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How to Make Plum Wine

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upcloseAre you looking to try your hand at an alternative fermentation? How about a fruit wine…and I'm not talking grapes.

I'm going to show you how to make plum wine.

Yes, I know it's a little early in the season to be picking plums, but it's a great time to start planning your future “brews”.  Plums start to hit the stores in May, so you have a little time to start your planning and researching.

Last August I did my first plum wine and I wish it did it a little earlier in the season as the plums in my area were not as flavorful that late in the season and the choices in varieties were a lot less.

Do a little research on all the steps to create your own fruit wine – there are tons of resources on line. They are all very similar, but have their own twists on techniques.

My Plum Wine Recipe

I based my recipe on one I found in a very cool book, by Emma Christensen called True Brews.

This book has got all kinds of great ideas and recipes for a multitude of beverages including soda, kombucha, kefir, hard cider, beer, mead and wine. Emma can be found @ChristensenEmma on Twitter.

The plan was to make a one gallon batch and the following ingredients were needed:

  • 12 cups water (carbon filtered)
  • 2 lbs granulated sugar
  • 5 lbs of mixed plums
  • 2 Campden tablets
  • 1 packet dry yeast Red Star Cote des Blancs 5g
  • 2 teaspoons acid blend
  • 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
  • 1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme (this will help to breakdown the fruit)
  • 1/8 teaspoon tannin
  • 2 gallon wide mouth fermenter
  • 1 gallon (I prefer glass) fermenter
  • 1 large mash bag
  • 1 large spoon
  • 1 airlock

cutplums

Day one

You'll want to follow the normal cleaning and sanitizing procedures that you would with your homebrew. In addition you will need most of the same items you would use if are homebrewing, post boil. This includes a fermenter(s), air lock, mesh bag and a spoon.

  • 5 lbs of plums (I used a mix of a few varieties)
    2 lbs of sugar
    12 cups of water (through a carbon filter)
    1 crushed Campden tablet

Start by bringing the water to a simmer, add sugar and stir to dissolve. Cut the heat and let cool to room temperature. Pour sugar water mixture into a 2 gallon (or close to) fermenter.

Make sure you use a bucket or something with a wide enough opening to add the plums.  Rough cut the plums, discarding the pits. Place all the cut plums in a mesh bag and tie off.  Leave enough room in the bag to allow the plums to move around a bit.

Submerge the plums in the sugar water and using a potato masher, mash the fruit into a fine pulp. Stir the mixture with the spoon combining the juice, sugar and water just enough to be able to take your first gravity reading. Once your good, crush 1 Campden tablet and stir in.

Close the fermenter, install the airlock and wait 24-hours.

Just a note regarding cleaning the plums; I washed each of the plums in the sink and then I made a solution of Star San. I dipped each plum in the solution as well as the knife prior to cutting. The bowl I used was also sanitized with Star San.

otheringrd

yeast

Day two

  • 1 packet of dry yeast
  • Tannin
  • Acid
  • Yeast nutrient

After 24-hours the Campden tablet will have sterilized the must, and it's time for the yeast. I chose the Red Star Cote des Blanc yeast for the fermentation temperature range of 50 to 80 degrees and it tends to leave a little more residual sugar than other wine yeasts.  Since I didn't want back sweeten the wine, having a slighter sweeter wine sounded like a good idea.jug

When pitching the yeast, Emma recommends making a starter using 1 cup of the fruit liquid and mixing the dry yeast. After a couple of hours the yeast should be going and be ready to pitch.  At the same time you pitch the yeast, you will also add the acid blend, yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme and tannin. The Cote des Blanc is a slow moving yeast and I saw very little activity in the airlock.

The fermenting plums need to sit about a week, but you will want to stir daily with a sanitized spoon. After about a week it's time to strain the liquid from the pulp, getting as much of liquid as possible. The wine needs to sit with an airlock in a dark area undisturbed for about 4 more weeks.

When you go to bottle your wine you will need that second crushed Campden tablet. This will stop any additional fermentation and make it safe to bottle.

My wine went from an original gravity of 1.100 and finished at .990 final gravity. That's 14.4 abv% with no back sweetening.

finalgrav

At two months I bottled 8-375ml wine bottles, corked and let sit upright for a week to allow the corks to set and then laid on side for aging.

Next post – Tasting the final product.

Leave any questions you have down in the comments.

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Buy True Brew on Amazon.com

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Comments

  1. Your plum wine sounds very good. Wish I could be there for the tasting. Do you think the same recipe would work for something like a lime/orange mix, or maybe grapefruit. Just a crazy idea I have floating around in my head and would like more information before giving it a try.

