We made PLUM WINE - Or... DID We?

We make plum wine... sort of. Maybe we didn't? Apparently there's more to plum wine than just plum wine? Yeah, I'm confused too.
Ingredients:
1 packet Red Star Cote des Blancs Yeast: amzn.to/473EXUa
82 oz Water
32 oz Plum Concentrate: amzn.to/3rKnkbr
2.5 grams Fermaid O: amzn.to/4702EfS
Additions:
1 teaspoon Yeast Hulls: amzn.to/3KbP8My
24 oz Fu-Ki Plum Wine
Bottling: • How to Bottle Homebrew...
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1 Gallon Carboy with Airlock: amzn.to/3rCubDY
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Auto Siphon: amzn.to/3Q2rDcu
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[@steelehugs]

Jolt Cola - All the sugar and twice the caffeine! ... that stuff got me through high school and working as a teen in the 80's. Thank for the jittery memories.

[@seanhoude]

Love that you guys can laugh at yourselves. The interaction between the two of you has as much to do with my watching as the instruction.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Thank you :)

[@nbmaritimer9955]

Another great video. In passing, I like your recent videos better where you get everything from start to finish in one video. Kinda hard following your older videos but they are still good. I just like getting the end product result to see what you got. 👍

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Yep. We changed it a while back and it makes much more sense.

[@shannoncraig509]

It's my wine O.G. reading now or never But it ain't gonna ferment forever I just want to ferment while my yeasts are alive It's my wine My recipe is like an open highway Like Brian says, "I did it my way" I just want to ferment while my yeast are alive It's my wine (sung to the tune of it's my life bon jovi)

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Lol

[@SymPlayTon]

I loved this one considering I have some fresh plums I plan to make wine with. The skins of the plum is where a lot of the tart comes from. Nothing you can do with the concentrate, but peeling some or all of the plums when using fresh could reduce tartness/bitter. I also enjoy Japanese plum wine, and this will encourage me to do more research on how they do it to try to get a more balanced result.

[@heartemisart700]

Your sense of humor and thinking outside the box (the booze dogmas) as my friend calls it, is appreciated! I do the same when a batch turns out 'mweh' and needs a fix. Extracts, syrups and cordials are`useful, so are Polish fruit vodka's!!

[@theaverageeverydayperson9204]

Aww, the cute "ill have to get you some" is the most adorable thing ever ❤

[@mbrhythm1206]

I'm glad you guys tied this. If you remember my last comment, I mentioned Japanese Plum wine which normally is neutral spirits infused with very young plums making it very sour but then very sweet with a lot of sugar. But... the original umeshu ( oo - may - shoo) used the natural yeast from the plums to ferment. I'm making a batch now. best after about 6 to 10 months. Good like guys. 梅酒

[@mbrhythm1206]

8 - 12% ABV is what you can find in most stores here in Japan.

[@PhyleXTension82]

I love the mad scientist nature that you guys have. Please keep it up!

[@goldiegirl6705]

Thank you for mentioning the prune wine. I can't find plum juice here in Canada and had thought of trying prune juice.

[@jerrodbroholm4338]

I only recently found you guys thanks to the algorithm, but I subscribed pretty quick and I'm enjoying every minute. Thanks for the info and the positive entertainment!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Thanks for watching!

[@julietardos5044]

This episode is extra funny! Plus, I am not sober, so it's extra extra!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Lol

[@GeraldAguillard]

Thank you for your content. I’m new to wine making and I learned a lot by watching your videos.

[@jerrybruce2295]

Maybe a little of subject of the video but on topic. Years ago in my youth I was experimenting with wine making. I used a basic store bought grape juice added a little sugar boiled it for about 15 minutes and allowed it to cool to room temperature. I used a recycled two liter bottle ( sanitized) and a balloon (yes I know…) added water to the desired head space. Added a teaspoon of Fleischmans yeast. Within 3 hours the fermentation had taken off like a rocket and continued seriously active for about a week. I let it rest for another couple of weeks. Being young and stupid I didn’t siphon rack but filtered. The end product was actually really good I’m not sure what the ABV was but it was pretty stout. Love your videos. Keep it coming 😊

[@AwakeAtTheWheel]

I’m super excited for the proposed fermenting soda experiment!! 🍻

[@SamwiseOutdoors]

I've made Mountain Dew jelly before, and it's pretty good.

[@davidhowell7279]

The only possible thing to overcome would be the number of preservatives found in many commercial sodas. I've encountered juices with 'natural flavors '. After some research, it turns out that there's a loophole in which a naturally derived preservative can be included in those 'natural flavors '. It took a lot of time and effort to get it to get start fermenting. I had to make another must from a comparable juice with no additives and blend them. Especially disappointing in a product labeled 'organic '. I still plan on trying it someday, though. Do the Dew.

