Homemade Guava Wine
This guava wine has a soft blush color and an enticing tropical-fruit aroma. It's simple to brew and makes a great solo or blending wine! It's a refreshing summer sipper with bright acidity and lush flavors. Note that this recipe uses fresh or frozen guava pulp, not candied dry guava paste. Check the freezer section of your grocery store, or make your own pulp with fresh guavas (see recipe notes).
Equipment
- 1 gallon jar or wide mouth fermenter
- 1 lid with airlock for gallon jar, or butter muslin & twine
- 1 gallon jug or demijohn
- 1 lid or stopper with airlock for jug
- 1 fine mesh drawstring nylon brewing bag (optional, but makes racking & removing fruit sediment easier)
- 1 stainless or plastic spoon
- hydrometer & test jar or refractometer
- siphon tubing & racking cane or autosiphon
- no-rinse brewery cleaner & sanitizer
Ingredients
- 24 oz fresh or frozen guava pulp (see notes to use fresh guava)
- 7 pints water (112 fluid oz: US pints)
- 2 ¼ lbs sugar (36 oz)
- 1 tbsp acid blend or citric acid
- ½ tsp pectic enzyme
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient (Wyeast wine yeast nutrient or similar)
- 1 tsp wine tannin (use colorless oak gall tannin if possible to preserve delicate color)
- 1 each KMS Campden tablet
- 1 packet wine or champagne yeast
Instructions
prep equipment & dissolve sugar
- Sanitize your primary fermenter (either a one gallon glass jar or small food grade bucket with an airlock, or crock and muslin cover).
- Clean and sanitize all of your other equipment. Assemble all ingredients and measuring tools.
- Weigh out the sugar and add it to the fermenter with half of the water.
add guava pulp & additives
- Add the fresh or frozen guava pulp to a clean and sanitized nylon brewing bag. I like to add either glass fermentation weights or a sanitized 4 oz mason jar to help keep the bag submerged in the fermenter.
- Add the fruit bag to the sugar mixture in the fermenter, and stir. Use a stainless spoon to press the bag down into the liquid until it is submerged (it may still float up if you haven’t added weights, this is ok.
- Add the pectic enzyme & acid blend. Stir and wait 30 minutes to an hour for the enzyme to work.
- Add the yeast nutrient and wine tannin (tannins can interfere with the action of the pectic enzyme). Stir again with your sanitized spoon.
- Take a hydrometer reading (or make sure to use a temperature chart to adjust the reading if you take it while your must is still warm). Write the specific gravity (SG) down in your brew-log or on a label on the fermenter.
- Crush one campden tablet (KMS) over the cooled must, and cover with the lid and airlock or tightly secure a fabric cover (you want to let out CO2 but keep out fruit flies… I prefer a lid and airlock but some people like to do a more open traditional fermentation).
pitch yeast & ferment
- Wait a full 24 hours for the campden tablet to work and dissipate, then add your packet of wine yeast. Sprinkle the yeast over the top of the wine must (or re-hydrate according to manufacturer’s instructions and pitch into your fermenter).
- Replace the lid and airlock. Place in a warm, dark place and check on it frequently. It should show signs of fermentation after 6-12 hours, with vigorous bubbling in the airlock within 48 hours. If it isn’t fermenting, check the temperature and move it into a warmer place. If it still doesn’t take off, you may need to repitch with a fresh packet of wine yeast.
remove fruit bag & first racking
- After about two weeks, or when the fermentation has greatly slowed (between 10-20 days), check the SG and make note of it.
- Using a sanitized spoon or clean hands, remove the nylon bag from the fermenter, and gently squeeze to extract all the liquid. If you didn't use a strainer bag, instead of racking, you'll want to gently pour your wine through a sanitized fine filter funnel into your fermenter.
- Rack (siphon from fermenter into jug) into your secondary fermentation container (probably a glass jug or carboy). Replace the airlock.
check SG, rack again & bulk age
- If your wine has thrown a lot of sediment in the container, you can carefully rack it into a clean and sanitized fresh jug after a few weeks. This is optional, for better clarity or an extended bulk aging (between 2-6 months).
- You may want to do a third racking a few days to a week before bottling (being careful to minimize splashing so that this delicate wine doesn't oxidize) to get your wine very clear.
- If you are doing a long aging before bottling, You may want to add a trace amount of sulphites to protect the wine from oxidation and infection. Rinse the jug or carboy with sulphite solution before racking, or add a fraction of a campden tablet.
- When your wine is perfectly clear and the SG has not dropped in at least two weeks, rack & bottle and cork or cap. Make sure it’s fermented all the way before bottling. This, plus added clarity, is a good reason to let your wines age in the jug before bottling them.
bottle your wine
- Bottle your finished guava wine in sanitized swing top or wine bottles with corks. Swing top bottles are convenient and good for short term storage. Bottles with corks are better if you plan to age your wine for more than a few months.
- Wash and scrub your bottles with a bottle brush or bottle washer, rinse well, and then sanitize with a no-rinse sanitizer. Rinsing the bottles with a sulphite solution is good for bottling wines as it will both sanitize the bottles and add a bit of protection to the wine against oxidation at bottling.
cellar & age
- Bottles with natural corks need to sit upright for a day or two before being turned on their sides for storage to make sure they don’t leak. Corks need time to fully expand after being compressed in the corker, then the corks should be in contact with the wine so they don't dry out. If you used synthetic corks, you can store your bottles either upright or on their sides.
- Label & cellar-age your guava wine for at least one month somewhere cool and dark. It is safe to drink immediately but tastes much better with time (sample some periodically and take notes to find what you prefer)!
Notes
To Make Fresh Guava Puree: Start with soft, ripe guava fruits. Wash them well and trim the stems. Dice or quarter them roughly, then puree in a food processor or blender. Strain the puree through a food mill or press it through a wire sieve to remove the fibers and seeds and make a smooth pulp.
Bottling Notes: If you want to bottle your wine with residual sweetness (or especially if you want to back-sweeten them with additional honey or sugar), you should add wine stabilizer (potassium sorbate) to keep it from re-fermenting in the bottles.
A little bit of bottle fermentation can add sparkle, but a lot can push out the corks, or worse, make bottle grenades, or at the least, add sediment to your wine you worked so hard to get clear.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
