novice with new home with plum bushes - should i try wine?

Just bought myself a new home in late july that has a bunch (grove?) of plum trees so badly neglected that they look more like bushes than trees. while we was moving in the plums ripened (a LOT of plums) and was thinking about what to do with them next year. I recalled having plum wine in the local oriental restaraunt and wouldnt mind tinkering a bit to see if I could come up with something similar.

anyway, I looked at jack kellers website and have seen acouple of recipies, but am a bit daunted by the firehose of terminology.

also, it has not been only the plums that have been neglected, so I have a list of house maintenance long enough that I cannot die until well over 2050

with that being said, I have some brewing supplies that someone gave me(corks, airlocks, etc) of unknown quality, and nearly a whole year before I need to be proficient in winemaking :) can anyone point me to a good website? I would not try googling as i really need to do some yard cleaning and dont have time for 40,000+ sites on winemaking (jacks site looks good, but not the best for the beginner)

I'd prefer a sweet wine, rather than a dry one.

approx 10-20 plum trees, most producting 20-40 plums per tree, all ripening within a two week period. mid wisconsin area

Reply to
Tater
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*I* would make wine, as would probably most of the people who frequent this group! I'd probably make jam as well, if there was anything left over from winemaking ...

Try Lum's website:

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He's published a rather extensive home winemaking book. It's a lot to read, but you've got a year ... and you can post more advanced questions here.

Bryan

Reply to
Jake Speed

Reply to
altawine

Wine Maker Magazine: issue June-July 2005 has a whole article on plum wine. According to this publication a gallon of plum wine can be make from 5 lbs of plums. Best to care for the grove now, prune, use dormant oil several times this winter before spring buds appear, cultivate a bit (weed and grass removal) from trunk to drip diameter of each tree. Read about wine making and gather other necessary supplies for next years harvest. Altawine

Reply to
altawine

I'd be glad to take some plums off your hands, if our zipcodes were reasonably close ;^) . get the keller recipe,

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, a rubbermaid foodgrade barrel for a primary fermenter, a towel to cover it, some domino & some lalvin 1118 yeast, & the other chemistry jack enumerates. Your carboys are your secondary fermenters. racking means to transfer your good wine off of the sediments to another carboy. don't fret, it's not brain science or rocket surgery! if you post questions about the methodology or terminology, someone will answer. good luck& don't worry!

Reply to
bobdrob

Hi, I'd make the wine - it is yummy, but does need to sit a year to be really good. I believe I used Jack's recipe, and I like my wines on the semi-sweet side. It may be a bit daunting, but give a yell on this site and we'll help. Darlene Wisconsin

Reply to
Dar V

Yes, the terminology can be daunting when you talk to some of us who have been into it for years, but really, winemaking is very simple. You have a year but you do not want to spend much unproductive time at it.

I would suggest you get a wine kit and make a batch. You have the hardware you said. The kits provide you with the juice and chemicals that you need. They also provide you with a 2 page, fool proof instructions on how to make wine. And some of them are very good.

Make a kit or two during the comming year. It will painlessly teach you the basic proceedures for making wine. You will have some very nice end product. And you will be ready to handle the only slightly more difficult task of making wine from your own fruit. Then you will understand much of what Jack and Lum talk about. If you like sweet wines (plum is frequently made sweet) try making a Island Mist kit which contains fruit and makes what I would call a picknick wine, or make a good Gewertztraminer Kit which will produce a more traditional German style wine.

Really, wine making is very easy if you do not bite off more than you are comfortable with chewing! ;o)

Ray

Reply to
Ray Calvert

well, i dont know if I have a complete set of equipment (pretty sure i dont) and I've been looking on ebay, aside from the usual warnings about buying on ebay, is it wise to buy kits there?

Reply to
Tater

There may be a misunderstanding here. Understandably so. In wine making, a "Wine Kit" has no hardware. It is all the juices and consumable ingredients such as acids and clarifiers that you need to make a wine. The hardware is totally separate and there is precious little of it. Look for "Winemaking Kits" rather than "Wine kits" for the hardware. You can look on the web at some of the Winemaking Shops and find their "Winemaking Kits" and see what they have in them. You will need most of it but that is not so much. If you want to you can buy a whole kit. They generally cost the same as the sum of the pieces. Otherwise, just buy what you are missing. The one thing many of us would advise is do NOT buy the cheap corker that they include. When it comes time to bottle, borrow or rent a good floor corker. If you continue with the hobby you will want to buy one. They run $75 to $100 and they will become one of your prized possessions.

Ray

Reply to
Ray Calvert

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