[@AwakeAtTheWheel]

@@davidhowell7279 Do the Dew! 🍻

[@Bartolomei406]

I made some Plum Wine last year with fresh plums that I crushed. on my last check it was coming along nicely. Although i wish i had found you guys before, as I have gained a TON of information from watching your videos. I am going to put what i have learned to use on this years batch.

[@fingersfinesilver]

We make that here in Czech Republic (and then distil it). When you first tried the plum wine, and it was fizzy and tart - that happened to apricot wine - I left it, back in the cupboard, for another month and it ended up superb at a higher alcohol level.

[@Chef_Handsome]

I am so Glad you added the Fu Ki Its one of my Favorite plum wines! I would Die to try this brew and Im going to be making this exactly like you did soon!! I just started my First Brew and it is an Apple Cycer Mead! 5 days into Fermentation now!!Your Videos have been So helpful Thank you!! Cant Wait for a Follow up!

[@kjdevault]

I’ve been wanting to do a plum wine, like the actual plum, not a flavored spirit. Glad to see this. I’ve got a red blend going with several base juices, one of which is the pomegranate plum juice from Aldi’s along with a grape base. Not that names matter, but I’m not 100% sure what it would be called. It’s got dark mixed fruits, the dark juices, going for a complex dark red that I will oak as well. I used some rice and oats with enzymes too. Can’t wait to see where it ends and how it is. I think the pats will give it some more body and mouthfeel like are used in spirits and beer. It’s home-brew, right!? I can do what I want!

[@jamesh5460]

Okay cool, we have two massive plum trees and we would love to try a small 1 gallon wine batch before we jump into the 5 gallon run. Would we still use the same 1lb of fruit per gallon and then add sugar until we reach ? sg? This year we have a bumper crop of currents, strawberries, raspberries and apples which of course we want to try and ferment. I have been mostly a beer brew guy but after watching your channel the fruit ferment has been incredibly intriguing aspect to try. You two have the best (imo) brewing guides we have ever seen and has been very inspirational. Cheers!

[@sniktripn7217]

I've wanted to do a plum wine for ages now always thought it would come out a little like port flavor wise and this is making me want to do it even more

[@jelton52]

I love your content and it gives me so many more options! Options babe, options!

[@ermakers1297]

I have made a variety of fruit wines, all using fresh fruit. I typically did the primary ferment on fruit in an open top container covered in a cloth. I would rack off of fruit after 7 days into a secondary fermenter with an airlock. I did a plum wine using fresh yellow plums from our backyard. My plum wine came out on the sweeter side and it frankly tasted like brandy even though it wasn't distilled.

[@drmike5507]

I had to go back a revisit this video. The first batch of plum wine I made 4 years ago ( from actual fruit) was the best plum wine I’ve ever had. The following years they were close but not as good. This years batch dried to .996. It’s been sitting on oak for two months and still bitter. Was hoping not to back sweeten but will probably have to. It think it all comes down to the fruit. Plums harvested from same area but with the crazy weather we have up here in Western NY it effects the sugars, tannins and everything. May still rack into gallon jugs( I made five gallons) and let them continue to age and maybe just sweeten a gallon as needed.

[@stevelloyd5014]

I made a plum wine from frozen Italian plums (purple skins). And from fermenting with the skins it came out with a colour similar to gas, so I called it plumaline wine! It was about 8.5% and lovely to drink/sip cold on a hot summer evening!

[@CplDiesel]

I've been binging your content and this is the funniest one by far. I laughed out loud several times 😂

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Glad you liked it!

[@glleon80517]

Fortifying fruit wine with neutral grain or grape spirits is a great way to get both the sweetness you want and the proof you want. The spirit stops further fermentation so no pasteurization is required. You can calculate the proof using the Pearson Square method. This is how Port is made. You can avoid the wine tasting dilute by using high proof spirit, like Everclear. No taste change, the sweetness you want at the proof you want. Thanks for the video!

[@404Cluster]

It's a good, fun experiment! I love it, you guys are awesome. I wonder if actual plum wine isn't a thing because there are a ton of non-fermentable sugars in plum...

[@CitizenRobertK]

I made plum mead earlier this year. 36 lbs of plums and 8 lbs of honey. I keep forgetting about the concentrates. Probably far cheaper. But mine is very plum-y and honey-y. A little malic to bump up the acid. The tannins from the skins was on point.

[@edschaar2868]

A couple of thoughts: 1) I wonder if by not going back to single strength (recommended dilution), your pH was lower and effected the yeast? 2) I also would wonder what type of plums were used? By the color I'm betting they are European plums (Damson, Stanley, etc.). Which are generally a lower brix and have a higher TA% than most Japanese plums.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Possible!

