I finally got all of the figs I froze out of the freezer and made wine. It had come down to: make wine or don’t have room for this year’s corn! I have the carboys out of the way, by my fireplace. Definitely don’t need to use the fireplace right now!
So I got the figs out and away we went. They fermented quickly. There was thick foam all over the fruit. Once I took the fruit out: it was basically finished. So, I think I’ll use different yeast next time. I’ll also leave the fruit in longer and add more nutrients.
I may also run a small batch with the frozen mulberries I still have!
I made a 5 gallon batch with the figs. You can get a five gallon fermenting bucket here: 5 Gallon Fermentor it’s a good way to use a glut of fruit. Since I now have three fig trees in my yard, I’m going to have to perfect my fig wine!
A good deal on carboys: Set of Four
The ones in the link above don’t come with bungs or airlocks. After several batches of wine and trying different airlocks, I like these best: gnat stopping air locks
Moving five gallons of wine by myself stirred up some of the lees. (However, there was still probably three inches of thick sediment in the bottom of the bucket that didn’t come out with the wine.) Luckily, I still have to bottle all this wine. Once these settle again, I will have cleared wine to bottle. It’s much easier to run a siphon from something tall and narrow (like bottles) than something fat and squatty (like a big bucket.)
Since it’s summer, there’s always gnats coming in when we open doors. I just put paper towels and rubber bands around the ones that are not gnat proof. If you do this: check the water level in the air locks every week or so. You don’t want air getting to the wine, that’s how you make vinegar.
Some of the wine I’ve made over the past two years I would drink straight. Some I would mix in something else like sparkling water or some sort of fresh fruit juice. Making homemade wine is a science experiment. The only thing you are sure to end with is: a lot of alcohol you didn’t have before.
I’m starting to aquire enough wine that I may need to host a tasting! Meet you outside to try both the fig and cucumber wines.
Crazy Green Thumbs
Crazy Green Thumbs 
Never heard of it.
There are all sorts of homemade fruit wines. Wine making was a common thing to do, back before there were liquor stores. I have enjoyed the ones I have made. I like dry wines, so I don’t back sweeten mine, but you can if you like a sweeter wine. They turn out really well if you follow recipes that you can find online. It’s also a science experiment, which is what most of the things I do end up being. Thanks for coming by and commenting! I appreciate the visit.
I was raised on a farm in Austria, we made liquor and wine, but didn’t have figs, so fig wine was new to me. We used pears, berries, apples and plumps. My canning days are behind me. 🙂
Yes. I am getting to the age where I’d like to be a picker not a planter. Fruit trees are doing that for me. I’d love to know how you made wine. I think today’s wine making may be more complicated than it needs to be. Thanks for coming by. I always enjoy seeing you in the likes.
I hear you.
Interesting process, thank you for sharing. My grandparents made wine but doubt it was ever fig.
I think we all make wine with whatever we have way too many of! I’m going to build an outdoor drying rack to take care of the rest of my extras. Thanks for coming by, I appreciate the visit!
I smiled reading because I was thinking about how cool fig wine must be.
I had like 8 or 9, one gallon bags of figs in both the freezers we have. Once you freeze something you’re stuck with the texture changing. I love that my food forest has so many types of fruits. If I had all of it come in at once I would be completely overwhelmed. That’s why people used to live in multigenerational households. You needed a lot of help after harvest!
That makes sense. I had a friend in elementary school whose household included the grandmother, an aunt and uncle, her parents, and her siblings. They accomplished more in a month than our family managed to do in three times the time. I always marveled at that…
That sounds weird, although this is not the first time that I heard of it. I found directions for it in an old cook book. That particular recipe sounded sketchy, since it involved boiling the figs.
Yes. Boiling the fruit is a bad idea. There’s a reason the Roman’s squashed the fruit with their feet instead of boiling it in a big pot. Although, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to drink toe jam in my wine….
EW! The yeast that ferments the fruit is already on the fruit, unless, of course, it gets boiled.
Hehehe. Glad I grossed you out! 😂
I am not. EW!