Peach Wine - Does it still suck? 

I’ve never done a pure peach, but here’s what I was told about fermenting peaches. - ferment ripe, fresh peaches that are easily separated from their stones and juicy - leave the skins on - make sure you have a good source of tannins and some acidity - use plenty of peaches, and use a brew bag - give it time to age - ABV around 10-12%, no higher - make sure the fermentation is really healthy: nutrient, off-gassing, plenty of yeast to start - peaches both in primary and secondary - prepare yourself for a lot of sediment - best steer away from peach juice or canned peaches (apparently the flavour doesn’t carry through well Can’t speak from experience, but I’ve been asking questions as I’m very much intrigued by the idea and want to make a peach mead. Last but not least: a giant, big OH YES PLEASE on a fuzzy navel mead!

2:27 Brian casually moving the glass away from Derica's talking with her hands made me chuckle.

I am going to put words into Brian's mouth. Peach mead, "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!" Thanks for accepting the challenge Brian.😁

Heyyy how cool! I just found a bottle of peach mead I brewed just over a year ago. Originally it wasn't very good. It was very sharp and hit the sour glands a bit. We popped it open and instantly a beautiful peach scent basically filled the room. It also tasted great. The sharpness mellowed out and it was very similar to peach nectar if you've ever tried it. Great vid as always. Y'all have taught me soo much over the years. Thank you.

I make a peach wine with fresh peaches each year. I often will add cinnamon and nutmeg and oak chips after first racking. Just slightly back sweetened. I’m always trying to improve it but I enjoy it.

I've been hoping you would try it again. I've got access to a lot of peaches.

I've just finished, and am about to bottle, 2 gallons of peach from whole peaches. It's as clear as a bell, fruity, and delicious. Keep going Brian, peach can be done and it's delightful.

Fuzzy Navel Mead sounds AWESOME! It could be the start of a larger series of meads based on popular drinks...

Fortified peach wine! Sounds great. This short little taste test (and some of the comments) have given me some ideas because I have been thinking about making peach wine. Maybe doing some secondary with dried peaches to help the peachiness and definitely back sweetening, because things that are normally sweet can taste weird when all the sugars are fermented out. Thanks for the video.

I made some peach wine a few years ago. I was pretty good, the taste reminded us of apricot brandy. I did back sweeten it, it wasnt dry.

YES YES that would be awesome and amazing mead experiment

"If in doubt, get the Cointreau out!" Potential T-shirt idea ;)

I did a Peach Wine from ripe peaches last year. My takeaway was that, whatever goes on with peach, the yeast don't enjoy themselves as much as they should. (the "Peach Cobbler" or "Candied Peach" observation is pretty good, also) It ended up, after a year, with a very pleasant flavor. Just, ridiculously sweet (to the liking of a few people I had try it who aren't into anything less than that). It certainly had alcohol, both by the SGs and the feel after a couple bottles, but, something about peach, in my experience, makes the yeast give up way earlier than they would in, say, Strawberry Wine, or something like that. Which, seems contradictory to your guys' experience. I also didn't get that rocket-fuel ethanol flavor from mine. If anybody cares, I can dig up my recipe notes out of the kitchen, so that maybe we can help coalesce people to something in the middle ground if they care to ask! I'm tired as hell and sitting at my desk, 1 foot from my bed, though. Just a couple cents worth.

Hello! You mentioned making this with honey. So a peach mead. I have made peach mead called, "Hot Summer Night" and, in my opinion, it was awesome! I left it dry and each time I poured a glass, I would sweeten it with a teaspoon of the same honey I used to ferment with. I also aged it in an oak barrel. I will provide the recipe I followed. It is not my recipe so I cannot take credit. I know some people don't click links, so I will provide the ingredients here. But the link to the full recipe and steps are at the link provided. “Hot Summer Night” Peach Mead - 5 gallons 18 lbs. Peaches 12 lbs. Honey (light and delicate) 2 lbs. Light Brown Sugar 5 gallons Water 2 1/2 tsp. “Beverage People” Yeast Nutrient for Meads 2 1/2 tsp. Pectic Enzyme 5 Tbl. stock Sodium Misulfite solution (after fermentation) 3 oz. Tartaric Acid 1 tsp. Grape Tannin 5 grams “Prise de Mousse” Wine Yeast Original Brix: 20 Total Acid: 6-6.5% - Using a fermenting bag is recommended. -Full recipe here: www.thebeveragepeople.com/MeadRecipes/HotSummerPeach.pdf

Hi Brian & Derrika. I made peach wine a few years ago. It wouldn't naturally clear. I ended up adding pectolase & it cleared perfectly. 👍 😉 The Fuzzy Naval Mead sounds great. 👍

I made peach mead a while back, using 96oz of peach puree in a 6 gallon batch, and I liked it. The peach flavor was very subtle, as I recall, and it reminded me of a pinot grigio.

