Plum Wine — Home Brew Recipe
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Style: Plum Wine | ABV: ~11% | Volume: 4.5 litres (6 bottles) | Difficulty: Beginner
About This Recipe
Plum wine is one of the great British garden wines — golden to pale ruby in colour depending on the plum variety, with a rich stone fruit flavour and a fragrant floral note. Garden plums in late July and August are perfect, but Victoria plums from the supermarket work equally well year-round.
Ingredients
- 1.5kg ripe plums
- 1.1kg winemaking sugar
- 4 litres water
- 1 tsp citric acid
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1 packet Young's Dried Active Yeast
Method
- Halve and stone the plums (stones can impart a bitter almond flavour if fermented). Place in a sterilised vessel.
- Pour over 2L of boiling water to soften the fruit. Allow to cool completely.
- Mash fruit thoroughly. Dissolve sugar in remaining 2L water (cooled) and add to vessel.
- Add citric acid, yeast nutrient. Take OG reading (target ~1.080).
- Pitch yeast, cover loosely. Stir daily for 4 days.
- Strain through muslin bag, transfer to fermenting vessel, fit airlock.
- Ferment 4–6 weeks. Rack with syphon when sediment builds.
- Bottle when clear and stable. Age 3–6 months.
Brewer's Notes
Always remove the stones before fermenting — they contain small amounts of cyanogenic compounds that can give the wine an unpleasant bitter almond aftertaste. Red-fleshed plums will give a deeper, rosé-like colour to the finished wine.