making fruit wines

I have the making wild wines book by John Peragine. The book calls for adding the fruit to a bag and allowing it to ferment like that in the primary. Is there anything wrong with blending the fruit and then adding it to the primary without the bag?

winewitted said:

I have the making wild wines book by John Peragine. The book calls for adding the fruit to a bag and allowing it to ferment like that in the primary. Is there anything wrong with blending the fruit and then adding it to the primary without the bag?

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Well, no, not at all. It's just almost impossible to then rack the wine without clogging up your siphon due to all the fruit particle junk.

winewitted said:

I have the making wild wines book by John Peragine. The book calls for adding the fruit to a bag and allowing it to ferment like that in the primary. Is there anything wrong with blending the fruit and then adding it to the primary without the bag?

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For most of my fruit, I cut them into quarters. Blueberries, I corse chopped them with a food processor, then put them into a mesh bag.

Fermentation will really break down the fruit, so there is no reason to blend.

Use a mesh bag, it's the only way to do fruit!!

Its easy to go bagless, drop all your fruit in the primary and stir it up good twice a day, after the fruit has been in there long enough you can scoop it off the top of the cap, or you can strain it through a filter bag and into your secondary. No need to use a racking can to transfer it, you get better fruit contact with the must all day, not just when you squeeze the bag a little and you cont have to wash the bag out. Some people use those paint strainer bags from the hardware store, not food grade enough to leave in your must for a couple of days or a week but probably ok to use to strain through between primary and secondary.WVMJ

winewitted said:

I have the making wild wines book by John Peragine. The book calls for adding the fruit to a bag and allowing it to ferment like that in the primary. Is there anything wrong with blending the fruit and then adding it to the primary without the bag?

Click to expand...

I only make fruit wines and I freeze the fruit first because it breaks it down faster. Be sure to use pectic enzyme to further break it down.
I bought paint strainer bags at Lowe's and put my fruit in the bag. After a couple of days, I squeeze the bag daily with sanitized hands.

WVMJ said:

Its easy to go bagless, drop all your fruit in the primary and stir it up good twice a day, after the fruit has been in there long enough you can scoop it off the top of the cap, or you can strain it through a filter bag and into your secondary. No need to use a racking can to transfer it, you get better fruit contact with the must all day, not just when you squeeze the bag a little and you cont have to wash the bag out. Some people use those paint strainer bags from the hardware store, not food grade enough to leave in your must for a couple of days or a week but probably ok to use to strain through between primary and secondary.WVMJ

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wow so you actually prefer to ferment without the bag? Do you notice any differences in flavor or clearing time?

novalou said:

For most of my fruit, I cut them into quarters. Blueberries, I corse chopped them with a food processor, then put them into a mesh bag.

Fermentation will really break down the fruit, so there is no reason to blend.

Use a mesh bag, it's the only way to do fruit!!

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I bought a nutmilk bag, seems more reusable than the bags they sell at the brewery, online those r just rated for 3 uses max, plus this was just $8.99

I re-use my Lowe's bags many times. I rinse them well and dry them and then soak them in Iodophor and rinse and use again.

Yes, after the cap forms well we just scoop it out and put it into a strainer bag and squeeze if it needs it. We have a China Hat strainer that holds strainer bags over a bucket, easy peasy One reason we dont use a bag is that we use as much fruit as possible, its hard to put 40 pounds of strawberries in a bag and get the juice from them. We also like the macerate our fruit, freeze them like most people do, crush them, add pectinase and let it go overnight. We then like to squeeze the fruit in the bag and ferment the juice. If we want the fruit in there longer just let it float around and squeeze later. The thing I dont like about the paint strainer bags the country they are made in has a big lead contamination problem, the paint strainer bags are not food grade, come from a place that puts plastic in baby food, probably no escaping using some form of them and who knows whats in them?? WVMJ

winewitted said:

wow so you actually prefer to ferment without the bag? Do you notice any differences in flavor or clearing time?

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