[@milesfromnowhere1985]

The first wine I ever made, after over a decade of brewing beer exclusively, was a plum wine from my friend's cherry plum tree. I had no fermenters smaller than 5 gallons, so I pressed it directly into several mason jars and kept them under the porch of my tiny house as they fermented naturally (burping each jar twice a day). Somehow, this method yielded a much better wine than any other subsequent time using those plums with proper fermenters and airlocks. I hope someday to be able to make such a good plum wine again!

[@stephenstevens4153]

Cotes Des Blanc is known for leaving some residual sweetness. I tend to use it for my ciders because it works well with apple.

[@diablominero]

Iirc at least some of the residual sweetness is from glycerin produced by the yeast.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

They produce glycerol and it’s an alcohol not a sugar :)

[@lisatressler6790]

Love how you adapt to the circumstances. Derica, have you ever tried bourbon filled chocolate covered cherries? If not, I highly recommend. I order each Christmas from Esther Price, but I'm guessing other people make them also.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

She said she doesn’t think she has had those. I mean… now I want them, so…

[@kevinm919]

I mostly make beer but enjoy watching your channel , i have made apple cider and have a ginger beer fermenting right now after watching this channel

[@even7steven]

I always wondered why it's called prune juice, not plum juice and why its called plum wine, not prune wine. I think you guys have answered that question with this experiment, which is probably prune wine. As always, great video!

[@marcellacruser951]

That was fun watching you guys puzzle that over and find a solution. I just cut a batch of pomegranate with a bottle of Reisling, but I'm thinking that may have been unwise bc now I like it too much.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Lol

[@stephenlaverack289]

I'm sorry to have to say this but you two are now officially brilliant, in my oppinion. I made plum jerkum, plum cider/wine, definitely vile, unbelievably so. Fed it sugar until the yeast gave up and a year later added it to the tail ends of cider that I'd accumulated and ended up with an acidic but drinkable product. As you say that is the fun of home brew. Brilliant video, by the way. If you ever come over to the UK we would be delighted to introduce you to some Yorkshire cider..🍺

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Lol. I am sorry you had to admit that…

[@johnp.2267]

Crazy idea for a Cherry Cordial Wine: Fermentation - Cherry juice and whole cherries Post-Ferment - Cacao nibs macerated in neutral spirits and amaretto Post-Ferment - Very small amount of vanilla extract You're welcome, Derica.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHmwY2qwoLB4pJI

[@rachellemazar7374]

My father used to buy plum wine, what a weird combination of cloyingly sweet and tart. I looked it up and it is not a brew but ,it is made by steeping the little green ume plums in liquor, such as shochu. I’m sure yours is an improvement😁

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Lol

[@dailykilluminati1310]

You guys should make a mini series fermenting all kinds of sodas just to see what the result will be.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

We just did IBC Root Beer.

[@jillwhatley994]

Love you guys!!!❤😂🎉great content, as usual, ty

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Thanks for watching :)

[@larryakre5942]

..ished. You know as well as I that when heating a sugary liquid to concentrate it the likely hood of non fermentable sugars being created increases. That said I would consider it a (high test ?) Cider. Maybe carbonate a bottle or two as an experiment. Thanks again for another creative & inspiring concoction ☺️ Cheers!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I doubt it makes that much though.

[@dhudach]

I just stumbled on this video, maybe because I just started a 1 gallon batch of plum wine from plums. So this is a bit of a side trip to hit on two topics you mentioned. The first is the possible need for a blow off tube. I'm using a 2 gallon bucket for my wine and after only about 9 hours fermentation was so active that it literally blew the liquid out of the airlock!! It wasn't spewing junk from the bucket, it was just due to fermentation gas being so active and strong. So I replaced the airlock with a blow off tube. The bubbling is like an atomic clock now, very active and very steady. So I'm thinking I'll just use a blow off tube in these bigger bucket batches. Ok, topic number two, calculations. Trust me, this is eventually going to lead to a question so hang in there!! Typically I like my target OG to be around 1.100. So I did a bit of research and found that my 5.25 lbs of plums equates to about .0253 SG. My initial gravity reading was 1.040. I added enough sugar to get to 1.080, knowing that the plums will contribute. So I'm thinking my actual SG (not measured) is 1.105ish. After fermentation is complete, I'll take a gravity reading. From that I will calculate ABV. Now, here is my question. Do I subtract my FG from 1.080 OR do I subtract it from the original gravity plus the SG from the plum sugar? Or, maybe I subtract the FG from the OG plus some percentage of the SG from the plum sugar. Whew. It seems like this might be important. And I'm sure you had to have touched on this in one of your videos, I'm just not sure which one. I mean you do have a few videos on your channel!!!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It's all estimation really. Without a lab you won't know for sure, but you can add the plum sugars and use that as your og as at least some of those sugars would ferment.

[@dhudach]

@@CitySteadingBrews That makes sense. And precision isn't the goal. I suppose I was wondering in these situations, when I decide what I want my OG to be, approximately how much should I add to it based on the the sugars in the fruit. And I was also wondering how you handle this situation. Thanks for the great content.

