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A couple of threads recently, refering to rowan, elder and a few other "wild" fruit sources, have pointed out that this year there seems to be a few discrepancies in respect of their "normal" ripening times.....
Now I'm suspecting that some of this is due to the week or so hot weather at the end of june/early july. Also to the geographic location as to how much sunlight was "received" etc.
Now I understand, especially to some of the comments re the rowan berries. Around here, there seem to be lots of the trees that are showing the berries as ripe i.e. the berries fully formed and darkly coloured (orange as you probably know), plus the weight of the fruit causing the small branches/twigs to bend over etc.
Now, with that in mind, what other processes are happening ? Is it just at this stage they're "topping up" the internal/natural sugars ? or what.
If a batch was harvested and then steam juiced, why shouldn't I just use a bit of extra table sugar to bring the gravity up to what is "normal" for a batch of wine ?
I mean, it's not, after all, like making wine with grapes when part of the ripening process is allowing the fruit to develop enough natural sugar to be ready to harvest - and I understand that part of the husbandry of grapes is to test the juice with a refractometer to decide when they're ready......
Whereas, with country wines/melomels and other honey based wines, we add water and sugar (in one form or another) to X amount of fruit to make a "wine like" product, as just using the fruit juice would render the wine hideous/foul/disgusting/undrinkable .......
Hence I'm wondering why it is that I can't (or shouldn't) use fruit that isn't "quite ready" sugar-wise, but apart from that, is ready for picking.....
regards
jtfb
p.s. yes I know that we can "float test" elderberries, but when they're ready they've gone very dark in colour and can usually tell when they're not - but not only am I a little confused with the rowans but have also recently found some sloes that "look" right, despite it being normal practice not to pick them until after the first frosts (which do seem a long time away right now and I'd rather get some early than leave them till it's too late and they're starting to spoil).
Now I'm suspecting that some of this is due to the week or so hot weather at the end of june/early july. Also to the geographic location as to how much sunlight was "received" etc.
Now I understand, especially to some of the comments re the rowan berries. Around here, there seem to be lots of the trees that are showing the berries as ripe i.e. the berries fully formed and darkly coloured (orange as you probably know), plus the weight of the fruit causing the small branches/twigs to bend over etc.
Now, with that in mind, what other processes are happening ? Is it just at this stage they're "topping up" the internal/natural sugars ? or what.
If a batch was harvested and then steam juiced, why shouldn't I just use a bit of extra table sugar to bring the gravity up to what is "normal" for a batch of wine ?
I mean, it's not, after all, like making wine with grapes when part of the ripening process is allowing the fruit to develop enough natural sugar to be ready to harvest - and I understand that part of the husbandry of grapes is to test the juice with a refractometer to decide when they're ready......
Whereas, with country wines/melomels and other honey based wines, we add water and sugar (in one form or another) to X amount of fruit to make a "wine like" product, as just using the fruit juice would render the wine hideous/foul/disgusting/undrinkable .......
Hence I'm wondering why it is that I can't (or shouldn't) use fruit that isn't "quite ready" sugar-wise, but apart from that, is ready for picking.....
regards
jtfb
p.s. yes I know that we can "float test" elderberries, but when they're ready they've gone very dark in colour and can usually tell when they're not - but not only am I a little confused with the rowans but have also recently found some sloes that "look" right, despite it being normal practice not to pick them until after the first frosts (which do seem a long time away right now and I'd rather get some early than leave them till it's too late and they're starting to spoil).
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