Yes Fuzzy Naval Peach Mead 2 thumbs up from me! Fuzzy Naval was the first drink I had at my college pub.

I LOVE Tamarack!! One of my favorite places in the world. I grew up going to West Virginia almost every year and I always begged my parents to stop off so we could look at all the art work. Now I take my wife and Daughter every chance we get. They also have great local wines. I'll keep my eyes peeled for those peaches next time we drive through!

I got some fresh peaches and nectarines In my freezer that I’m about to try in a mead. Was originally going to make one of each but might try them together. I like the idea of adding orange was also thinking of maybe adding a little vanilla.

Yes who knows a peach mead might bee the first peach alcoholic beverage that might actually meet your expectations. Using an orange blossom honey might be easier to find than say a peach blossom honey, but the one to go for if you can get it.

I'm with you Brian, peach is very rough to say the least. I am about to experiment with white peaches only because we got so many on the trees this year. looking at making a mead and adding peach as secondary.

Ive made a peach/vanilla mead. I used canned peaches which i froze and i also used the juice they came in. Super lovely mix If anyone's interested for the recipe (5liters) Primary: Wildflower honey 1.5 kgs of honey About 1 kg of canned peaches (not including the juice) The juice and fill with water until you got 5 liters liquid total (add cup of black tea for tannins) I used my locals brand brewers yeast which can to 15 procent In secondary after racking: Add 1 or 2 vanilla sticked sliced through the middle (let extract until satisfied with amount of vanilla taste, i did 4 weeks)

I live in West Virginia and love going to that place! It's really cool hearing you guys talk about it!

Yall have to do that one. That sounds delicious.

Happy news. I comment on one of your videos almost two months ago on being stationed in Greenland and not having my brewing equipment. Two weeks ago, my household goods came in and the day I got my stuff, I started two single gallon brews. Today, I racked them. One is orange blossom honey with mulberries from my tree back home. Its saying 10.5% ABV with two cups of the same honey. It tasted quit nice for it's age and I am looking forward to bottling it and giving it some age. The 2nd gallon was made with Sam's Club honey (🤣) and blackcurrant jam at 6% ABV. It is very sweet and I hope it loses some of that, because it will not be consumed to often. Check them again in a couple weeks to see. Calling them my Greenland Mead.

I suspect this would benefit from a splash of simple syrup or a drop of honey. A bit of sweetness could greatly improve it.

I did a strawberry/peach wine that turned out well, I used "simply peach" peach juice as the base then added smuckers strawberry jam to primary, I dont think I needed any extra sugars. After primary i added dehydrated and freeze dried strawberries to conditioning and the result was fantastic, strawberry forward with peachy undertones. I think I used 71beast and some fermaid o too, but thats it!

Love the fuzzy navel mead idea but think you may be onto something with fermented peach. Maybe just a basic mead with peaches and orange zest in secondary? Or better yet make a large batch of basic mead and try several peach variations in secondary (fuzzy navel, peach pie, and "tropical" with maybe peach, pineapple, and mango)

I just threw together a "grocery store" peach wine. 2 64oz bottles of ocean spray white cran peach juice. 2 18oz jars of peach preserves 1/2 lb of sugar 2 cups of hibiscus tea Fermaid o, pectic enzyme, wine tannin 1 packet of lalvin k1-v1116 Starting gravity was 1.100 at 72 degrees It's only 4 days old but the must was DELICIOUS! To quote my wife "it's a party in my mouth" 😅

I look forward to seeing you make a passable peach

If you guys made a Fuzzy Navel Mead I'd be all over it. I LOVE peach and that would be the perfect beverage for me to try.

I did a gallon of dole peaches and syrup and all only added bentonite clay it was amazing.

I made a peach mead with your mead recipie and put 1lb of dried peaches in it almost 2 years ago. Haven't tasted it yet . It's been racked and aging in the dark. It was a 3 gal batch. Will b trying it soon have to let u know how it was.

I think I see a peach mead on the horizon

Im clearing now a Bochet peach :) Must try it :)

Would love to see the Fuzzy Navel Mead put up! :D

I like the peach mead idea.....use Fresh Peaches (in season), and I might suggest vanilla bean in there too?

Fuzzy Navel Mead!!!! Make it happen! Also, don’t know what, if any spices you added, but mace added to peach anything give best it a undefinable yummy. Food for thought.

Being born and raised from Florida myslef, have you all ever tried making an orange based brew? Like an orange cream, wheat beer, mead, etc?