[@uqox]

I'm going to try this with dried plums. I suspect that would reduce the tartness and enhance the plum flavor. This was very interesting.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It will probably be a very different experience. Dried fruits taste quite different from fresh or juices.

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

One of the things I noticed about stalls is that there is a correlation with front-loading all the nutrients. If you supply all the nutrients at pitch, the yeast can get ‘lazy’ or turn into ‘fussy eaters’. I’ve now changed to kind of a ‘quick-and-dirty’ staggered nutrient schedule. I either don’t add nutrients at pitch, or only add roughly 1/3rd of what I would add in total. After 24 hours I add my first third. Then I wait 48 hours, add another 1/3rd. Then I wait 72 hours and add the last 1/3rd. Seems to work. The stuff I use is a Fermaid-O ‘clone’ sold by a local home brewing store. It comes from Germany and claims to be an organic nutrient. Looks and smells like Fermaid-O. The package doesn’t give a whole lot of information, claims to be a balanced mixture of yeast hulls, vitamins and minerals of organic origin. About your plum wine: I think this one is ‘suffering’ from a combination of low pH and the naturally occurring sorbitol interfering with fermentation. In other words: I just happen to agree with you. 😊 Soda wine: that would be a very interesting addition to the Franken-brews. As long as you can manage to find a soda that doesn’t contain too many preserving additives that mess with fermentation. Commercial plum wine: you’d be surprised at how often ‘plum wine’ is a distilled spirit infused with plums. Another method used both in Korea and in Japan is to pack fresh plums with sugar until all of the sugar or most of it dissolves. The resulting syrup is used for other purposes. The plums are then added to either a wine (sake or similar) or to a distilled spirit) to flavour that alcoholic beverage. If and when desired, the syrup or part of the syrup is used as well to blend to satisfaction. On the subject of blending: to any ‘purists’ out there, who might start tooting their horn about not adding a commercially produced beverage to a home brewed one in order to end up with something pleasant, my take is that if it yields something pleasant and you started out with something home brewed, it’s essentially home-brew. It’s no different from using mayonnaise from the store to make your own salad dressing. To those who toot on about ANY blending, even blending two home brewed alcoholic beverages in order to end up with something to your liking, my reply is that if wineries and champagne houses that charge hundreds of dollars per bottle are okay with blending different batches, why the heck should I have an issue with it? Currently I’m tinkering with an elderberry mead based on elderberry juice from Aldi. It’s WAY too tannic and bitter. I’ve already poured in an entire 750 ml bottle of traditional mead, no added tannin (original yield was around one gallon). I also added vanilla in an attempt to balance it out. I’ve pasteurised the brew before starting to tinker with it just to be on the safe side. It’s better but still not where I want it. Now I’m pondering what else I can add in to fix that brew. Not sure what I’m going to add. The good thing is that it’s sitting under airlock, I’ve got time to figure that out. After all, I’m not a KZbin content creator who needs to get videos out. And the brew has too much promise to dump out.

[@MirrimBlackfox]

Plums (prunes) have Sorbitol (an unfermentable? sugar alcohol) naturally occurring, it is part of what gives dried plums (prunes) its laxitive effect (that and the fiber). So that could be part of the strangeness with the fermentation.

[@bartlester591]

I was going to suggest that if you want to try something a little bit different as far as sweet and yet there are a couple of things that I would suggest after doing some intensive research, sorghum or agave nectar. You could also try just liquid cane sugar just a thought.

[@thatmckenzie]

9% and super tart? That, my friend, sounds like a fabulous candidate for a spritzer.

[@bartlester591]

To answer your question it went out of business in 2009 however, I just read your article. It says Joe Cole will be coming back for one year exclusively to Dollar General stores.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Do you mean Jolt Cola?

[@christophergrierson904]

Love your videos! Just wondering if having an airlock on your must during the initial stage (first few days) of your ferment may be the cause of your stalling issues. Just a thought. Thanks again for this wonderful channel 😊

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Why would having an airlock cause a stall? If you mean it needs oxygen... we aerate at creation. Also, we have had... half a dozen to a dozen stalls out of hundreds of brews but we always use an airlock :)

[@ghoppr71]

This was right up there with the Kilju vid as far as hilarity. BTW, y'all used to use whiskey stones to test the sample chilled.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Yup. They are still in the freezer, lol.

[@joeljohnson3509]

If Mom likes it, I would absolutely make it. So, the combination is equal to slightly diluted and slightly sweetened? Awesome job!

[@diablominero]

The plum variety that's used to make prunes has a bunch of sorbitol (a non-fermentable sweetener) in it. Maybe a variety like that was used to make your plum juice concentrate.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

That's possible.

[@davidraney9744]

Love your channel...thanks for the work that you do! Question though, I know you don't sweeten/ferment with molasses (funky flavors and such) but have you tried cane syrup (unburnt molasses) as a fermentable sugar? We've got lots of it in the deep south.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I wouldn’t expect much difference really.

