stove on low. The object is to get the water warm enough to melt all the sugar but not to get it terribly hot.

While the sugar was melting, I chopped up the peaches in a food processor. Two (2) large, #10-size, cans of peaches were exactly the gallon of fruit the recipe requires. Of course, for a not-fake recipe, one would use fresh peaches.

Next I put the peaches in the water jug. To get the fruit in the water jug, I used electrical tape and taped my canning funnel to the jug. That way the fruit actually went in the jug and not slithering and splashing all over the floor. Although since I splashed so much water on the floor emptying the water jug, it would have been fairly easy to clean.

Then I added the by-now melted sugar. That got shaken up until the mash was thoroughly mixed up.

Then I poured in the peach juice and shook that to mix it all up. I had measured the liquid from the peaches and subtracted that same amount from the 3 gallons of water. After the peach juice went in, the remaining water was poured in. At this time I yelled for Max, and he shook the whole shebang vigorously for me.

Then I taped a 9-inch party balloon to the top of the water jug with electrical tape. The electrical tapes makes a nice seal but doesn't leave tape goop, um, residue on the water jug. Now the impatient waiting begins.

Peach Wine Updates

At the beginning

The peach wine has been merrily fermenting away since January 7th. It took about a week for fermentation to begin and the balloon to begin to expand. It got bigger and bigger. In fact, it got so big I began to fear for it's life. It finally died an explosive agonized death last night. It was buried with due dignity in the trash can and replaced with a new one.

At the beginning all of the peaches were at the bottom of the jug. About a week later it was odd in that there was a bit of peaches on the bottom but the majority was in the middle of the jug. By about 5 days ago, the majority of the peaches moved to the top of the jug with some still in the bottom. If you sit and watch, you can occasionally catch a piece of fruit either falling or rising in the handle of the jug. Things to do when bored.

While replacing the balloon, I could see the peach mash, err, correctly called mast by real wine makers I think, gurgling and bubbling. Fascinating.

January 18, 2012

Kablooey - January 20, 2012

In looking at the pictures, you can also see the balloon on the Great Fake Wine jug getting smaller and smaller. One of these days it's supposed to fall over which marks the end of fermentation and the finishing of the wine. Impatient.