How to Make Wine | Making Fig Wine | Primary Fermentation

Today we're starting the first in a series showing you how we make our wine.
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[@txikitofandango]

You guys. I've been aging your recipe for 6 months. Just popped open a bottle... It is out of this world!! I'm thrilled that I have a dozen more bottles to look forward to opening and sharing and showing off

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Woohoo!! Glad to hear it turned out well for you. Cheers! 🍷

[@scottanderson4927]

This is by far the best video on how to make wine. I have watched 100s and this is the best. You guys didn't leave any step out and didn't just assume that your viewers knew something in the process. Thank you for the dedication to the details. I wish that this had been the first video I watch a couple of years ago when I started making wine.

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Thank you so much Scott! We started making wine just a few years ago as well and have become addicted to it lol. We have a lot of fruit trees and make wine with the fruit we grow. It is exciting when we have a new fruit wine to try. :)

[@txikitofandango]

I like that you guys don't bother with brew bags. In theory they should be a convenient way to separate and squeeze out the liquid from the fruit pulp, but I just plain don't like 'em. Very informative and nice videos here! I'm 2 days in and things are looking good. I must say that other recipes out there call for a lot less acid, and then during the tasting they say something's not quite right with it or they add lemon juice in secondary. But optimal pH is needed for healthy yeast, so I'm glad I followed your directions for adding the right amount of acid up front.

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

The brew bags are a real pain the tail! We learned the hard way with not taking acidity into account with one of our batches early on. For us it wasn't a matter of tasting the problem, but the mold growing in one of the primary fermenters! That got our attention pretty quick and we have been measuring for it ever since. Glad this one is going well for you and fingers crossed you guys will enjoy the end product!

[@randyfish3763]

I noticed you have bananas in the rack behind you... I must ask how do you deal with the issue of fruit flies? Especially in that heat. Nice video I have sooo many figs this year I will be making wine with them for sure.

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Good catch on those bananas! We don't typically have any issues with fruit flies, at least not in the house. When we do get a few it's usually in the compost bucket, so we stay on top of taking that out daily. I can only assume it's the extremely dry weather.

[@randytidd7362]

Thank you for these videos they are the best I've seen for making fruit wine. I have two large fig trees in my yard and every year get far more figs than I can eat even after the squirrels get their share and I have often considered making fig wine. I get my figs in mid to late September, I will give your process a try!

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Hey Randy. This is one of our favorite wines and a great way to use up those figs that none of us can seem to eat all of. We've found the key is getting the back sweetening right as you need some sweetness to bring the delicate fig flavor out of the wine.

[@jonatpembroke]

Super helpful and thorough. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Glad you enjoyed this one and found it useful!

[@jonatpembroke]

Just started a fig wine last week. Thanks for the tip about adding acidity. I went with lime juice, and so far its tasting nice! Getting ready to move to secondary soon. 😊​@HealthyFarmLiving

[@danielfisch655]

Even though I’m not a drinker I appreciate the work that you and Lori do on both of your channels and I find the wine making process very interesting. Thank you for another informative video.

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Hey Daniel. Thanks for the comment and encouragement. It's always great to hear from you!

[@bryanchuchta8293]

Thanks we have tons of figs, this will be a great use of them.

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

This is one of our all time favorite fruit wines Bryan. The key to this, as with most fruit wines, is a good amount of back sweetening. It really brings out the honey characteristics that are usually found in fresh figs. Here's to raising a glass to this one soon!

[@bryanchuchta8293]

@@HealthyFarmLiving Why do most fig recipes add sugar? Could you strain figs and reduce the liquid for higher sugar content to keep the wine just figs? Also is there a benefit to beginning the process with the fruit intact (in pieces) vs utilizing just the liquid?

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

@@bryanchuchta8293 I think the primary reason is the very low water content that is naturally occurring in figs. Given wine is mainly water, the addition of liquid is necessary for the right consistency (hence the need to add sugar). Is it possible to condense enough figs to come out with a viable amount of liquid for wine? Maybe, but we have not attempted it. Fig skins, especially from brown/black figs, contain tannins and polyphenols that are key components in wine. They help to comprise the color and body of the finished wine

[@skullheadwater9839]

Would heating it up not kill the yeast and make adding those tablets pointless? What is wrong with just using the natural yeast that forms on the figs?

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

We don't heat anything once we start fermentation and generally we don't heat anything here at all. However, some folks find heating up the fruit to help with juice extraction before fermentation is useful. Heating would initially kill any yeast and should kill any bacteria. As for natural yeast, we have attempted that with figs before and have found we get mold before we get anything else in the fermentation. Also, you don't know what kind of yeast you're dealing with and it may not be able to handle the alcohol content you're attempting. Lastly, yeasty imparts specific characteristics in the finished wine. With an known yeast you know that that will be.

