Peach Wine Recipe: A Taste of Summer

This summer, there are many ways to quench your thirst, but nothing beats a classic homemade peach wine. Sure, you can buy wine, but where’s the fun there?

You can make your own wine with our easy peach wine recipe. All you need are simple ingredients and some patience, and you’ll be serving a taste of summer in no time.

Peach Wine Recipe: What You Need

Peach wine sounds fancy, but it doesn’t demand a lot of work. Here are the things you need to prepare to kickstart your wine-making process.

Making Peach Wine: Materials You Need

For a homemade peach wine, everyday household items are sufficient. But if you can get fancy equipment, it’ll make the process easier for you.

• One (1) big primary fermentation container (bucket, jar, or a gallon batch container)
• One (1) large bowl (preferably metal)
• One (1) secondary fermentation vessel (1 bottle or glass jar; preferably large but smaller than the one used during the primary fermentation process)
• One (1) Air Lock
• Wrap, nylon bag, or cheesecloth (for covering)
• Final container (your preferred bottle or jar)
• Other Kitchen Equipment (knife or masher, sieve or funnel, etc.)

Peach Wine Recipe Ingredients

Now that the materials are ready, it’s time for the main essentials!

Note that the amount of peach wine you make is entirely up to you; these are general measurements for a one (1) gallon batch.

• Fresh peaches or frozen peaches (~4 lbs; whether or not you leave the peach skins is up to your preference)
• Sugar (~4 cups)
• Yeast Packet (~1 sachet or pack)
• Water (~1 gallon)
• Optional Additives:
  • Acid blend or lemon juice (1/2 tsp)
  • Yeast nutrient or raisins (1 tsp),
  • A pectic enzyme (1/2 tsp)
  • Wine tannin (1/4 tsp)
  • Campden tablet (1) or Potassium Sorbate

Quick Overview: How to Make Homemade Peach Wine

We’ll discuss the step-by-step process and the crucial tips to remember in the headings below. But if you’re in a hurry or only need some quick reference, here’s an overview for you.

1. Ready the peaches
2. Extract the juice
3. Start primary fermentation
4. Gravity reading
5. Yeast action
6. Ferment for about a week (keep away from direct sunlight)
7. Secondary fermentation and racking
8. Aging the peach wine)
9. Serve!

Homemade Peach Wine Recipe: Let’s Get Down to Business!

We’re now in the fun part! Let’s talk all about peach wine.

Ready the Peaches

Of course, the most vital ingredient when you make peach wine is the peaches. If you have rotten peaches, expect the wine taste to follow.

Although you’ll be using frozen peaches later in the process, we suggest starting with fresh peaches (straight from your peach tree!) and then freezing them for better quality.

Some people like keeping the skin on for a better peach wine color. But some peel them off since they don’t contain much juice, and the thickness can clog the water lock.

Note that slicing peaches isn’t the easiest. You can also buy the readily chopped fruit version for your convenience.

Extract the Peach Juice

There are plenty of ways to extract the juice. If you’re not particular with wine home brewing, you can use a processor, blender, or masher.

But the best way is the slower process, which is using white sugar. Pour 3 pounds of sugar on your peaches and stir in a large bowl.

You can extract more juices with the help of an (almost) boiling water.

Don’t hesitate to put in more sugar. It helps with the yeast starter process later on and is not necessarily for sweetness.

You may use organic sugar, sugar cane, and other healthier alternatives for those careful about their sugar content intake.

We suggest pouring less sugar in this procedure so you can control it more in the latter process. We can always add more sugar, but it’s hard to fix excess once it’s dissolved!

After giving it a nice stir, cover the bowl with your wrap, nylon bag, or cheesecloth and leave it alone for a few hours.

Observe from time to time if the juices are extracted. If you want to squeeze out more, go ahead and mash it up.

Primary Fermentation Preparations

After the juice extraction, it’s now time to ferment.

