Passito is a fortified, sweet Italian wine made from dried grapes. We take dried grapes to be raisins, so…. we made a wine from raisins. Is it 100% authentic? Oh, heck no, but…. was it any good? Can we actually make a passable Passito?
Ingredients:
1.25 lbs (0.567 kg) Raisins, crushed
1.25 lbs (0.567 kg) Brown Sugar
128 fluid oz (3.785 liters) Water
1/4 teaspoon Go Ferm: https://amzn.to/3ZolA6m
1/2 teaspoon Fermaid O: https://amzn.to/4cw6sb4
1 Orange, peeled
1/2 packet Red Star Premier Rouge Yeast: https://amzn.to/40qWQuP
O.G. approx 1.090
Additions:
1 liter Paul Masson Brandy
1 stave French Oak Medium Plus Toast: https://barrelcharwood.com/
Back Sweeten with Brown Sugar to 1.004
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Related Videos:
Raisin Wine: https://youtu.be/_bWI7gMBhKw?si=0jMssdWENBDuxaBW
Racking: https://youtu.be/-X00d3C14z0?si=6MsUNN3aNlk0NicJ
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Chapters:
00:00 Our History with Raisin Wine
00:50 Raisin Selection
01:11 Yeast Prep
02:51 Creating the Must
09:43 pH
11:26 Original Gravity Reading (O.G.)
12:20 Pitching Yeast
13:00 What to Expect
15:23 1st Specific Gravity Check
19:20 2nd Specific Gravity Check
20:26 How Long to Leave on Fruit?
21:34 Racking
23:08 Fortification
25:53 Oaking
29:11 Final Adjustments
38:46 Back Sweeten Gravity Reading
39:14 Tasting
43:30 Judgement
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43 Comments
Sounds and looks delicious!
Where did you get that glass carboy with the purple handle?
The primary fermenter you used looks like it has threads. If you cant find a lid for it online, you might be able to have a friend with a 3d printer make you one. I did that with a 6 liter glass jar i found on a@#$zon. I even printed it with a hole for a gromet to hold an airlock. Geeky, but useful.
I made a raisin mead last year. I didn’t like it, so I swapped out the raisins for sultanas, I couldn’t make nearly as much now because of the currant exchange rate! 😂😂😂
The raison wine I made had similar effects to prune juice… 😅
It was great for cooking 😅
I was actually very recently wanting y'all to take another shot at a raisin wine! I was about to recommend to try it again but I guess you had the same idea!
Edit: I have a question. 2:01 Is it safe for the yeast to add that much concentrated vitamins to not a lot of volume (the self stirring cup with the yeast)? Why aren't you putting it in the brew just in the off chance it's harming or shocking your yeast? Or do you know that those specific vitamins shouldn't harm them — or is it close to something like yeast hulls which I know are pretty safe?
I know I could've phrased my question better but hopefully that's good enough
Call me crazy, but I've found I like using brown sugar in a blackberry wine.
If you want to make a drink that actually taste like raisins, make a very strong black tea wine. Normal tea wine is made from tea steeped to around a normal drinking strength, with sugar added to get the desired gravity. It does not smell or taste like tea. Scent is floral, flavor varies by type of tea. If you make the initial black tea over strength (I used about 2.5x the needed tea bags and steeped for over an hour) the final fermented result still smells like flowers but the taste is pure punch you in the face raisin and then tannins. Stuff is dangerous because of the caffeine so I have taken to blending small amounts into other brews I want to pump the tannins of up.
Great video! Thank you guys so much for this thousand dollar education you’re passing onto us.🫡
Great video! I noticed you mentioned sherry, have you guys tried deliberate oxidation in a home brew sherry analogue? If anyone can make it work, you guys can!
I could be wrong but the overall gravity might be off because the heightened abv level of the brandy
I can’t think of a single raisin why someone wouldn’t like raisins😂
Hi guys, another interesting vid 👌
I was wondering if you'd ever considered a Blackcurrant and Liquorice wine or mead?
I love the old style boiled sweets.
I've tried a bit of research but there's very little reguarding the liquorice aspect.
Any thoughts?
Happy brewin' 🍾🍷🍹🍺🍻🥃
I have been experimenting with making fruit meads. After watching your channel for a long time. I have recently discovered that I like to use preservative free fruit spreads to get more intense flavors. What is your thought on that? Most recently I used this technique for a marmalade and strawberry lemonade meads, I also add all my sweetness primary and brew to about 10%-13% then pasteurized
Charming thing about fermentation is that to make a flavour you have to work around it instead of use the actual ingredient. Thanks for sharing Derica and Brian!
About the perceived sweetness at only 1.004 – adding a litre of spirit will knock the gravity down a lot. Would have been interesting to take a reading before sweetening, because it looked like a lot of sugar went in.
Could you put the oak into the brandy to sanitize the oak?
NOTHING!! I repeat NOTHING was sanitized in The Red Bucket of Sanitation!!!
Dangit…I was wrong
Love the unsupervised T.😂🎉
I will use a little big mouth… if I brew this and it all fits.. lol
🎶 Tiny Bubbles 🎶
Im obsessed with creating brews…and your channel is to blame 😂
Question, I just started my fruitcake mead, 3mo late (due to circumstances). Do you think those extra 3mo will make a significant difference in the aging? Im making 4 gallons for neighbors gifts and would like to know if I should look into another recipe and save this for 2026
I really enjoy your tutorials! Your teaching is spot on and entertaining. Thank you
Ooo…new brew to try!!
As a side note…you have now helped to inspire the next generation of future brewers. Our 9yr old granddaughter likes the show😁
I once made a spiced cider with 2 pounds of raisins. It was really good, but probably would have been just as good with 1/2 pound.
"You could chop them up if you really REALLY hate your life"
🤣🤣🤣 I love you guys
You lost me at the brandy.
Simple on one hand, complex on the other‼️
Raisins and rumlike flavor go so nicely together…..my favorite ice cream flavor Rum raisin
Mmmmm
Inspired yes, Thank you!
8:47 Me when someone says they don't like wine or mead
2:40 I have restaurant style coke cups that have ridges inside them nearly as big as the "Self Stirring Cup" so I just use that. I go them of amazon if you are interested, mine were 24oz.
I have a challenge how about date wine 😮 a meat grinder works wonders on raisins and dates hint hint
Great video, I happen to be a big fan of rum and I generally like raisins so I will have to keep this in mind and try it some time. I wounder how this would respond to oaking?
I can’t wait to try this!!
I was always told there is table grapes and wine grapes. Table grapes are sweet and I think that's what they make raisins with. Wine grapes are bitter in taste, little sweetness.
Since the parts of brown sugar are present in rum along with the oak it is not unusual that you would think of rum when tasting this fortified wine, it should be reminiscent of rum.
you can buy it as a soft drink in Australia
Hey! Alcohol generally is perceived to have a sweet taste, with a warming mouthfeel. Perhaps that's why you had to backsweeten it so little. Love your videos!
I’m making peppermint and liquorice tea wine at the moment. If it works out, I might add some to my blackcurrant wine
I use a baster to stir at that mid-stage. I fill it with the brew, then squirt it back in under the surface. Repeat a couple of times, and you have a well-mixed brew with virtually no oxygen introduced
Haven't seen you use a weighted brew bag for fruit in a while. Is there a reason?
Since you are continuing, use a potato masher to extract the flavor out of the fruit and them rack to clear
I knew we were going to get cloudy. That has been my experience working with fresh oranges. Not a bad thing. 1 liter of brandy? Wow. That is going to be a spicey meatball!