Fig Wine

crazygreenthumbs

June 15

I finally got all of the figs I froze out of the freezer and made wine. It had come down to: make wine or don't have room for this year's corn! I have the carboys out of the way, by my fireplace. Definitely don't need to use the fireplace right now!

Figs thawing.

So I got the figs out and away we went. They fermented quickly. There was thick foam all over the fruit. Once I took the fruit out: it was basically finished. So, I think I'll use different yeast next time. I'll also leave the fruit in longer and add more nutrients.

Foaming bags of figs.

I may also run a small batch with the frozen mulberries I still have!

I made a 5 gallon batch with the figs. You can get a five gallon fermenting bucket here: 5 Gallon Fermentor it's a good way to use a glut of fruit. Since I now have three fig trees in my yard, I'm going to have to perfect my fig wine!

A good deal on carboys: Set of Four

The ones in the link above don't come with bungs or airlocks. After several batches of wine and trying different airlocks, I like these best: gnat stopping air locks

Moving five gallons of wine by myself stirred up some of the lees. (However, there was still probably three inches of thick sediment in the bottom of the bucket that didn't come out with the wine.) Luckily, I still have to bottle all this wine. Once these settle again, I will have cleared wine to bottle. It's much easier to run a siphon from something tall and narrow (like bottles) than something fat and squatty (like a big bucket.)

Gnat proof airlock.

Since it's summer, there's always gnats coming in when we open doors. I just put paper towels and rubber bands around the ones that are not gnat proof. If you do this: check the water level in the air locks every week or so. You don't want air getting to the wine, that's how you make vinegar.

Paper towel covered airlocks. I haven't ever had any gnats get all the way into the wine, but they certainly can. This is why I use star-san water in the airlock instead of tap water. (You should have some sort of sterilizing liquid out, for use with anything that touches the wine, anyway.) But having them drown in the air lock is still gross to look at, so the paper towels stop that.

Some of the wine I've made over the past two years I would drink straight. Some I would mix in something else like sparkling water or some sort of fresh fruit juice. Making homemade wine is a science experiment. The only thing you are sure to end with is: a lot of alcohol you didn't have before.

I'm starting to aquire enough wine that I may need to host a tasting! Meet you outside to try both the fig and cucumber wines.

Crazy Green Thumbs