[@tylerhachey6009]

Hey guys, first off I wanna say that ive been watching your channel for about a month now, mostly mead making as thats what im currently working on, and i very much enjoy how informative your videos are and i enjoy the true to brewing mentality that naturally comes out as a result. Im also curious about the idea of making a hard cider using apple sauce (and maybe some other frout sauce blends for extra flavour) and wondering how it would turn out. However im not exactly sure the best route of action, I have also pondered the idea of honey or even agava necture as a source of added sugars and flavours over the use of a standard store shelf white sugar. Any advice and pointers would be appreciated.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Not sure applesauce would be better than juice tbh. As for the other sweeteners and fermentables… we have made videos on fermented honey and agave. We use honey to sweeten most meads and agave to sweeten our agave mead. It’s personal taste really.

[@tylerhachey6009]

@@CitySteadingBrews I may try using apple sauce out of curiosity, i will defenately look for your videos in regards to using agave and catch up on those. If your intrested i will get back to you on results of using apple sauce and how i did it.

[@tylerhachey6009]

@@CitySteadingBrews also i would like to thank you guys for taking the time to responde, i appreciate it very much.

[@scottmiller9490]

If you're going to do the soda experiment I'd suggest getting the throw back mtn dew that has real sugar in and not high fructose corn syrup. I've heard if you let it go flat it actually turns out a decent wine. Regarding fermaid-o, my understanding is that much like yeast it's really, really hard to overpitch fermaid o. Early in my brewing experience I was told too much nutrients could cause off flavors. But I've since learned that's not really the case and you'd have to use an obscene amount of Fermaid O to create any issues. So I'd say use more. Cheers!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

This is something we are testing right now :)

[@benway23]

Thank you for your work.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

My pleasure!

[@BobGrimminger]

It makes sense to me that a "serving" is of the product as packaged, though you could add additional information like cereal boxes do for adding milk. But water doesn't change any of the nutritional facts.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I agree, but that's not how they did it. Water totally changes the density of all the ingredients.

[@MrTacklebury]

It's a blend, lots of wines are blends of several varietals.

[@SamwiseOutdoors]

So close to a prune juice wine. I feel like Cateau Worf Vintage 2023 is a thing that we all need.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I made prune wine once. Vile stuff.

[@SamwiseOutdoors]

@@CitySteadingBrews Truly fit for the palate of a Klingon, then! I'll bet that it pairs nicely with warm gagh!

[@BobsYourUncle429]

Can you two please make a Blackberry Wine? Blackberrys are my favorite berry. I have harvested over three pounds of Blackberrys and frozen them while waiting for a good recipe. My KZbin research has found that there is quite a mystic about Blackberry wine. There appears to be hundreds of ways to make it and most of them have scared me. Can you show us the best and correct way to get the best product? Thanks.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

You could just use any of our berry wine recipes really. If we ever had enough blackberries we could make one though :)

[@the_whiskeyshaman]

Wow that took a turn. Love it though it’s your brew make it how you want. ❤

[@einar533]

I had the pleasure of visiting a comertial cidery, with a tasting. They had made a test batch of an apple ice-cider that absolutely stunning, with a extremely rich taste. Have you thought about making a cider on an apple concentrate (bought or made by freezing and thawing) to get more taste?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWnIanqqptumeJY

[@GoddessAstrola]

The mention of Jolt cola gave me such a big hit of nostalgia. Ah the good old days before my kidneys didn't have issues.

[@jbaidley]

We have plum trees, so we make plum wine directly from the juice of the plums with some added sugar. Works really well.

[@nickbledsoe]

What I find interesting is that it stalled after going thru 60 points. Which is about how much sugar the label said was in there. It could have stuff in it that made it thicker, making the gravity show that it's higher than it is? not sure just speculating.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Doubtful… but an interesting theory.

[@dirtybird99]

Has anyone mentioned that it might be SOOO tart and over the top is simply because it wasn't thinned out according to the directions? That immediately pops into my mind as they are doing their tastings. And extra half gallon of water or what ever it was that would normally be used might just account for that difference.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It’s possible. Seems odd to make 8% wine if you have the option to go higher :)

[@Floating-in-space]

You should try to make a “vermouth” one day! Or, you know, an aromatized fortified wine, inspired by a vermouth - with your own spin on it of course!

