This wine was started in October of 2020, as another something we could do while quarantined, while hoping for better days with friends ahead. If you noticed a theme there was lots of wine and mead being made, because what else was there?

Scott’s job was considered essential, while the rest of the world shut down during the Covid 19 pandemic he was out there every day with his co-workers. One co-worker happened to have a plum tree with to many plums and offered to pick some for us. Scott met him in the parking lot before work to get the plums and trade him a bottle of one of our other wines. It was like a homebrewer’s shady deal. His “few” plums ended up being a few grocery bags full coming out to 2 gallon bags stuffed to the brim.

Ingredients

• 1 packet Yeast – EC-1118 Lavin
• 2 Gallons Italian Plums
• 14 lbs sugar
• 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
• Boiling water (enough to fill primary fermenter to 5.25 gallons)

Basic Steps

1. Sanitize all the items you will be using
2. Clean the plums and then cut in half removing the pits
3. Boil water adding sugar as you go stirring continuously until all the sugar is dissolved into the water. I don’t have a pot large enough so I complete this step in batches.
4. Place plums in a must bag and add to the fermentation container
5. Add water sugar mixture to the primary fermentation container (I use a bucket designed for this purpose) and then add yeast nutrient.
6. Once the water / sugar mixture has cooled to about 97 degrees add the yeast.
7. Cover & let the mixture sit for one week stirring daily making sure to push down the bag to let all parts of the berries submerge.
8. At one week remove the must bag (I like to squeeze out the juices in the bag) and move the mixture to a sanitized secondary fermenter (usually a carboy).
9. Place an air lock on the carboy and wait..and wait…and wait..
10. Approximately every 2 months rack the carboy to remove the sediment at the bottom
11. When the Specific Gravity is 1.0 and the liquid is clear it is ready to bottle. You can add potassium sorbate at this point to kill the liquid, but I like to add as little chemicals as possible to our drinks.
12. Transfer the the wine to bottles and then…more waiting!
13. I usually open a bottle at month 3 to test if it is ready yet with most wines ready at about 6 months and getting tasty starting at about 9 months.

Notes & Follow-up

This plum wine ended up being a good smooth rich wine with a nice red color. It is one of Scott’s favorite wines and is almost gone. Time to find more plum trees this season to make some more.

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