I buy the Organic Daybreak blend whenever I’m at Costco and throw it in the freezer until I’m ready to make this white wine. The Daybreak Blend includes peaches, mango, strawberry and pineapple, so if you don’t have access to Costco, you can just use a blend of those fruits. If you’re buying fresh fruit, cut up the peaches, mangos and pineapple a few days in advance and then freeze them. Freezing helps break down the cell walls and allows the juice to be extracted easier.
I incorporate some black tea into this recipe for tannins and color. You don’t need to use tea, or you could use dried or liquid wine tannins instead. The pectic enzyme is also optional – it just helps the fruit release more juice during the fermentation process.
The resulting wine is a lightly fruity dry white that is one of my favorites. I make it at least a few times a year, and it’s great in summer months when the temperature heats up.
Daybreak (Mixed Fruit) Wine
Difficulty: ModerateIngredients & Equipment
Daybreak Blend frozen fruit (4 lbs)
Black tea of your choice (I like English Breakfast or PG Tips)
9 cups + 1/2 cup sugar
Fermonster 3-Gallon fermenter with mesh bag
Pectic enzyme (optional)
Bentonite
Fermax yeast nutrient
Lalvin EC-1118 yeast
Directions
- Prepare the Fruit
- At least three hours prior to making your wine, prepare the fruit
- Remove frozen fruit from bag and put it in a large stockpot
- Sprinkle a 1/2 cup of sugar on top of the fruit
- Let macerate for at least three hours (ideally longer), stirring occasionally
- Juice will accumulate in the bottom of the pot and the volume of the fruit itself will shrink
- Prepare the Tea
- Put 2-3 tea bags in a small pot with 3 cups of water
- Bring to a low simmer and turn off the heat
- Cover and let steep at least 30 minutes
- Remove from the stove and let cool to room temperature
- Making the Wine
- Sanitize your equipment
- Put the mesh bag in a large bowl (or another pot)
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fruit from the original pot into the mesh bag
- Squeeze as much juice from the fruit as you can
- Put the fruit in the mesh bag aside (do not throw out)
- Pour the original juice from the pot and the newly squeezed juice into the Fermonster
- Add 2 cups of black tea
- Add two gallons + 4 cups of water
- Add 9 cups of sugar and stir until dissolved
- Take a hydrometer reading – the starting gravity should be 1.070
- Add 1/2 tsp bentonite
- Add 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
- Add 10 drops of pectic enzyme (optional)
- Sprinkle Lalvin EC-1118 yeast and still until well mixed
- Add your mesh bag with the fruit to the Fermonster
- Add the Fermonster top and airlock
- Fermentation
- At least once a day, squeeze the fruit in the mesh bag to release juice into the wine
- Make sure to push the fruit under the liquid when returning to the Fermonster so that it never dries out (don’t worry that it will float back up)
- Ferment until the hydrometer reads 1.000 or less
- Rack the wine into two glass gallon jugs with airlocks (you’ll likely have another half gallon remaining, which you can put in a smaller container)
- Leave the wine until it clears or use Sparkolloid as directed for faster clearing
- Add Potassium Sorbate and Campden tablet if desired for stablizing
- Bottle