Fuzzy Navel Mead sounds good to me.

I live 10 minutes from Tamarack. Cool place!

I have a white peach tree that produces the most declivous peaches. I have tried several variations over the last 4 years and have yet to produce a drinkable wine..

Maybe try a peach mead with the fruit in the secondary to avoid the fermented peach flavor.

The rest of that bottle of goop is Johns lol

as a chef i love using fruit in desserts - i have once and again i have baked plums or prunes fresh - halfed and deseeded afcause - put i a baking tray - and baked at a medium heat til the fruit is tender - cooled over night - and the skin is really easy to remove just with 2 fingers. And they are ready to be used i what ever way - but the same can be done Peaches - and they look fantastic when you remove the skins - the redish colors have transfured to the flesh, and the bitternes from the skins are gone also, and the taste is very more intens. sorry for my ill spelled rant - hope you can bear with me XD I thinks this would work very for you mead all the best - Christoffer

Orange n peach mead sounds good to me, my old folks grow mandarins and I grow some pretty good white flesh peaches, maybe with orange blossom honey? I've found a source and hours drive from my front door that I can get 1kg tubs of orange blossom honey for $8 which is crazy cause in the supermarket where I live its $7 for a 335gm jar, I was down that way today for my monthly psych appointment and grabbed 2 tubs. They also do blue gum and mallee which are eucalyptus blossom honeys from gumtrees which are great if you backsweeten the mead but a dry mead made with eucalyptus blossom honey... yuck. Its funny that you've not had luck with peach, I've never had luck with pear, always adds to the bitterness in my opinion.

I've made a peach wine, it takes about 3 months, and ends up as sort of a peach reisling, mine does get back sweetened. To get the flavor I wanted I had to add a cupful of peach fla or from olive nation.

I have never had luck with peaches either.

Having grown up in West Virginia, I wonder how this would pair with pepperoni rolls!

Great video guys I can’t to see what you guys come up with

I live near the oldest town in wv... (Romney) to be exact.....we have a peach festival every August......lots of peach orchards in the area. I like peaches, but don't want to go to the bother of making a wine that's not great.

🤔🤔🤔 Mayyybe *fresh* peaches *is* the issue. Maybe an experiment with *dried* peaches (assuming you haven't tried that already) will give you more of the flavor you're imagining in the finished product, be it wine or mead. I make mead and beer and have never used fresh fruit because I'm still exploring mead or beer aged on wood. I look forward to seeing how you both approach this challenge. In fact, it would be fun to see Brian make a peach wine and Derica explore some of her ideas on what she believes would solve the flavor problem when it comes to peaches. Super interesting! Thanks for this video and a peek into some of your older stash of experiments. Cheers!

Please made the Fuzzy Navel Mead. 😁

I'm also not a fan of my peach wine attempts. Whenever it does come out properly it still has a peach taste that I just dont like. Made 5 gallons last year and its still in the pantry

Royal Crown Peach Whiskey is GREAT! I horde bottles of it.

Yes to the Fuzzy Navel Mead.

LoL I love that fact that at 2.27 Brian moved Jessika's wine because she was waving her hands near the glass and could of waited the wine NO!!!!!!! LoL and just a thought if Brian ties her hands together can she still speak? just a thought about the flavour? have you thought about pasteurising the wine before bottling, then adding peaches to it and letting it rest for a week or so then bottling it? I have done this with raspberry wine and you get a strong raspberry flavour and you get the sweetness of the fruit coming into the wine (the wine I made did go to 0.98 way to dry for me)

How brian feels on peach, not liking fermented peach, that's how i feel about any hard apple beverage.

Hi Guys, try using Celestial Seasonings Country Peach Passion herbal tea next time you try peach. It comes out awesome. I have made my third gallon of this now because it is soooooooooooooooo yummy! I used your tea wine recipe. Ps: finally got a hydrometer. ☺

Fuzzy Navel Mead sounds awesome! @Derrica have you tried Angostura Orange bitters for adding orange flavour to drinks?

I love y'all videos. Glad y'all like helping the newbies. I gotta say i dont really like the ethanol flavor either. That does sound like a cool idea on fuzzy navel. Also welcome to the Tampa Bay area. Make sure yall get some Plant City strawberry when they're back in season. Hope Keel & Curly don't see that 🤫😄

please do make the peach mead. I live in SOUTH Africa and peaches are pretty easy to get here. My Fiancé's family g row peach trees and it would be great to have a good mead to use them in.

I have a wild idea. How about Peach Perry? Peach and pear wine/mead carbonated? Hell, I think I am going to have a go at that myself

Man I find anything 'berry' or 'fruit' without a little bit of sugar just makes my brain go 'huh?'

