Fruit and Root Wines

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Please note, most of the wines I make have a higher fruit content than usual, whilst it is possible to make wine with 3 lb of fruit, it is not as good as using 6 or 9 pounds.
When the wines are made with country fruit, there is little excuse, from the comments made about the quality of the wines, must be doing something right :) Preparation is to generally remove skin from fruit, puree fruit and then treat as usual.
Instructions are basic and at the moment for my own reference -  a lot is left out, may well in the near future add an idiots guide to wine making type of instruction list, but not just yet.
Unless otherwise specified:- 1 teaspoon of Tannin & Yeast nutrient (TronOzymol) per gallon. Water 2/3 rds in first week, then add when needed, i.e. leave big gap in demijohn to allow for frothing
Half the sugar dissolved in boiling water and added to pulp, second half dissolved in heated wine and allowed to cool - ensures not too large a volume is produced.
Banana 3 Gallons - Gervin's High alcohol tolerance (S.cerevisiae) French strain GV26 - 3 lb sugar / gallon 
Season
 Anytime
Well ripened bananas 
 12 pounds

The bananas should be left until the skins are essentially black as they will then be ripened fully, wine can be made when the bananas are less ripe, but the end product is not as good.

Blackberry & Elderberry 4 Gallons - Gervin's High alcohol tolerance (S.cerevisiae) French strain GV26 - 3 lb sugar / gallon - Pectolytic enzyme 24 hours delay to adding yeast
Season
 August to October
Mixed berries, approximately 50:50
 12 pounds
Preparation
 Wash the berries to remove insects and other detritus, then blend in liquidiser.
This year, the yeast was added the same time as the pectolase, with hindsight, this is a mistake and the pectolase should be left for 24 hours to clear the pectin from the wine. Pectin is are what give the wine a haze, great for jam, not great for wine.

Using a hydrometer, the wine is shown to be sweet (approx. 1.030) and hence has been divided from 4 demijohns into 5 demijohns. An additional sachet of the high alcohol yeast was added along with sufficient water to make upto 5 gallons. The wine will be left for a further few months to reduce the sweetness of the wine. NB, future wines being made at 2.5 lbs per gallon, having to ferment out for 2 years is not fun !
 
Blackberry
 4 Gallons - Gervin's High alcohol tolerance (S.cerevisiae) French strain GV26 - 3 lb sugar / gallon - Pectolytic enzyme 24 hours delay to adding yeast
Season
 August to October
Blackberries 
 22 pounds

Orange
 4 Gallons - Gervin's High alcohol tolerance (S.cerevisiae) French strain GV26 - 3 lb sugar / gallon - Pectolytic enzyme 24 hours delay to adding yeast
Season
 January to February - approx. 6 weeks
Sweet  & Seville oranges
 5-6 Kg Wash the oranges, remove the white pith and seeds, puree everything else.
Potato peeler / parer
 To remove the rind from the oranges without added pith

Mango
 1 gallon - Gervin's High alcohol tolerance (S.cerevisiae) French strain GV26 - 3 lb sugar / gallon - Pectolytic enzyme 24 hours delay to adding yeast
Season
 Summer
Preparation
 Remove the skin, easiest with a sharp knife and not a parer. Chill in the fridge 24 hours prior to this to make the flesh more firm and easy to handle. The mango flesh was frozen for a week and then defrosted and pureed. Next time just goto salad bar and buy pre- prepared mango

Huckleberry
 1 gallon - Gervin's High alcohol tolerance (S.cerevisiae) French strain GV26 - 3 lb sugar / gallon - Pectolytic enzyme 24 hours delay to adding yeast
Season
 Autumn, after the berries have been subjected to a frost. But freeze them anyway
Preparation
 Wash berries, freeze for a few days, defrost. Puree, boil in preserving pan. Can either mash them or squeeze the berries with a latex glove.
NB The juice stains anything it comes into contact with, clothes, skin etc. Excellent dye!
Ferment for a week as per usual, strain and add the rest of the sugar, put into demijohn.
Link
 Matt's Waite gave me a few ideas and the berries from Bodger who will make you most things historical

Apricot
 1 gallon - Gervin's High alcohol tolerance (S.cerevisiae) French strain GV26 - 2.5 lb sugar / gallon - Pectolytic enzyme 0 hours delay to adding yeast
Autumn
 Used 3x 500g punnets from Tesco's as they were on special
Preparation
 Place  in freezer, allow to freeze solid. Remove and cut with sharp knife, the flesh parts easily to the stone which can then be discarded. Puree, add stuff and sugar, ferment in bulk for a week, strain, add sugar, put into demijohn etc.....

Plum
 3 Gallons - Gervin's High alcohol tolerance (S.cerevisiae) French strain GV26 - 2.5 lb sugar / gallon - Pectolytic enzyme over 24 hours delay to adding yeast - not good to forget on warm day !
Autumn
 3 large punnets from local farm shop £5

Plums washed, cut with knife, then frozen until time to make them. Update - the demijohns smell "right", no odour suggesting any problems :)

Pumpkin

 3 Gallons, 2.5 pounds of sugar per gallon, 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient and amylase per gallon, high alcohol yeast
Season
 Autumn, but after Halloween
Pumpkin flesh
 23 pounds - rind and seeds discarded
The pumpkins were stripped of their seeds and the rind removed, then the pulp was cut up before being blended in a food processor. The pulp was then frozen, which incidentally  helps to break down the cells. Half the sugar was dissolved and mixed in with the wine as usual.


Marrow

 Gallons, 2.5 pounds of demerara sugar per gallon, 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient and amylase per gallon, high alcohol yeast
Season
 Autumn
Marrow flesh
 23 pounds, seeds and approximately 5 cm of the rind removed, so no green flesh remaining
Root ginger
 10 ounces, finely shredded
The marrow's were stripped of their seeds and the rind removed, then the pulp was cut up before being blended in a food processor. Half the sugar was dissolved and mixed in with the wine as usual.

Mango and Pineapple 2020 1 Gallon: 1.5 kg of frozen fruit, defrosted and pureed and then fermented in the demijohn for 3 months, next time will be bin ferment with half the sugar and then strain the pulp and add the other half of the sugar
Made from frozen fruit from the supermarket and as 3 gallons, but blending was needed Sugar was too much this time at 3 pounds per gallon, so 2.5 pounds per gallon, pectolase, yeast and nutrient. Think I used generic yeast that time, next batch will be a mangrove jack's MA33 as reported to be an acid reducing strain and the pineapple was quite acidic, needs to be 2 gallons of mango to 1 of pineapple. At the end, the 3 gallons were poured into a 5 gallon bin to degas and pour into bottles with a jug and funnel. Worth considering adding more mango fruit as well, say 4 kg and only 1 kg of pineapple. Will have to look into Mango and Strawberry.