    Regards,
    Richard the Noob.

    Reply

  2. What other types of “alternative” fermentations have you done?

    Beer will always be my primary fermentation love, but it is always fun to try something new.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

    • Sheppy,

      True fermentations; beer and this wine project are pretty much it. I have made homemade kombucha, vinegar, pickles and sourdough starters. Thanks.

      Robert

      Reply

  4. After bottling what is a good rule of thumb to let it age before start drinking it? And obviously I will try one right after as I am very impatient 😉

    Reply

    • Most recipes I read recommend waiting 3 to 6 months. I opened my first bottle at about a month (also impatient). I would make some tasting notes and try to save a few bottles to open at 6 months and 1 year.

      Good Luck.
      Robert

      Reply

  5. Hi, just stumbled upon this page looking for recipes to try for plum wine. How has it turned out? Anything you would adjust based on the final results?
    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Guy,
      It’s been a few months since I opened a bottle, but at that time I was still very happy with the final product. I did not add sugar after the fermentation, so it’s a dry, tart wine which is more pleasant (to me) than a over sweet wine. I would brew this again, and might do so in the coming month.

      Cheers!
      Robert

      Reply

  6. My sister died a month ago just as the plum trees in her garden were ripening. We spent so much time together in her last weeks in that garden that I though it would be lovely to make wine from the plums so we can toast her in years to come. My problem is that the plums don’t seem to be very flavourful. They are not rich and sweet like supermarket ones – I think they’re Victoria’s but unfortunately have been picked a little early. What fruit should I add to give the wine more body and good flavour? I’m making 5 gallons so I can share the bottles out among her friends. Perhaps a sherry rather than a wine might be good as each bottle would go further. What do you think?
    Thanks
    Alison

    Reply

    • Alison,

      Sounds a like a great way to honor your sister. I wouldn’t worry too much about the flavor for the plums, I think a lot of the flavor comes from the sweetness. Since the majority of the sugars will be used by the yeast, the flavors that are left will not have a big plum elements. I didn’t back sweeten my batch, but you can always add sugar in the post fermentation which will bring back some of the fruit flavors. Without the back sweetening the wine will be dry and tart.

      Robert

      Reply

  7. I have just made a batch of plum wine. Mine being the English plums so the plum is yellowish so has produced a white wine..
    Can you help me on what to eat with plum wine. I am putting small hampers together for family and friends and finding it hard wharf what to pair with the wine. It’s like a plum chardonnay really with a faint taste of fruit. Can taste the sweetness but also tart.
    Any suggestions
    Thankyou

    Reply

    • Caroline, I really haven’t put that much thought into food pairings with the plum wine. For me, I think a food that is a little higher in fat content would work nice. Cured meats, cheese and white sauces would be a few of the things I would consider pairing with it.

      Reply

  8. I have made plum wine on two occasions. The first result was stunningly good. Using the same recipe I tried again and the result was awful.
    I believe people have varying results and one main reason is there is nothing wrong with the recipe. The tip is to make sure your plums are fully ripe before starting.
    Having said that I have bought 6 pounds of plums in Sainsburys (United Kingdom) and have waited 8 days and they some are still a bit hard.
    I am storing them in a plastic bag with some bananas as the bananas give off a gas called ethylene which hastens the ripening of the plums.
    I would ppreciate your comments.

    Reply

    • I’m not sure what was awful about the second batch. You could always back sweeten the batch if you feel it’t too tart. You can also add more sugar prior to fermentation if you aren’t getting the OG you were looking for.

      If the quality of the fruit was not good, you might try tasting some of the fruit before hand to make sure it tastes good to start. You might also buy a variety of plums.

      Robert

      Reply

    • Mine was not back sweetened. My wine was dry and tart. As for sparking, I’m not sure the best approach, other than force carb it as you would a beer in a keg.

      You could not use a wine cork. You would need to you the cork and cage method, like beer. It’s going to be pretty tricky if you have residual sugars and you use yeast to carb, you are likely to get bottle bombs.

      You should do so more research, as i’m not that familiar with sparking wine production.

      Reply

  10. Hi, I made some grape wine last year and this year my plum tree yields many sweet plums so I’m planning to make my very first batch of plum wine. Just have a question do I need to add boiled water to the plum? It’s very different from making grape wine cause I did not have to add any water. If I do, is tap water ok?

    Reply

    • Maggie,

      I used carbon filtered water. Boiling is not required, the Campden tablet will take care of killing off wild bacteria and yeast.

