Home Wine Making

[237SJ]

Anyone here got any personal experience of making wine from fruit please?  I have picked quite a large amount of plums and thought I might make wine with them.  I know you are supposed to put the demijohn in a warm place such as an airing cupboard but I don't have one.  Just wondering putting it in front of sunny french windows would be OK.

[Barmaid]

Buy a plug in heat pad. Should keep it fairly constant. Only thing I have made recently is elderflower champagne which I kept just outside my boiler room. 

[237SJ]

Thank you Barmaid.  The only experience I have of making wine was when I made elderberry wine about 30+ years ago at my parents' house.  I don't remember Mum clearing out the airing cupboard for me so I must have made it in an outbuilding but I can't remember exactly what I did.  I do have a propagator mat but I`m wondering if the heat will be consistent

[Old_Geezer]

I used to make wine by putting it on the window sill. Worked ok.

[Hopkirk]

I made wine and beer from tinned concentrate many years ago. (Not from fruit, mind).

 

It was good fun and kept me busy and amused.

 

It was all pretty disgusting to drink though.

[johnk]

I make lots of wine from fruit including plums.  It doesn't need heat,  a constant room temperature is best and don't be in a rush mine takes 10 months  to be bottled and racked 3-4 times during this time.

[237SJ]

Thanks for the further replies.  I think I`ll just make chutney instead - seems less hassle.

[Atheist]

237...

If you make chutney from fruit or veg from your garden you will probably get a decent result. If you make 'wine' from plums etc you will not get anything decent to drink (if you have ever tasted wine made from grapes). If you do try to make 'wine' the temperature is not important unless it is really cold and won't be able to ferment, or is so hot that it stews.

I made 'wine' from kits and from fruit for years, but the only stuff which compared with 'real' wine was made from the grapes on my vine in France (the grape variety was not good, nor was my skill as a wine maker, so the stuff didn't keep - when it was young it was as good as a cheap beaujolais nouveau, but it soon lost its youth and then turned into  decent wine vinegar. Good luck.

[Vagus]

sj, have you considered making plum liqueur instead of wine?

I made delicious damson liqueur a couple of times, I guess plums would be very similar. It soooo easy and totally gorgeous. You just need vodka (cheapo stuff), plums and sugar.

[237SJ]

Thanks - plum liqueur sounds nice.  I might make it with golden run.  I have made coffee liqueur in the past and it was lovely

[Vagus]

You can eat the mushed up plums after they've done their job too 😉