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We have a old plum tree next to our house. Has to be at least 25 years old, but this year it still gave a lot of plums. My wife sometimes makes plum tarts with them, but this year there were even more left over, so I took about 5 lbs, froze them sold, then let them thaw:



This way, they get mushy and I can get the pits out without using a knife on each one. It's still messy, because I have to root around with my hands in a big pot of plum mush to get all the pits out.

I added some 1118 champagne yeast and about a cup of sugar, and started them fermenting in a big steel pot on July 8th. I didn't really want to add sugar, but read that you get better results because the sugar boosts the alcohol content, killing off bacteria and mold, while that particular yeast is pretty tolerant of alcohol. I added the juice from one lemon, because I read that it also helps kill off bad things.

I tried to remove most of the solids and put the rest in three wine bottles about three days ago. The bubbles are very slow now, and it smells very good. You can see that more of the solids fell to the bottom, and some stuff floated to the top:



I use oil spouts as a kind of air lock. Pressure can't build up, and it mostly keeps oxygen out. I'm tasting some now, though I know it's too early:



Tastes too tart and yeasty, and a bit syrupy. Pretty sure I can taste alcohol though. I'll let it sit for a week or so more and taste it again.

I know that I'm a barbarian and that this is basically prison wine, but I'm having fun and I don't think it will kill me.