# Feijoa Wine



## kenour (27/4/11)

Hey All,

I have a glut of feijoas this year and have decided to make a feijoa wine. I found this recipe online and keen to give it a whirl, I'll multiply the recipe by 4 (to fill my 25lt fermenter, and eventually age in a 23lt glass carboy) and use honey instead of sugar and see how I go 

Any suggestions?



> Feijoa Wine Recipe
> Ingredients:
> Enough feijoas to yield 1 kilos of feijoa flesh
> 1 kilo of sugar
> ...



Cheers,

Ken.


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## kjparker (27/4/11)

kenour said:


> Hey All,
> 
> I have a glut of feijoas this year and have decided to make a feijoa wine. I found this recipe online and keen to give it a whirl, I'll multiply the recipe by 4 (to fill my 25lt fermenter, and eventually age in a 23lt glass carboy) and use honey instead of sugar and see how I go
> 
> ...




You could send me some of the Feijoa's! My Missus loves them, but cant get any here in Australia!

Where did you get your tree?


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## kenour (27/4/11)

clueless said:


> You could send me some of the Feijoa's! My Missus loves them, but cant get any here in Australia!
> 
> Where did you get your tree?



I have 6 bearing fruit, my uncle has over 100 in his orchard. My Gran (his Mum) had 10 trees in New Zealand that were massive, about 40 years old. I used to have a rope swing attached to one of the branches when I was young, very fond memories. Gran used to make feijoa pie and preserve heaps of them every year. So we both grew up with them as our favourite fruit.

So pretty much everyone in my family has a couple in their back yard 

I'm really hoping that this batch turns out ok, because I'm hoping to scale things up next year with fruit from my uncles orchard.


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## pdilley (27/4/11)

Feijoa trees have to be around here, I just bought a jar of home made Feijoa chutney from the country Sunday market where I live.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete


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## kenour (27/4/11)

Brewer Pete said:


> Feijoa trees have to be around here, I just bought a jar of home made Feijoa chutney from the country Sunday market where I live.
> 
> Cheers,
> Brewer Pete



Better not have pinched any from my trees! Which market?


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## A3k (27/4/11)

I've got a feijoa tree that's fruiting. was on my block when i bought my house.
i've tried the fruit, but it's not really my thing.

Unless the Feijoa wine is amazing, i don't think i'll be using the fruit.

if there's anyone in adelaide that wants some fruit, you're welcome to it.


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## pdilley (27/4/11)

kenour said:


> Better not have pinched any from my trees! Which market?



Dereel. Probably is nearly halfway between Colac and Ballarat.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete


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## Greg Lawrence (27/4/11)

Has anyone in Sydney had any luck growing them?

Ive got a couple of young trees that havent produced anything after 3 years.

I was back in NZ a few weeks ago and ate so many that they gave me the shits.
Tried a feijoa beer too (by Mata). That wasnt too flash.
I made some feijoa & passionfruit wine about 20 years ago. It turned out more like a liquor than a wine (because I didnt know what I was doing), but it was bloody beautiful all the same.


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## kenour (27/4/11)

Gregor said:


> Ive got a couple of young trees that havent produced anything after 3 years.



Sounds about right, my grandparents moved over here a few years back; they planted feijoas but didn't get anything for the first few years. They do take a while before they produce. They're nearly as bad as avocados, I've got a tree that's nearly 10 years old now and still hasn't fruited!



Gregor said:


> I was back in NZ a few weeks ago and ate so many that they gave me the shits.



Sounds like my sister... The frequency of her visits seem to pick up around april/may for some reason. A mysterious 10 or so minute gap also seems to appear from when I hear her pull up to when the door bell rings during these visits. Instead of parking near the house like usual she also tends to park half way down the drive way next to the feijoa trees... strange!


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## felten (27/4/11)

We have a feijoa growing down here in melb, I thought it would be too cold but apparently they like a bit of frost to start them fruiting. Just under 2m high so it's more of a shrub ATM really. Took a while to get started but it's fruiting really well now, but not enough to make a batch of wine this year.


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## kenour (28/4/11)

felten said:


> We have a feijoa growing down here in melb, I thought it would be too cold but apparently they like a bit of frost to start them fruiting. Just under 2m high so it's more of a shrub ATM really. Took a while to get started but it's fruiting really well now, but not enough to make a batch of wine this year.



I'm in Ballarat, and they're doing quite well. They do like a bit of cold


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## felten (28/4/11)

Just got gifted 10kg of feijoas so it looks like I'll be making wine after all.


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## barls (28/4/11)

i made a mead last year but only got 2 750ml bottles of it so, will let oyu know how it tastes when i do open it though.