[@Kalepsa]

Thank you both for this very informative and precise video. I have 3 pounds of figs I prepped for jam last summer in the freezer and recently started making mead so I'm eager to branch out and try your process. I much prefer wine to jam so the local wildlife will be sad since I now have a good reason to harvest my figs more thoroughly. Tip- figs don't continue ripening once picked and they don't have a long shelf life, so flash freezing is a great way to accrue enough fruit for processing.

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Glad you enjoyed this video. We actually still have this sitting in the secondary waiting to bottle, so the next episode should be out soon...Assuming we find some time to get it done!

[@MarkHoover-dv7mf]

I've always try to stay below 3.6 pH and above 3 pH. I never boil the added sugar. I just stir in the sugar. A pH meter is really nice to have. Just make sure to calibrate and check it every 6-12 months.

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Great suggestions!

[@txikitofandango]

My tree didn't make any fruit this year! Is it possible to adapt this recipe for dried figs? Use half the weight, 1/3 of the weight? I get conflicting info, probably because of the varying levels of dehydration in store bought figs. I'm using the American kind, which are not all the way dried, similar to prunes. Thanks for your help!

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Sorry to hear about that lack of fruit from your tree! It was pretty sparse pickings here as well. As for using dried fruit, I wouldn't be able to say from experience. I do know dried fruit are typically treated with chemicals to keep them fresh, so that may effect the quality of the ferment. It might be worth giving it a shot on a small scale to see how it does. Maybe a gallon batch to test it out.

[@txikitofandango]

@@HealthyFarmLiving That's a good idea, thank you!

[@timothymagstadt9879]

What specific gravity are you looking for when you are measuring the simple syrup and water mixture?

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Great question Timothy. It all depends on the amount of alcohol we're looking for. We don't follow a specific "recipe" when we make our wines and like to adjust the alcohol content based on the type of fruit. For example, we've learned delicate tasting wines (like peach) do much better with lower alcohol content as the subtle flavor gets lost with heavy alcohol. In our experience, fig wines do well with a bit more alcohol, so we're looking for a specific gravity in the sugar water of around 1.122 - 1.125. Since figs don't have much water content, mixing that with the figs won't reduce that by much in the final product.

[@072bc]

What was your gravity after mixing sugar and figs together? What was your final ABV? Thanks

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

The initial specific gravity reading was 1.120 and this was fully attenuated, so our estimated ABV was just under 16%. We do back sweeten our fig wines, so the actual ABV would be lower than that with the addition of the simple syrup. Unfortunately, we don't have a way of measuring what the actual ABV is of the wine being poured out of the bottle due to the back sweetening.

[@alexlarsen6413]

You have amazing channel, so informative! I've tried a fig wine I'd made out of fig jam last year and it was probably my favorite fruit wine ever. I really want to make it again, using your process. Thing is, i had bought that jam on vacation in Greece. We did get lots of figs from our friends two weeks ago, but they too live in a climate far above the fig wasp zone so these figs aren't that good for eating anyways. Can they be used to make good wine? Also, could you explain why it's important to ferment figs quickly, since that isn't the case with grapes? Thanks

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Hey Alex, glad you're enjoying the content. We're big fans of fig wine as well and it takes quite a few figs to give a solid end product. Most of the figs you see us using here are from our late season and they are typically not very good tasting as they never ripen fully because of the cooler weather. However, once they're frozen and thawed they still create a very good, figgy flavored base for the wine, so I think it's still worth giving these a shot. As for fermentation, it's not critical that your wine ferments as fast as you see ours here. However, we do prefer a fully attenuated (no sugar remaining) wine and a strong initial fermentation ensures we get all of that sugar converted by the second racking.

[@alexlarsen6413]

@@HealthyFarmLiving I see. Thanks so much for the reply! I'll be taking the figs out of the freezer this evening and start brewing them tomorrow. I do the same thing as you, ferment to dryness and then back-sweeten, but prefer lower temperature and slightly slower fermentation...it supposedly preserves more flavor, but that depends more on the yeast strain. The champagne yeast I use works best at 18-22°C or 65-70° Fahrenheit. It's the French Bayanus strain. That said, our house is warmer than that even now, and I have both of the yeasts from your video so I'll do something different and duplicate your process, including mixing the yeast... something I've never done before. Again, thanks a bunch!

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

@@alexlarsen6413 be sure to let us know how this one does for you!

[@danapietruszynski1045]

Which primary fermenter do you guys use? This is new to me and im excited to give it a try. Many on Amazon have poor reviews and i want to get a battle tested one. Thank you!

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Hey Dana! For the primary fermentation we use one of a few different size buckets (6.5 gallon and 5 gallon), but the one in this video is a larger one we bought on Amazon some time ago. I'll link to it here for you; amzn.to/3b2Ji1r For smaller batches we use either a 6.5 or 5 gallon, food grade bucket. Nothing special on that one as we leave the lid slightly open during primary to allow the CO2 to easily escape. Good luck with your wine making adventures!

