How to Make Feijoa Wine

The Feijoa is a South American fruit and is sometimes called a pineapple guava. The yellow flesh is almost like a cross between a pineapple and a banana and is very sweet. The fruit is rich in citric acid but lack both tartaric and malic acids. For this wine, choose fruit that has a pungent fragrance and is slightly soft.

Things You'll Need

• 2-1/2 pounds of feijoas
• Sugar
• Water
• 1/4 tsp tannin
• 1/2 tsp tartaric acid
• 1/4 tsp malic acid
• 1-1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1 Campden Tablets
• Lalvin 71B wine yeast
• 1 gallon jug
• Airlock
• Balloon
• Small sealable jar
• Hydrometer

Instructions

1. 

   Preparation: Wash the feijoa fruit and peal it. Discard the peelings and chop fruit roughly. There is no need to remove the seeds.

2. Extraction: Place fruit in a large nylon straining bag. Tie it shut and put it in the primary fermenter. Press the fruit in the bag and squeeze it to extract as much of the juice as possible. Put the nylon bag with fruit aside in a clean glass bowl for now.

3. 

   Sugar Correction: Add enough water to the juice in the primary to make up one gallon. Measure specific gravity (SG) of the juice and water and add sugar to bring the SG up to 1100. As you add the sugar, stir thoroughly to dissolve it completely.

4. Additives: Add the tannin, tartaric acid, yeast nutrient, and pectic enzyme. Crush the Campden tablet and add at this time as well. Stir until dissolved. Submerge the bag of fruit pulp in the mixture. Do not remove it from the bag. Cover primary and set aside 12 hours.

5. 

   Yeast Starter: Add one tablespoon of sugar to 2 ounces of warm water (about 90 degrees) and stir until it is dissolved. Pour the yeast out of the package and float on top of the water for 10 minutes at room temperature. Stir in the yeast and wait another 5 minutes. Add the starter to the primary fermenter.

6. Primary Fermentation: Ferment as is for 6 days. Squeeze the bag of pulp every day to extract the juice and return it to the mixture. At end of the sixth day, squeeze bag thoroughly and discard the pulp and the bag. It's not recommended to reuse the bags from this type of application.

7. Secondary Fermentation: Allow wine to settle overnight in a cool area. Siphon the wine off of the sediments into a secondary fermenter (one gallon glass jug) and fit an airlock. You will probably have a little more than one gallon, so pour the extra juice into a sterile bottle just large enough to accept it and put a sterile balloon over the mouth of the bottle of juice and place in refrigerator. This will be used during racking for topping up. Place secondary fermenter in a cool dark place (closet works well). Ferment in secondary 30 days.

8. Racking: Rack into clean secondary, topping up with juice in refrigerator, and refit airlock. At this time discard the juice in the refrigerator that was not used. Allow to ferment for 90 days.

9. Clearing: At this time if the wine is clear, skip this step. If it is not, place the jug of wine in the refrigerator for about three days. This should cause any sediment to fall out. If that doesn't work, you can try a number of different clearing products on the market, but be aware that they can add minor flavors to the wine.

10. Bottling: Bottle the wine in sterile wine bottles with new, sterile corks. This recipe should yield 5 bottles.

11. 

    Aging: Age wine bottles on their side in a cool dark place for at least 6 months. It's recommended to wait a year for complete maturity.