But wait. Before you place your juice into the primary fermenter, add your acid blend (alternative: lemon juice or orange juice) into the mix.

Next, throw in your yeast nutrient for extra flavor. You can use raisins as an alternative.

Put the peaches in a straining bag, so you’re essentially transferring the juice only in your large container.

You can use a mesh net to wrap the peaches and throw it along the container to squeeze out more of the peach taste. Think of it like a teabag!

Add your tannin (or substitute) in this step. If you want a more natural mixture, use a strongly brewed black tea instead of tannin and skip the tablet.

Pour the remaining water or at least less than a gallon of water into your mixture. You don’t have to pour all of it; it’s up to your preference and estimate. Give it a mix.

Gravity Reading (More or Less Sugar)

Technically speaking, gravity is the level of dissolved substance in the liquid; in our case, it’s sugar in our mixture.

A specific gravity level (preferred: 1.090; 12% alcohol content) is needed to achieve a more balanced flavor. There’s no one correct gravity measurement; it all boils down to preference.

You can know more about gravity readings here. Based on your test, you’ll learn how much sugar content to add or if it’s enough.

For beginners, don’t worry. You don’t have to be too meticulous, especially if your primary goal is only to have a nice glass of wine.

But if you’re looking into home brewing seriously, getting one of these hydrometers is a good investment.

Yeast Action

The most crucial step in making wine is adding yeast. It’ll mix with the sugar content we poured in earlier and produce homemade wine. Without it, it’s simply peach juice.

There are different yeast types, which may be confusing for beginners. The easiest way is to use wine yeast. You only need to put about 1/4 tsp there, and you’re good to go.

If you’re ready for a level-up or can’t find wine yeast, you can use a wild yeast starter. Wild yeasts will require some prior preparation with the help of orange juice.

Watch this video for a crash course on wild yeast starter.

Ferment for About a Week

After adding the yeast, it’s time to ferment it for about a week. This means leaving it alone and letting the yeast do its thing.

Cover your container with cheesecloth to keep away pests or any dirt.

Make sure that you also keep your mixture away from sunlight. The yeast is sensitive to light, so it needs to be in a darker place for it to break.

Don’t be alarmed if you see bubbles. It only means that your mixture is fermenting, and you’re a step closer to having your nice glass of peach wine. But not yet; patience is key!

Secondary Fermentation and Racking

After a week of letting it sit, you can transfer them to your secondary fermentation vessel.

A fancier way to do this is to do racking using a siphon. It’s a plastic tubing that lets you pour only the liquid and remove the unwanted bits or residue.

Source: Youtube.com

But you don’t need that, especially for beginners. You can use a strainer or a cheesecloth to pour the mixture and ensure that you’re not getting any fruit bits.

After the transfer, secure the container and keep it shut. This is where the air lock comes in handy.

Aging the Peach Wine

Do you think it ends with secondary fermentation? Nope. After doing the step above, you must continue to let it ferment for a couple of months. The longer, the better.

Wait until at least three (3) months before tasting your peach wine and decide if you want to stop fermentation or continue the process.

Some people age it six (6) months, some for more than a year. It’s your preference.

You may continue racking or siphoning the mixture in intervals during the aging period if you see some unwanted build-up.

Besides that, we recommend leaving it alone as much as possible for the peach wine to ferment in peace.

Serve!

If you see clear wine, it’s most likely ready. Give it a try and see if the taste is up to your preference. If you prefer sweet wine, you can back-sweeten your wine with sugar.

Once you’re satisfied, transfer your peach wine to sanitized bottles, and it’s now ready to be enjoyed!

Definition of Terms

But before we dive deeper, let’s define some terms. Beginners might have been confused with what we said above, so let’s add some brief crash courses before proceeding.

Primary vs. Secondary Fermentation

Primary fermentation is the first, foremost step where you’ve mixed in the peaches, sugar, and yeast extracted juice.