[@thabigshow69]

If 5 gallons of fig wine takes 5 camden tabs .how long later do u add the redstar. Yeasts

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

We usually give the Camden tablets at least 12 hours (preferably 24) before adding any yeast. This gives it a chance to off gas, so you're not killing off your wine yeast.

[@muahlakaparak]

Love it

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Glad you enjoyed this one Muah!

[@lottiesmith3915]

Do you have a catalog that I can get and do you have a recipe for fig wine? I want to order from the Edge of Farm.

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Hey there Lottie! We don't have a catalog, but we can get you our fig wine recipe. Our email address is on the About Tab here on KZbin, so shoot us an email and we'll give that to you.

[@Pulaskibrewingcompany]

Thanks for the video! Just picked 15 lbs of figs and gonna give it a try! How did you do the initial freeze?

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

You're really going to enjoy this wine. We've found that aging is key to balancing the flavors, so we prefer to give it at least a year to age before cracking the bottle. As for freezing, we usually hard freeze figs that are laid out flat on cookie sheets before bagging them. Normal flash-freezing (less than an hour) doesn't always get them hard enough to stay separate once you've bagged them.

[@patrickbrooks5912]

@@HealthyFarmLiving please explain what flash freezing means. Can I put the whole figs in the freezers or do I cut in half? Thank you

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

@@patrickbrooks5912 oh sure. So you can leave them whole or cut them if you want, but you'll want to place them in a single layer on a flat baking sheet. Place them in the freezer for about an hour and then place them in a ziplock freezer bag. This way they should be frozen enough so they don't get stuck together in a single clump, but frozen as individual pieces of fruit. Depending on the size of the fruit and how cold your freezer is you may need a little more or less time to get this accomplished.

[@chadbishop7330]

You said you learned to mash the figs instead of blending. Can you explain why?

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

It eases the racking and re-racking process by keeping the smaller pieces out of the must and secondary fermenter. Figs in particular don't have much in the way of juice, so it doesn't help much to break them down very far.

[@michaelf3805]

I tried making fig wine last fall, but my issue was that since figs have a short shelf life, they started to spoil during the primary fermentation (since it floats and is exposed to air). I was punching down the cap twice a day, but the fruit floating is inevitable. As a result, the wine has a strong off aroma. Did you have this experience?

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Hey Michael. The only issue we had was with our first batch of fig wine. With that, we didn't add the appropriate amount of acid to help ensure we didn't see any bacteria or in our case mold occurring on the secondary fermentation. I wouldn't be able to say for sure, but since then we've been using PH strips to test for it and have not had any issues.

[@user-neo71665]

I run mine in the meat grinder with no die while frozen to break the figs up.

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Now that is a GREAT suggestion!

[@mathewcook3377]

What was the reason for not blending?

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Hey Mathew, great question. The 2 main reasons we prefer not to blend these are during the straining process and the first re-racking. If you have smaller pieces of fruit when you're trying to strain into the secondary it's very difficult to get the excess fruit strained out of the liquid. This leads to the second issue of additional sediment when you re-rack because invariably you wind up with more small pieces of fruit in the secondary. If you check out our re-racking video you'll see just how much sediment is created with this wine. Because you want to leave as much of that sediment as possible behind you wind up losing quite a bit of wine along with it. In the end, it's not necessarily going to hurt the wine to have it, but we have found it makes these 2 steps easier if we don't.

[@mathewcook3377]

@@HealthyFarmLiving You were right, Not a single piece of green skin should go in! BLEGH, will have to wait till next year.

[@kennyli6177]

Hi, I live in Chandler, and very much like to buy fig wine from you. Can I call your store to get details of visiting your store? Thanks.

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Hey Kenny! We don't currently sell our wine, although we've had a lot of folks as us to. The process to gain a license to produce and sell wine is pretty extensive and we're not sure we'll have the capacity to do that along with everything else we do here on the farm. We may sample some on future farm tours, so be sure to check out our farm channel and subscribe to our customer email list on our website so you know when those will be taking place.

[@tamrawhite2302]

❤

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Glad you enjoyed this one Tamra!

[@Ydnar1155]

That's a big bottle of wine! You guys are going to be feeling good.... maybe not the next day! That's usually my test of a good wine. The hangover.

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Hey Randal! So true on that test. I imagine this bottle in 1 shot would be a bit challenging on the liver!

[@tominva4121]

Why not use a blender???????

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

Great question Tom. We have used a blender in the past and found that the racking is much more difficult when you have fractional pieces vs larger ones. Otherwise you would be fine to use a blender as well.

[@TheFatTheist]

That is a LOT of sugar!

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

That's for sure!