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## Screwtop (28/4/11)

Friend out of town here has a Feijoa Orchard..................hmmm. 

OT I know but I googled around and found a few Feijoa beers such as the one from MATA of Aotearoa Breweries NZ.

Sounds like a plan!

Screwy


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## kenour (29/4/11)

The biggest problem I think I'm going to have with this recipe is how quickly feijoa oxidises. I'm thinking I'll have to do it a kilo at a time. I'll just collect the windfalls every couple of days and shuck them into ziplock bags and freeze them. Then when I have 6kg of pulp, defrost and get them straight into the water. I often add a little lemon juice when I'm shucking feijoas to make pie to keep the nasty oxidisation away. I don't know how it would affect this recipe though, not sure how lemon juice would react with the other ingredients.


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## Greg Lawrence (29/4/11)

barls said:


> i made a mead last year but only got 2 750ml bottles of it so, will let oyu know how it tastes when i do open it though.




Hey Barls, where did you get the feijoas?


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## barls (29/4/11)

father in law


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## kenour (30/4/11)

I shucked 4kg of feijoa's today and got 1.8kg of pulp. So it seems you get a little less than half pulp retained by weight. I then did another bag and got 3.5kg in total, so more than half way there. I've put it in an ice cream container and whacked it in the freezer as instructed, I just have to wait for some more fruit to ripen so the freezing comes in handy!

Just looking at the recipe, it says to sit in a bucket for 3 days then strain into fermenter and pitch yeast. For others that have made this kind of wine (fruit wine of any sort), could you see a problem with leaving the pulp in during primary fermentation then straining? Trying to retain and much flavour as possible. If I let the pulp thaw then blitz it with a hand blender before combining the ingredients, then rack carefully after primary fermentation would I retain more flavour? Or would treating the fruit so harshly have a bad result? I suppose they don't blitz grapes when they make wine do they?


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## Golani51 (2/5/11)

felten said:


> Just got gifted 10kg of feijoas so it looks like I'll be making wine after all.



Any idea how much and where they can be bought?


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## felten (2/5/11)

Golani51 said:


> Any idea how much and where they can be bought?


No idea, they were a gift.


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## kenour (9/5/11)

600g short on pulp at the moment... My bastard geese decided they like feijoa's and nearly stripped all my trees while I was at work. There are a few up high that aren't rip yet, looks like I'll start putting it together next weekend instead!


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## barls (9/5/11)

saw some of these, in the harris farm in north stratfield on the weekend.


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## kjparker (10/5/11)

Golani51 said:


> Any idea how much and where they can be bought?




Believe it or not, my local coles has them I just found out. The missus is very happy. Though she object to paying $1.80 each for them though!


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## kenour (10/5/11)

clueless said:


> Believe it or not, my local coles has them I just found out. The missus is very happy. Though she object to paying $1.80 each for them though!



Ahh, unfortunately they haven't selectively bred them to be hard tasteless crap, so they don't travel and store as well as modern tomatoes! Hence the high price.


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## kenour (15/5/11)

clueless said:


> Believe it or not, my local coles has them I just found out. The missus is very happy. Though she object to paying $1.80 each for them though!



I just saw them at my local coles...





I fed the ones that looked like these to the geese! At that price, I've used about $1000 worth 

Ok, I've finished step one, everything is in a bucket which I mix up twice a day. Just thinking though, I've used honey instead of sugar, so I'm essentially making a feijoa melomel. Are there any mead masters here who can advise me on method from here? The recipe suggest straining after a few days of mixing them pitching yeast? But for mead (and other fruit wine recipes I've read) it says leave the fruit in during primary fermentation then strain? Suggestions? Reasons why I shouldn't leave the fruit in during primary fermentation?

I just think I'll get a stronger feijoa flavour if the yeasties work directly on the fruit pulp as well as the juice I've released? Right?

Cheers!


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## Golani51 (18/5/11)

kenour said:


> I shucked 4kg of feijoa's today and got 1.8kg of pulp. So it seems you get a little less than half pulp retained by weight. I then did another bag and got 3.5kg in total, so more than half way there. I've put it in an ice cream container and whacked it in the freezer as instructed, I just have to wait for some more fruit to ripen so the freezing comes in handy!
> 
> Just looking at the recipe, it says to sit in a bucket for 3 days then strain into fermenter and pitch yeast. For others that have made this kind of wine (fruit wine of any sort), could you see a problem with leaving the pulp in during primary fermentation then straining? Trying to retain and much flavour as possible. If I let the pulp thaw then blitz it with a hand blender before combining the ingredients, then rack carefully after primary fermentation would I retain more flavour? Or would treating the fruit so harshly have a bad result? I suppose they don't blitz grapes when they make wine do they?