Together with the amount of oxygen in the container, they’re slowly producing wine.

In this step, which is during the first few days, it’s still alright to have a fair amount of air and stir the mixture from time to time. You do this for a week.

After a week, it’s time for secondary fermentation. Here, you’re aging the peaches wine mixture and improving the flavor.

You want to get rid of the air as much as possible. Avoid stirring during this step!

The activity by now has calmed down. Yeasts have mostly died, so there isn’t much bubbling. You’ll see more sediments or debris since they are now starting to separate. You can remove this by racking.

Racking Peaches Wine

Racking is done during the secondary fermentation stage. It’s to get rid of debris or the bits and pieces from your wine. You sure don’t want to drink a glass of wine with chunks!

To do this without disturbing your mixture, we suggest getting a siphon or tubing system. It’s the easiest way to rack, and it’s an affordable device.

It is like a pumping device that connects your vessel to a separate container, and it sucks out the liquid, transferring them to the other container.

It leaves the solid chunks in the previous container, which you can throw away.

Back Sweetening Peaches Wine

After fermenting the wine, some may find the finished product too dry. Don’t panic; it’s not the end of the world, and you did not waste a year fermenting your peach wine.

Back-sweetening fruit wine is expected. It’s the process of adding sweeteners while the fermentation is either ongoing or already done.

During Bottling

One way is to use sulfites. It’s a chemical additive that can amplify sweetness without repeating the fermenting process.

But for people who don’t like additives, you can simply add sugar and stir after bottling.

During Secondary Fermentation

If you happen to catch the dryness early on, you can back-sweeten the wine during the secondary fermentation step.

After racking, you may perform a gravity reading to see how your mixture is doing. If you find it dry, add a cup of sugar and let it do its business while you age it.

Make sure to conduct a reading first and see that the fermentation is already done (in easier words, the yeast is dead) before you pour in another batch of sugar.

Otherwise, you’ll restart the fermentation process.

Bottling Peaches Wine

Bottling is the final step. When your wine is done, it’s time to transfer the contents to a nicer container. You can use a fancy bottle and label it for selling, gifting, or merely for fun.

While bottling seems easy, you must be careful when doing so. Don’t roughly pour the wine from your second vessel into the bottle like you’re washing a car.

You fermented this for almost a year; let’s be careful!

Funneling also doesn’t work because you’ll risk oxidizing your wine, which, as we mentioned above, will turn your wine into sour vinegar.

Use your racking rube or siphon to do this step.

Afterward, put on a cap or a cork, or pour it onto a nice glass, and you’re done!

Sanitizing Your Bottles

Sanitizing bottles may seem self-explanatory. Of course, we need to use clean materials. However, we sometimes overlook how hygienic we need to be when fermenting wine.

The answer is – very! Dirt, bacteria, and germs can make your wine terrible and turn into vinegar. Here are a few steps to sanitize your bottles at home:

• Soak bottles in warm water with soap.
• Brush the insides with a small, narrow brush. Don’t leave any debris or dirt inside.
• Boil your bottles by putting them in a pot. Pour water into the bottles and pot.
• Let it boil on medium heat for about 10 minutes.
• Alternative: Use your oven and “bake” them with 200 degrees heat for 15-20 minutes.

Make sure to store your bottles in clean storage and cover the mouth to prevent bacteria build-up.

However, we suggest doing the sanitation process before using it to ensure maximum sanitation.

Making Wine Isn’t as Easy as You Think: Additional Tips, Info, Guidelines

Wine making is easy but requires a lot of time and effort. You now probably understand why good wines are expensive and exclusive.

This section is for the additional information you need to help you with the processes.

How Should a Finished Wine Look Like

The color of your peach wine will depend on the condition of your fresh peaches, particularly the skin.

• Red or Pink Hue: You can have a red hue if your peaches were originally blush and plump.
• Yellow Hue: Your peach wine will have a yellow-ish color.