      Reply

  11. I live in the high desert of Northern Nevada. My volunteer cherry plum tree has produced thousands of tiny fruit; sweet/tart. and delicious. When I made jam. I had to cook the plums in a bit of water, let them cool, and then with two hands, I dove into the pot,, searched for and discarded all the pits. ( an obsessive, labor intensive process).

    Would it be possible, in making plum wine, to leave the pits in and discard the whole mash after processing?

    Reply

    • I’m not really sure if that would make a difference or not. I know you would want to keep the pits intact and not let them get broken or crushed. Something to keep in mind “Stone Fruit Pits: The seeds or pits of peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots and cherries contain cyanogenetic glucosides (composed of cyanide). Just a small amount can pose serious, if not fatal, health risks.”

      Robert

      Reply

      • from what I understand and fro all the advice I get here in the UK (Kent) if making wine from plums, in the short term, try to get rid of as many stones as possible but do not fret if there are some overlooked, it will not make that much difference to the outcome. I do a double drain off ie after three days strain off all the skins and pips into you Carboy with a Campden tablet and leave to settle and clear . . .

        Reply

  12. Could this recipe be easily doubled? (or tripled???) There is a massive wild plum tree near my house that is producing like crazy!

    Reply

  13. So, it looks like it’s been over a year since you bottled. Have you tried your aged bottles yet? If so, do you notice a difference from the bottle you opened after a month?

    Reply

    • I didn’t notice a significant change in the first 6-months of aging. I have a couple of bottles left that I’m holding for prolonged aging. I’m going to open one up for the holidays. Maybe at that time I will have a better idea of aging and the changes that occur.

      Reply

      • How did the wine taste that you held for the holidays? Curious because I have just bottled my plum wine yesterday. I’m researching how long they need to age in the bottle. We did not back sweeten as I feel that aging will increase the smoothness already there.

        Reply

        • Collette,

          It was very good, but I don’t think it changed that much. After about 6 months the changes have been very subtle.

          Robert

          Reply

  15. hi,
    recently i have been planning to make plum wine the coming season, and we are planning to make it in bulk. but we do not have all the given ingredients, we have plenty of plum which goes to waste and yeast is not a problem. so is it possible to produce a plum wine just using yeast (locally found) as we donot get Campden tablets, tannins, pectin and acid blen here. can we use lime juice or lemon juice as acid blend?
    what are ur views on it, can u suggest any alternatives?

    Reply

    • Where are you living where you don’t have access to some of the ingredients? I would be careful with any wild yeast, as if may not ferment all the sugars out. I can’t recommend any alternatives, to the ingredients you can’t get. Maybe if you post your location, someone might be able to give you a lead on where to buy.

      Reply

      • i am in Bhutan; and in a very remote place.
        but if i am able to get all the ingradients; will i be able to produce the wine in bulk? to be sold.. would ur method be good enough?
        thank you for ur response

        Reply

  16. I use to brew plum wine simply adding 3kg of sugar in 10kg of plums without using additives, water, etc and fermented for 3 months. How is it? Please suggest me.

    Reply

  17. I am having a hard time finding a 2 gal wide mouth fermentor. I’m seeing a lot of 1gal, 5gal, and 6gal. Would you recommend using a 1gal or 5gal? Do you have a link to a 2gal that I could purchase?
    Thank you so much! I can’t wait to get started on this project!

    Reply

  18. On our farm we grow beach plums (prunis maritima). Want to make plum wine in order to make plum vinegar. My question is at what point in the wine making process can I start to change into vinegar without hurting the taste of the vinegar? Thank you for any help you may be able to give me. John George owner JalmaFarms.

    Reply

    • John,

      I’m no expert in this, but I have made vinegar with old wine (at least tried). I would say you would want the plum wine to completely ferment out. If you like the taste, I don’t see any harm in starting the vinegar process at that point. Depending on the process, you may need to dilute the wine with water to get it going, unless you have a vinegar mother that you are using. Hope that helps a little

      Robert

      Reply

  19. I made my first batch of plum wine and it is in its’ initial fermentation stages as I type. My question – how much yeast should be added to 20 pounds of plums?

    Reply

  20. Hi.

    I have a number of plum trees in my yard and want to something more than just smell these things on the ground fermenting.
    My uncle used to make plum wine so i thought I would give it a try to see if I make these work. So – being a complete and total newbie I am not sure where to start and my searches for recipes keep leading me back to this site.
    Your recipe looks good and simple but I would like some advice on where to get good, well priced kits and equipment,
    Any help, tips, links or anything else,

    Peter

    P.S. I MAY have gotten information off you before but this would have went to my work email which I lost when i left this place.

    Reply

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