Is there any reason not to chuck it in a fermenter from the beginning? Why cover with a cloth?

Also, what is the ideal wine yeast for this sort of thing?

Thanks, 

R


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## kenour (19/5/11)

Golani51 said:


> Is there any reason not to chuck it in a fermenter from the beginning? Why cover with a cloth?



That's what I'm asking you fella's  I just chucked it in a fermenter with a solid lid (hasn't been drilled out for an airlock) and shook it up twice a day. Then when it came to pitching the yeast, I changed the lid for one with a airlock. I've decided to leave all the pulp in there, I'll come up with some convoluted way to filter it when I rack it.

I'm thinking of filtering through pantihose (new and sanitised of course! ) which I could attach to the bottom of the siphon tube with a rubber band. This should remove quite a bit of the pulp sludge mixed with dead yeasties that will no doubt be waiting for me at the bottom of the fermenter. I plan to rack under argon so oxidisation _shouldn't_ be a problem (fingers crossed).



Golani51 said:


> Also, what is the ideal wine yeast for this sort of thing?



Because of the temperature of where my fermenters sit (around 15C at the moment), I decided to use an SN9. I did want to use a CY17 (because I had a spare in the fridge) but it quits about 15C, it was also recommended that I try a MA33, maybe next time when it's warmer


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## Golani51 (27/5/11)

kenour said:


> Because of the temperature of where my fermenters sit (around 15C at the moment), I decided to use an SN9. I did want to use a CY17 (because I had a spare in the fridge) but it quits about 15C, it was also recommended that I try a MA33, maybe next time when it's warmer



I am not familiar with these yeasts. Are they red or white wine yeasts?


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## kenour (27/5/11)

Golani51 said:


> I am not familiar with these yeasts. Are they red or white wine yeasts?



There's a pdf on their side that has all the info 

http://www.vintnersharvest.com/


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## Golani51 (27/5/11)

kenour said:


> There's a pdf on their side that has all the info
> 
> http://www.vintnersharvest.com/



Thanks. Read up about it in the middle of the night and grabbed some today. Many thanks.


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## KudaPucat (2/6/11)

The cloth is to prevent nasties from entering the fermentation vessel.
The cloth is preferred by some over a sealed vessel, because oxygen can penetrate the cloth. Yeast likes oxygen in the initial stages of fermentation. do a search on 'fermentation breaks' or 'sugar breaks' or '1/3 break'
Oxygen helps the yeast to breed, denial of oxygen helps them to ferment. Yeast breeding period is known as the 'lag phase'
Should you not supply enough oxygen you can be in for a very long ferment, and perhaps some off flavours too.


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## MarcusA (31/8/11)

I think the price for feijoas definitely depends on where the feijoa comes from - I think I once heard that the Brazilian feijoa is a little bit more expensive than others but I am not quite sure if that is true?

To be honest I would love to try out this recipe for Feijoa Wine because it sounds incredibly delicious and I have never actually made a wine like that before!
I really appreciate good wines that do not have the typical tastes and ingredients for they appear more interesting to me. I once even got a wine delivered from the uk from my parents that had a special taste of lime in it and I totally fell in love with this wine!

The other thing is - since I am quite new to wine brewing / making I wonder if it is a tough call to try out your Feijoa Wine? Would you consider it an easy process or do you think that it needs a lot of know-how?


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## Golani51 (11/9/11)

MarcusA said:


> I think the price for feijoas definitely depends on where the feijoa comes from - I think I once heard that the Brazilian feijoa is a little bit more expensive than others but I am not quite sure if that is true?
> 
> To be honest I would love to try out this recipe for Feijoa Wine because it sounds incredibly delicious and I have never actually made a wine like that before!
> I really appreciate good wines that do not have the typical tastes and ingredients for they appear more interesting to me. I once even got a wine delivered from the uk from my parents that had a special taste of lime in it and I totally fell in love with this wine!
> ...



It is an easy process. I m about to open one I bottled in June....hopefully it will have turned out well. I have another 8 or so I will leave till Christmas this year and the year thereafter.


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## punkin (25/9/11)

I bought a fejoia (pineapple guava) tee from my local nursery a couple of years back. It's only 4 foot tall yet and has fruited since the second year but only a dozen or so fruits at a time.
I'm in Tamworth NSW and get hard frosts all winter.

Once you can recognise the trees you tend to see them in gardens all over. Most people round here don't use the fruit and if you approached someone with a large tree and offered to spray the fruit for fly and harvest. i'm posistive most would happily agree on the promise of a bottle of wine.


Seems to me that i see a lot of large trees in peoples gardens with their fruit rotting on the ground and making a mess for their mowers


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