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potassium sorbate on dried plums / prunes

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  • potassium sorbate on dried plums / prunes

    Hi folks. This is my first post. I am looking for some advice. I am not a very experienced winemaker.

    I have two questions about prunes. First, I sometimes think about adding dried plums, aka prunes, to my country wines but all I can find are ones treated with potassium sorbate, even the organic ones, and so-called "preservative free" ones (turns out they are just sulphite free). I gather even stewed / jarred prunes and prune nectar are made from sorbated prunes....In one of his recipes (but not his prune wine recipe) Jack Keller says to avoid dried fruit containing potassium sorbate, but it seems lots of people use prunes in their wines, so I am wondering how much of an issue it really is. Will rinsing remove the potassium sorbate adequately? To be on the safe side, should I wait with adding sorbated fruit until secondary, or at the end of fermentation, in which case it would not matter so much if the potassium sorbate prevents the yeast from reproducing?

    Second, I currently have an elderflower wine fermenting, made with water, sugar, white grape juice concentrate, elderflowers, sultanas, and a small amount of (red) gooseberry juice (didn't get many gooseberries as they are young plants and have just started bearing), lemon juice and zest, orange zest, tartaric, citric, and malic acids, 1118 yeast. I also added some vanilla bean and cardamon today. It has almost hit final gravity. I am thinking of adding some prunes still. My main reason for wanting to add them is to get a bit residual sweetness from the un-fermentable sugar, sorbital (not to be confused with potassium sorbate), they contain but I wish to avoid an obvious prune flavour. What amount, if any, of prunes can I use in a white wine and still avoid prune flavour?

    I suppose another source of sorbital is pear juice, which I might consider for my next batch of Elderflower wine.

    Thanks in advance for any help.

    Cheers,

    Ukulele01.
    Last edited by Guest; 31-07-2017, 07:17 PM.

  • #2
    I would be hesitant to add prunes in any quantity to a white wine for fear of causing an off looking colour. As for the pot sorb question, I haven't come across dried fruit treated in this way before. I have encountered sulphites in dried fruit which poses no issue, but never pot sorb.


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    • #3
      Thanks HLA. Yes, good point about the colour. Might be best to leave them out of this Elderflower wine.

      But I would still like to know the how to handle potassium sorbate on prunes, if anyone knows. As I said, all of my locally available prunes have been treated with it. Mind you I live in a small town, with limited selection....It might be a North American thing.

      I do see sorbate free organic prunes for sale online, but that involves shipping, and would be quite expensive.

      Cheers,

      Ukulele01.

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      • #4
        I had a google but couldn't really find reference to using fruit that had been treated with pot sorb. To be honest, depending on the price of the treated fruit I would simply say give it a go, you won't find out unless you try. I would rinse the fruit well, soak for 10 minutes, drain then re soak overnight. Hopefully any pot sorb should be on the outer layers of the fruit plus its effectiveness should hopefully decline over time.


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