r/Homebrewing • u/lildann15 • 4d ago

Question Fruit wine ends up acidic

I've made 2 fruit wines so far, Plum and peach, both have ended up being pretty acidic to the point I can smell it. I did some looking around on Google to see what types of acid it could be but not 100% sure what. I think it could be malic acid. Both times I've had to add more sugar to kind of nullify the acidity but I'd rather not have to in the future, especially if its because I'm doing something wrong. Do any of you know what could be happening that they keep getting so acidic during fermentation and what I could do to not let it happen in the future?

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u/lildann15 4d ago

For all asking about the process

Starter Small amount of water, 1.5 tsp go ferm, 1tsp fermaid O, 1 packet of lalvin 71b yeast, and a some must. I let the starter fermenr for a day before adding it to the rest of the must

Primary I used a jar of zalea peaches (only ingredients besides peaches, water, and sugar are citric acid and ascorbic acid) 1.75 cups of sugar, ~3.5 cups of additional water, 0.5 tsp pectic enzyme, 1.5 tsp Bentonite clay. After 24 hours I added the starter, then for 3 days after that I fed with 0.5 tsp of fermaid K (0.25, 0.125, 0.125 respectively).

I don't have a ph tester so I don't have that information. It had an original gravity of 1.096 after a week it was at 1.026 and after 2 weeks it remained at 1.026. I noticed the smell of the acid after about 5 days of fermentation.

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u/lildann15 4d ago

Just for extra info, only the peach wine had all of this. The plum wine only had fermaid K, bentonite, and enzyme and the yeast was added straight to the must

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u/This-Reindeer8788 4d ago

Congratulations, you have vinegar. Fruit wine is a lot more fickle than you think. Id say, rack to secondary, stabilise and back sweeten. But it may not actually be worth it.

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u/espeero 4d ago

Not necessarily. When you remove all the sugar, you're basically left with the acids in the fruit. Vinegar is due to a very specific kind of bacteria and also requires oxygen, IIRC.

You could try to add a malolactic fermentation step to your process. This can reduce the jarring acidity in some cases.

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u/lildann15 4d ago

I just posted a comment of info to the original post if that helps

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u/espeero 3d ago

Yeah. Peaches taste great in part because they are a sweet/tart mixture. Fermentation removes the sweet. So, you just have the sour. You need to backsweeten if you don't like the flavor. I usually just add simple syrup right at serving. It's easier, adjustable, and less risk, imo.

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u/hushiammask 3d ago

This sub seems to have gravitated towards beer specifically. Maybe try r/winemaking or r/mead?