[@marklorrow1667]

Yes please try one of the cola drinks and me personally I would try two of them one being the jolt because of the Suger and caffeine amount and the other is your choice on what you're flavors are. It would be very interesting to say the least. I would have but with all the ingredients in a coke beverage of any type you would be looking at a hard stall so us as the people who love your content would ask if you would be willing to do the hard work for us so we would know. Thank you so much for your content I love your show more than anyone else you have the best information out there and fun to watch and thanks so much for putting your videos together so we don't have to wait to watch it all over multiple shows. I would rather watch one show that's a hour long rather than 3 or 4 small ones ware I already forgot everything and don't want to go back looking for it yes I am lazy but your show is the best 🙏🙏🥰😂🤣

[@Little_Dog664]

@City Steading Brews Something I would love to see you try. Freeze tried juice of your fruit of choice. Freeze drying will give you the most Concentrated fruit flavor possible. for example of what to make. What would a cider taste like if you had the strongest apple flavor possible?

[@jordandimick8861]

Ok ok, so question on this, the concentrate that you bought, was it just boiled off plum juice? I’ve been having this romance in my life with growing my own fruit to brew things up, still a few years out from my trees producing. However, my buddy has a plum tree that is killing it right now, it’s the yellow flesh kind and I haven’t had the chance to juice them and take a reading. However, let’s say that reading is lower than what I wanted, could I take that juice, boil it down to reduce the amount of water, or should I simply add sugar to get the reading I want? Curious if adding an additional concentrate will be too much of a kapow of flavor, or if it will be a welcome thing. What are your thoughts?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I don’t know how they concentrated it really.

[@bsicc]

I used concentrate and made the mistake of targeting a specific gravity when diluting instead of following their directions and it was nasty... too much concentrate! Best to dilute it down per their measurements (to get the flavor right with concentrate level) then add any sugar you need to get SG back up.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I din’t see how a target og that is within reason makes a difference here really. Their og was low tbh and their “measurements” were way off.

[@stevelloyd5014]

I think residual suspended solids will give a slight false high SG, since it’ll increase the density of the liquid and as it clears it may get slightly lower SG readings.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

If this were true no one would ever use hydrometer readings.

[@stevelloyd5014]

@@CitySteadingBrews I’m not saying it makes the readings grossly inaccurate, but the solids from a “complete” juice or even suspended yeast in a must, must affect the reading compared to stable, cleared product. I’m going to try it on my next batch of wine; at its final racking take a reading when the lees settle, then stir it up and take a second reading. Can’t hurt to try … just I’ll let you know! 😀

[@Mi-un6rs]

Hi, i've been watching you guys for a lil while and I wonder have you guys thought of making Socată? It's a Romanian drink that's fermented to have carbonation, do you guys think you could make a "brewed" version of it?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

We can look into it.

[@nextlifeonearth]

It's possible that the gravity isn't just because of sugars. If some minerals are in there it can affect the gravity just like sugar can, but they don't ferment and don't taste sweet.

[@hapmaplapflapgap]

Japanese plum wine from my understanding usually uses young green plum instead of the ripened purple plum that we use. That could explain the color and the lack of cherry/tarty notes

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Yup

[@Joseph_Dredd]

"I have an idea" Let's put some cointreau in it!!!! :) hehe

[@jackfoo2]

win i seen the title i got so excited. im currently hoarding wild plumb's . if your willing to pick up the shipping i will fill a flat rate usps box and send it your way

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It’s fine, thanks. We don’t have an immediate use!

[@Alf_4]

29:19 to witness Brian forget that a noise full of yeast might affect his taste perception😂

[@CitySteadingBrews]

The tasting was on a different day, lol.

[@davidcrawford1226]

i have been watching yalls videos for about 3 months now and got really into making meads i have learned alot from yall and cant thank you enough. But i have 2 questions to ask 1 why have yall not made a peach mead yet, and the other is what is the difference from and yeast energizer and yeast nutrient ty very much.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Peach is my nemesis. It's been mentioned in a few videos. That said... working on it. Energizer is usually DAP and we prefer not to use it.

[@davidcrawford1226]

@@CitySteadingBrews had to look up dap and didnt know about that i prefer not to use a bunch of chemicals also but with my inexperience i listened to the brewery store we have and they said that we need that for meads due to lack of nutrients for the yeast and that it was safe and no chemicals... but i made a peach mead with 1 pound of peaches, 8 ounces of lapsang souchong black tea, (its black tea with a awesome wood smell and flavor really recommend) 2 1/2 pounds of wild flower honey and a cinnamon stick my starting grav was 1.120 with 71b for yeast and it over flowed extremely bad is that do to me using the energizer and the nutrient together? ty for the response this is awesome

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It’s fine… just unnecessary and that home brew shop lied. Totally using chemicals. Some are helpful, some less. Nutrients in the form of fermaid O imho are great. DAP, less so.

[@Brandyalla]

I don't think "off the rails" applies here. True, it didn't go where you intended, but it ended in a good spot. Derailing trains is always a negative situation. When I started brewing, I bought *a lot* of those swing top bottles, which in my case came filled with some sort of "natural" soda...like your Aldi's lemonade, but different citrus flavors. I got so many that at some point I got tired of drinking them, dumped several straight into a fermenter, and fermented them (after shaking all the carbonation out). It came out....interesting, but without a discernible citrus flavor, and with an odd popcorny aftertaste. I kinda liked it, but it was weird.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

They were probably “natural flavors”, lol.

