 
Submitted by Agatha
We have a bunch of plum trees in our yard. They are small plums. Some people have said they are Italian prunes, but I'm not so sure. Anyway, they are quite flavorfull. Here is a recipe for 5 gallons of Plum Port. The name comes from my brother. Since I boil the plums, it doesn't matter if I use plums from the driveway. I had called this "driveway wine", but my brother suggested a more elusive name. I'll put up some pictures this year when I make the first batch of the season (September).
Dirty Monk
5 gallon canner full of plums
18 pounds of sugar
1 packet of wine yeast (I use Red Star Premier Cuvee)
You can use frozen plums. When I'm working lots, before I go to work, I just pick the plums off of the driveway that fell down during the night. Fill the canner with water so that it covers theplums. Here is a canner full of plums. You can put more in, but this is how many plums I had when I wanted to start a batch. :) Boil the plums until all of the pits come out ( a few hours). Let it cool a bit so it doesn't burn you, and strain through a fine mesh bag into a 7 gallon bucket with a tight fitting lid and an air lock. Make sure you sanitize the bucket, mesh bag, lid, and airlock first with a three capfuls of bleach mixed in with the bucket full of water. Let the bucket dry so you don't have any bleach taste. Your local homebrewing store has good tips and alternative chemicals for sanitizing.
Boil 1 gallon of water and add 18 pounds of the cheapest granulated sugar you can buy. Add this to the bucket when all the sugar has desolved and you have boiled the mixture for 5 minutes.
Leave the bucket over night with the lid and air lock in place.
The next morning, sprinkle the yeast over the top and reseal.
There will be lots of action for a week or so. It may overflow, so put the bucket on a tray of some kind. It will work best if the bucket is 65 degrees or more.
After a week, transfer the mixture to a 5 gallon carboy by siphing it off. Use a siphon that has the attachement that doesn't suck right off of the bottom. You want to leave the bottom inch and either discard it, or use it as the yeast for your next batch (I did this once, and if you are really short on cash, you too can get away with this).
Put an airlock on the carboy and let it set until it stops bubbling (about three months sometimes).
When the wine stops bubbling put it in half gallon bottles from a homebrew supply store that has special lids so the bottles won't explode. You can also use grolsch-type beer bottles.
Age the wine for a year. We like to open the previous year at Halloween. You can sneak out some bottles before then. :)
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