The Sweetness Level of Peach Wines

There’s no standard taste for peach wine, and it’s subjective to your preferences. Some like dry peach wine, while others prefer a sweet wine glass.

• Dry Wine: No residual sweetness, high level of tannins
• Regular Wine: above 20% residual level

The beauty of homemade wine-making is that you can adjust everything according to your taste.

Freezing Fresh Peaches

It’s highly recommended to make peach wine with fresh peaches; if you can get it from a peach tree, better! After which, freeze it.

Like any other fruit, they contain natural juices. When you freeze a peach fruit, you solidify the juices, resulting in better extraction.

But don’t get us wrong, you don’t always have to use the freshest peaches you can find.

There are simply times when you’ll get a not-so-good batch, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make peach wine.

Peach is peach, and as the fermentation matures, you’ll still get an excellent peach fruit wine!

Conducting Taste-Tests

Before conducting secondary fermentation, it should be good to taste your wine for a proper gauge. But don’t expect it to taste great immediately.

During the first three (3) months or early on, you may find that it tastes like vinegar. That’s normal because it still hasn’t completed the fermenting process yet.

However, it’s crucial to be mindful of your process.

If you’ve used unsanitized equipment, failed to cover it well, or some bacterial just made it in, it could interfere with the yeast and ferment into vinegar instead of wine.

If, after six (6) months and you’ve confirmed that it’s officially vinegar, it’s time to stop fermentation and create a new batch.

Don’t worry; it’s not a complete fail. You can still use it for different purposes!

Adjust the Alcohol Content

The alcohol content will highly on your ingredients and processes, such as:

• The amount of sugar you poured in the beginning;
• The type and amount of yeast

Sugar

It’s the sugar and same yeast interaction that produces the wine. So the more you pour in, the higher the alcohol content.

This is why we said not to worry about the amount of sugar you use in terms of sweetness.

Their primary role here is for the wine-making and not so much for sweetening (although, of course, it contributes.)

Most people prefer white sugar for fruit wines. But if you want a peach cobbler consistency, you may opt to use organic sugar. Either way, it delivers the same purpose.

Yeast

The type and amount of yeast are crucial when you make peach wine. It determines how the fermentation goes and plays a massive role in how the finished wine will turn out.

Tweak the sugar and yeast levels to achieve your desired taste with the same recipe.

• Sweet wine with low ABV: yeast with low alcohol tolerance; with sugar
• A dry wine with low ABV: yeast with low alcohol tolerance; no sugar
• Sweet peach wine with high ABV: yeast with high alcohol tolerance; sugar
• A dry wine with high ABV: yeast with high alcohol tolerance; moderate sugar level

Yes, the yeast talk can be confusing for beginners. There are many ways to handle them, and you should also learn to preserve them so they won’t die. Once the yeast dies, the fermentation also stops.

All About Wine Additives: Are They Required? What Are They For?

The main ingredients to make peach wine are peaches, yeast, and sugar. These are a must, but additives help improve the fruit wine flavors.

The common additives are:

• Acid Blend: to regulate the acidity of your brew. You can get a commercial product or use home ingredients such as lemon or orange juice.
• Pectic Enzyme: to add some crisp to your wine. It also helps produce clear wine.
• Tannin: to balance the flavor using astringency. When you sip wine, you feel a dry, rubbing sensation because of the tannin (this is different from a dry wine, which pertains to the sweetness level). You can get actual tannin packets or use black tea as a substitute.
• Potassium Sorbate or Campden Tablet: to regulate or stop the fermentation. It’s typically done before bottling.

Some people don’t like additives or use homemade alternatives for healthy recipes. While it’s not necessarily bad for your wine, some drinkers want to taste the pure fruit taste and stick to natural.

Back-Sweetening Peach Wine

After stabilizing your fruit wine (a.k.a., when the fermentation or bubbling stops), conduct a tasting test. You won’t be delighted with its sweetness level most of the time.