[@Brandyalla]

Probably!

[@hapmaplapflapgap]

Fermented sugars isnt the only thing that effects the gravity. I would imagine that straight fruit juice, especially plum which is naturally not super sweey probably has high gravity for its sugar content.

[@elumbra]

The hardest part of making traditional plum wine(umeshu/梅酒) in the US is finding the right fruit. Plum wine in japan is made with unripe Ume plums. The are small and intensely sour. They are hard to find but you might be able to find them at your local asian market in the right season.

[@fomomomo]

I search high and low for ume plums every year, so hard to find stateside! Do you think there’s a close substitute with more commonly available plums?

[@pastor501st8]

@@fomomomo I had a good result making an imitation of Umeshu by soaking ordinary western plums in fortified sake for about a month, fortified to about 25% and sweetened with sugar. Typically this is done using Ume plums in shochu or vodka instead, but I don't have access to Ume plums, shochu, or vodka.

[@elumbra]

@@fomomomo the substitute that I've found is Ume Syrup. I found about a half dozen different ones at my local Korean market. I think they are made for cooking or tea but I diluted it with water, added everclear to create my desired ABV and a bit of acid blend to get it to the desired tartness. The result was pretty close to Choya. Granted this is a brown sugar base vs a rock sugar base which unfortunately is a distinction my wife cares about. The brand I used was maesilfarm

[@jellydogt]

@@fomomomo From my understanding, ume plums are closer to an apricot than a western plum, so finding a local PYO orchard would be willing to sell some before they're ripe might be the best course of action? There's one farm I've seen in CA that ships their green ume nationwide. A specialty Japanese grocery shop might have them as well in the early spring, like Maruichi in Boston, or Don Quijote in Los Angeles and Hawaii.

[@joeljohnson3509]

I’m considering oaking some of my slightly tart meads for a month to see what happens. Have you tried that? I know, I should sort through your videos. You’ve probably already posted a video about it. But I’m just asking anyway. 🤙💯💕

[@CitySteadingBrews]

We have many times, yes.

[@not-on-pizza]

The numbers on that were kinda weird, yeah. I suspect that the 1.3227 gravity (65 Brix) is probably accurate for the concentrate, given where your diluted gravity ended up.

[@Operator8282]

Could the fact that you did not "unconcentrate" the juice all the way contribute to the tartness you have experienced? Or the stall? Not a hostile question, but trying to get more info.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Not sure. If they intended it to be diluted further, their brix levels were just wrong. Without diluting may have concentrated tart flavors… double edged sword that could have been dulled if they gave accurate or at least less obtuse information on the label :)

[@Operator8282]

@@CitySteadingBrews Gotcha. Probably the result of having several lab techs working the info, but not on the same sheet of music. One doing making the info for the concentrate "as is", and the other making info or the water added product, and nobody checked the math. Thanks for the quick reply! I appreciate your work.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Could be that, yeah.

[@dolphard]

I've never tried plum wine, but used to really like plum brandy.

[@BusinessEnglishSuccess]

Interesting video, especially as I have a bucket of plum wine in primary (made from actual plums). I wonder if you have a thought on something else though ... If there are non-fermentable sugars and it stops at 1030, would it make sense to add sugar to bring it up to 1050 or even 1060 and see if it would ferment back down to 1030 again? Or would the combination of alcohol and non-fermentable sugars somehow prevent this from working. The idea would be to end up with the desired alcohol level.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

There are some that say the sorbitol interrupts normal fermentation. I tried researching and didn’t get too far. What you are suggesting is simply step feeding. Might work, may just make it even sweeter :)

[@BusinessEnglishSuccess]

@@CitySteadingBrews ok, thanks - I guess try it and see next time 🙂

[@moniquelevesque8756]

Thank you very entertaining Could a plum mead be a better option?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It's just another option, I wouldn't say mead is inherently better or worse than wine though.

[@hotsauce1646]

There is a clumbed ( i don't know if i wrote this right ) brown sugar here where i live they use for a sweet drink with lemon . I think to use this sugar with plums and ferment it to a wine . What do you guys think about that ? Should i do it ? And in the middle add lemon ?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Sorry I don’t know what you are talking about. If it’s sugar, it should ferment though. As I am not familiar with it I have no recipe for it.