Yes! That sounds very interesting

I’ll make fuzzy naval mead with you! Let’s gooooo!!

I'm not a fan of peach, but I got into brewing after a friend introduced me to a homemade peach malomel. I haven't tried to make it yet, in CA not sure where I'd get the peach juice or peaches or whatever.

You need to make a Fuzzy Navel Mead

Persicamel is an awesome idea I did a white peach one a few years ago and it was a solid 9 in my book. I'd love to see how it would turn out for you guys.

Hmm makes me wonder how a spiced peach mead or maybe cyser would taste maybe a little clove n allspice or cinnamon. What are your thoughts? You two are my inspiration and somewhat teachers of this awesome hobby !

Fuzzy Navel Mead! YES!!!

Have you tried Peach Schnapps? This used to be my favorite a long time ago. Very sweet though.

What are your thoughts on sparkling dark wines? As a rule of thumb... I backsweeten and carbonate 1 bottle out of each batch, and have made some great sparkling red wines

Yes, Fuzzy Navel Mead, please.

Use that bottle turn it into a fortified wine if it tastes that much better

I have 2 1gallon zip lock bags crammed full of peaches and 2 1gallon bags of plums in my freezer just waiting

What about taking the peach juice and then reduce it down to the desired specific gravity?

A fuzzy navel mead wood work well I think. I've started putting a neutral sprit to most of my meads along with back sweetening and it changes the hole flavor of the drink.

Making a peach mead right now.

Oh, yeah. Do the FNM (fuzzy navel mead). But also do a straight peach mead and see if the addition of honey alone will make the difference you want.

Had the same problem with my peach mead. It is 3 years old and not good. The case I have is missing 2 bottles because it is now cooking wine. Very dry no flavor.

Fuzzy Peach Mead ;)

Yes add fuzzy Naval mead to the list

Brian and Derica: I have built a Google Sheets (compatible with Excel) spreadsheet that has formulas for calculating ABV (and you can change the coefficient but it defaults to 135), has a cheat sheet for ABV in half-percent steps from 5 to 20, it can calculate how much sugar or honey to add to reach a specific ABV given your starting gravity and final gravity and will provide the measurements in pounds, ounces, or grams, and it overall just eliminates the overall guess work and math involved and makes it super simple and quick to calculate about anything you’d need to know about your brew. I’d be willing to share with you and my fellow viewers of this channel, but I’d want to get your permission before doing so or for us to figure out how to get the link to you without having to post it in the comments. Keep up the great content! (And I’m now on my 4th brew since subscribing to the channel!)

Looking forward to it! LOL

I guess I should have said they are allergic to what we call blackberries.

I totally agree. Add Cointreau to anything makes it better. Yes, please make the fuzzy navel mead or wine, or maybe a CIDER 🤔

Hello! I'm a new subscriber and even newer brewer. I love your work. My son's University colors are black and gold. I know how to make a gold color mead of course, but can what can I use to make a black mead? Thank you, Edward.

I'm a trucker I spent alot of nights in the tamarack lol pretty good burger King in there an the pizza place . I still have a flattend penny from the thing outside the facilities hahahaha I had to comment on this

I thought Brian's nemesis was grapefruit... And jungle coffee.

Fuzzy Navel mead, cool! I've been thinking about how I could brew up different mixed drinks, like pina colada or moscow mule. Fuzzy navel fits right in to the concept

Try a carbonated peach wine

Have you tried a Peach Schnapps before? That type of beverage is dangerous for me (sweet, tasty, and hard to taste the alcohol) lol

Please, please make the Fuzzy Navel mead! That sounds so awesome!. (And if it doesn't work, there is always Cointreau. 😀)

I just flavour my brandy with peaches... if you can keep from nipping it every now and then and you did it right it becomes a syrupy sweet thing that's hard to resist... But here is my question, i think it's a good one; I've been on a whole fermenting buzz: drinks, sauces, vinnegars and the lot; And I would like to know if i can use fruit-leftovers from brewing to make vinnegar as well, double the use and flavours out of one batch... Are you guys familiar with it? And do I add sugar back in to make it work (I'm thinking yes, witch is why i now have a peach vinnegar batch) Don't know if it's your guys' thing, but if it's possible, it would make my projects half as expensive ;-)

Have you tried to using freestone peaches?

Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy Mead 👍🏻

Jusst curiouse how you made the peach brandy did you Jack it??? Plus a peach mead+ jacking it... Wow and yeah peaches smell like feet to me

I live in va like 1 hour an 15 mins from wv

Question, I recently purchased a 5 gallon fermenter and was wondering which of your brews you would recommend as a "breaking in" batch