A fruit wine will likely have a bland flavor after the process since you’ve already preserved them for a long time.

But don’t fret; there’s a remedy for that called back-sweetening. When you add simple syrup or other sweeteners to your stabilized wine, it “brings back” the peaches’ sweet flavor!

Be careful when you do this step. You don’t want to overdo it and turn your wine into juice!

Peaches Wine: Frequently Asked Questions [FAQs]

Do you still have some questions and clarifications about making a glass of peach wine? We’ve addressed some of the FAQs!

Is Peach Wine Healthy for You?

This recipe incorporated fresh peaches and primarily natural ingredients. If you enjoy drinking alcohol, making your fruit wine is one of the best options.

It contains vitamin A and C, antioxidants, calcium, potassium, thiamine, and niacin for a stronger immune system and better health overall.

It’s certainly better and more refreshing than those sugary drinks that people opt for during the summer!

What Are Different Types of Peaches? How Will It Affect My Wine?

If you don’t know, there are different kinds of peaches. While they are all suitable for making wine, the results might vary depending on their original type.

White peaches are sweeter, therefore a sweeter wine flavor. Meanwhile, yellow peaches are higher acidity, so expect the wine to be more acidic.

Avoid using rotten peaches, as this would significantly affect the result.

But fermenting wine may be a fun and resourceful option if you’re only using your leftover peaches and finding ways to use them.

Is This the Same Process for Other Fruit Wine Variations?

Yes! Most fruit wines are fermented similarly, be it peaches, apples, or pineapples. There might be minor variations, but the essence is the same.

Once you master this peaches wine, you can whip up any fruit wine with your available ingredients!

How to Enjoy Peaches Wine in the Summer?

Peaches are the fruit of the summer for a reason! It’s refreshing with a kick. Our favorite is pairing peach wine with savory and salty food. Imagine the delicious combination.

You can also drink it as it is, of course!

Peach Wine Recipe Recap: Materials and Ingredients

That was a lot of information to take in, huh? Well, making wine entails a lot of considerations. It’s best to be equipped with proper knowledge before trying it out.

Here’s a summary of the materials, ingredients, and steps in making homemade peach wine for your quick reference.

Materials to Prepare

• One (1) big primary fermenting container (bucket, jar, or a gallon batch container)
• One (1) large bowl (preferably metal)
• One (1) secondary fermenting vessel (1 bottle or glass jar; preferably large but smaller than the one used during the primary process)
• One (1) Air Lock
• Wrap, nylon bag, or cheesecloth (for covering)
• Final container (your preferred bottle or jar)
• Other Kitchen Equipment (knife or masher, sieve or funnel, etc.)

Ingredients You Need

• Fresh peaches or frozen peaches (~4 lbs; whether or not you leave the peach skins is up to your preference)
• Sugar (~4 cups)
• Yeast (~1 sachet or pack)
• Water (~1 gallon)
• Optional Additives:
  • Acid blends or lemon juice (1/2 tsp)
  • Yeast nutrient or raisins (1 tsp),
  • A pectic enzyme (1/2 tsp)
  • Wine tannin (1/4 tsp)
  • Campden tablet (1) or Potassium Sorbates

Processes (Overview Only)

There are many ways to make wine. Note that this is only a general overview. We suggest reading through the headings above for the actual tips, adjustments, and recommendations.

1. Ready the peaches
2. Extract the juice
3. Start primary fermenting
4. Gravity reading
5. Yeast action
6. Ferment for about a week (keep away from direct sunlight)
7. Secondary fermenting and racking
8. Aging the peach wine
9. Serve!

Conclusion

Are you now ready to have a taste of summer? Making peach wine is easy but needs a lot of patience and perseverance.

Refining wine is a thorough process, but it’s worth it, especially for wine lovers.

Enjoy!