Own Grapes...

[dizidave]

Picked the grapes off my vine last night, not sure how ready they are but wasps and birds are swines...

Bunged them in a FV and squidged with my hand, ended up with about 4 litres ish of juice and skins (after i removed most of the big stalks).

Took a gravity reading, was 1.050 so not majorly sweet.

Think im going to ferment the pulp for 4 or 5 days, then strain to a DJ, and top up with red grape juice and sugar to get somewhere near 11%.

God knows what it will taste like.

 

[Wendy1971]

they look very nice make sure you soak them see if any maggots crawl out :shock:

 

[tonyhibbett]

They look mostly under ripe, hence low sugar and probably high acid. Problem is birds eat the ripe ones. This year I made the effort to cover mine with netting. Now they are all black and a few are starting to shrivel. The sugar content (20%, sg 1085) and acidity (pH 3.5) have not changed in 6 days, so no point leaving them longer. Higher sugar than ever. In south Yorkshire I think you would have to wait longer. Mine are Wrotham Pinot, an English black variety. This year I planted Regent. The grapes were fully ripe 2 weeks ago, but the cabernet sauvignon is still not ripe enough. What variety are yours?

 

[Magnadibble]

Hi all, I'm new to all this malarky. I've been given a box of black grapes by a mate and managed to get just over 2l out of them.

They've been bubbling for just over a week now and I have a couple of questions.

When I strain the contents through a bag, is it a problem if I get the sediment in the bottom too. I could scoop off the grape skins etc but this seems a bit clumsy.

Second, would I be ok to rack into a polypin and then rack again later into bottles?

My fermenter is bubbling every couple of minutes or so. Should I leave it to fully stop.

Hope these questions are not too daft. :wha:

Dave

 

[tonyhibbett]

Soaking apples in water may be a good idea but not grapes as you would lose most of the natural yeast from the skins and dilute the sugar content. You don't get maggots in grapes, just the odd ladybird and small spider.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Black grapes should crushed, then pressed. For red wine, the stalks should be removed and the skins left in the juice until the maximum colour is produced. Leaving them longer than a few days will make an astringent wine, due to the high tannin content in seeds and skin. It's best to sulphite the juice to kill off unwanted yeasts and bacteria during this period and the skins should be kept submerged. By this time natural fermentation will have started. If not, add yeast after the skins have been strained out. After straining, there will suspended solids in the juice. Allow this to settle then siphon off the juice and put in fermenting vessel. The length of time to ferment out is dependent on temperature and sugar content, but sounds to me yours is done, in which case rack off dead yeast sediment, stabilise, use finings to clear and rack again. Bottle immediately and leave for at least a month. 2 litres of raw juice will give you about 2 bottles of wine.