[@hotsauce1646]

@@CitySteadingBrews sorry i had to look it up first before asking . The name of the sugar is panela and its made of a sugar cane . This you toss into water and it just disolves and then you put some lemon in it for extra taste it realy sweet but maybe a good one for fermantation . If you can Google the name Panela sugar and it will pop up . Sorry to be so vague it just popped in my head and i am just awake . I do want to try this sugar out and see if it does anything good . But maybe it's something you guys can try for yourselfs ? Thanks for responding that makes my day have a good one . Greetings from Aruba🇦🇼

[@ArchaicAnglist]

​@@CitySteadingBrewsPanela is piloncillo is panocha: cane syrup, unrefined, boiled down until it can be molded into a very firm shape. Piloncillo is the truncated-cone shape that's common in Mexico (and, I suspect, throughout the Caribbean at least). The flavor is noticeably more complex than the flavor of standard dark brown sugar, which is refined white sugar to which some lightly-purified molasses has been returned.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It should still ferment. May just have more molasses type flavors.

[@ArchaicAnglist]

​@@hotsauce1646Panela can certainly be brewed with. But fresh plums - even very ripe ones - are generally tart (agrio), and too much acid in a must (mosto) can interfere with fermentation. It might be wise to try your first plum wine with plums and panela but no lemon.

[@mattcy6591]

Plums, shochu, sugar, time.

[@Bob-kd2be]

When you calculated the specific gravity of the concentrate being 32oz x 20gr of sugar x .046 per gallon BUT THAT IS NOT IN A GALLON it is in a quart. To compare to a gallon wouldn't you have to multiply the 20 grams sugar by 4 to compare it to a gallon vs 32 oz

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It’s calculated relative to being used in a gallon. The 32 oz x 20 gr of sugar was to get the total amount of sugar in the container. Then that is used to calculate sg in a gallon.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Also, the numbers worked out when we took a physical reading.

[@Legion_One3]

If only distilling was legal where you are, this would've turned into a rakija (rak-iya) video😅which is a strong traditional Serbian spirit👌🏼

[@notaprob]

Hi I know this is coming very late. Japanese plums they use for wine are different than the American style plums you see here. The Japanese plums are smaller and have a green skin, maybe because they are not fully ripe when used. That is why Japanese plum wines are not red.

[@rockynate]

No one can go wrong quoting Blazing Saddles. Unless there is a Holy Grail reference that is better.

[@kreynolds1123]

I think I have an idea on the source of the discrepancy, in short, the non fermentable sugars in prune juice. Ops i meant plum juice 😉, but pruns are dehydated plums, and their high fiber and or non fermentable sugars content may likly increase the specific gravity and estimated brix derived from specific gravity. My theory is that maybe it didnt stall and ratherly simply used up the ferementable sugars, leaving behind non fermentable sugars and fibers. Maybe if going for a specific abv, it might be better to work from sugar content where as carbohydrate content includes sugars and non digestible sugars which are also nonfermentable.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It's possible, but also really hard to measure :)

[@kreynolds1123]

I can see that being hard to "measure". And that it would require working with lables and some assumptions and additional calculations. Forgive me if this is too much, it's part of my nature. I just think about things. Trying to think this through and I don't expect this to be perfect but for the sake of trying to keep it as simple as possible while maybe getting better approximations, we might: 1) Assume nonfermentable sugars has the same specific gravity weight/volume as sugar. 2) assume that grams of non-fermentable sugar (starches and fiber ect) per serving = grams of carbohydrates - grams of sugar per serving, and that there is a ratio of fermentable sugars/total carbohydrates. Then if a plum juice lable says per serving ratio is 10 grams of sugar to 15 grams of carbohydrates), we can simplify and work with 2/3 ratio. Looking at my hydromiter, Let's say we started a ferment with specific gravity of 1.1, as a sugar water mix once fully fermented has an approximate abv potential of about 10%, but if 1/3 of it is nonfermentable, then should it not finish out at closer to 6.66% abv? I understand the actual calculation is more complex with the specific a mix of alcohol water and nonfermentabled sugars. But at low concentrations of alcohol, this might be a sufficently actuate approximation for nonfermentable sugars adjusted abv approximation. Does this make sence or are my assumption and or method sufficiently so far off as to not be useful at getting closer to truer abv concentrations below 18%abv.

[@benjaminmaherhorsify]

What do you think about a 1.092 with apples and the d47 yeast? This is my first meas and a bit of an experiment but watching a bunch of your videos.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

As a starting gravity? Sure.

[@spacehonky6315]

This plum beer koolaid thingy concoction is interesting. The concentrate must have been made with the plum skins intact. I always forget what eating a fresh plum is actually like. The inside is kinda sickly sweet persimmon-ish, but you get that sweetness in the same bite as the overly tart and sorta tannic-astringent skin. Not completely pleasant, but still enjoyable. Your seven score on the finished product is probably similar to the world's overall opinion on plum fruit.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I actually really like plums.

[@TheJaniceJoy]

What? No sugar for the yeasties? The concentrates are not sweetened, what am I missing?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

The concentrates definitely have sugar.

[@ramonsalvatierrahealer]

Hi great video, great on math too!hahha I have a question why don't use red star premiere rouge yeast?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

We have used it.