Small batch wine from grapes

[Yellow Car]

I've inherited a vine - not sure what variety, and have a reasonable crop this year - about 4-5kg I'd guess.
I don't know the variety, but the ripest ones taste reasonable 'raw' (a little tart perhaps) so I suspect it's an eating variety rather than a specific wine grape, but since supermarket juice makes a good cheap wine, I hope these will as well.

Looking at how to proceed...

I don't have a press, so suspect that the second option may yield a greater volume as presumably the fruit will break down more?

Either option I then plan to add sugar to get a suitable gravity, and possibly add supermarket grape or apple juice to make up the volume if I'm short,

So should I...
a) Extract as much juice as I can and proceed as per a WOW recipe?
b) Approach like a country wine, and crush & ferment the whole fruit for a week or so before straining the must? With or without pectolase?

Thanks!

 

[chthon]

Tart is probably a little unripe. I taste the same with some of my varieties here. I have the luck to be able to blend my homegrown grapes (two white and one red variety). It tastes better than using a single variety (unless maybe they have sun the whole day).

That said, the above is what I have done already three times with good result:

• Clean the grapes in a metabisulfite solution
• Remove the stems and put everything in one bucket
• Macerate them with my hands
• Add metabisulfite and pectolase enzyme and let them rest overnight
• Press them, I was lucky, my wife had a colleague who had a press, in the meantime I bought one
• Measure OG and calculate sugar to add. I add to obtain an ABV of 10,5%
• Add yeast and let it ferment
• When it slows, rack to DJ, add 0.04g/l metabisulfate
• Let it rest for 6 months. Tannins will drop out and the wine will condition.

I always add store bought yeast.

 

[Yellow Car]

Thanks,
So extract the juice before fermenting...

I think you're right about them not being completely ripe, but I don't think they would ripen any more now.
To be honest I'm not expecting wonders from this, but really fancy making wine from my own grapes.

I'll check the sugar content of the juice as you suggest, and add more if needed. I have some commercial wine yeast so will use that, and yes thought I'd need campden tabs.

 

[SMP Brewery]

but really fancy making wine from my own grapes.

Well done everyone starts somewhere, look forward to seeing your finished plonk.

 

[chthon]

Thanks,
So extract the juice before fermenting...

I think you're right about them not being completely ripe, but I don't think they would ripen any more now.
To be honest I'm not expecting wonders from this, but really fancy making wine from my own grapes.

I'll check the sugar content of the juice as you suggest, and add more if needed. I have some commercial wine yeast so will use that, and yes thought I'd need campden tabs.

Oh, and I don't even bottle with corks. I use swing top bottles.

 

[Yellow Car]

Thanks for the tips.

Jumping straight into this, after removing stalks, leaves, spoiled grapes (and insects!) I had 2.4kg of grapes, so a bit of an overestimate to start with.
Washed these with a crushed campden tablet.

As I don't have a press, I decided to freeze them to improve juice extraction.

Defrosted them and mashed them with a teaspoon of pectolase and a campden tablet.

The sugar content is too low, 11 BRIX, 1.044, so about 5.8%.

If I'm lucky I might get 1.5-2l of juice, so will make up to 4.5l with supermarket apple or grape juice and sugar solution to start around 1.080 as works this well for WOWs.

It will probably sit with the pectolase for a couple of days until I get time to strain and add the yeast.

 

[Wrastler]

Very exciting!
I was gifted 10/12kg of grapes this summer, and spent a full day sorting, cleaning and juicing. I'll definitely freeze and thaw them next time.

Mine is still bubbling away, and I think I'm going to rack it after a month or so, and then leave it to sit until late next summer.
I don't even really like wine but I'm quite excited.

 

[Yellow Car]

Hi Wrastler,
I'm also planning to let this one age for a while if it turns out semi OK. Ive got 90l of kit wine made, on the go, or needing to be made before the December 'use by' date, so it's not like I'm going to run short any time soon! (Just need to fit some beer brews in between the wine batches!).

Anyhow, I did find time to strain what I had into a bucket, and with a bit of squeezing ended up with nearly 1.9kg of juice from 2.4kg of grapes. Not sure how much more a press would have yielded?

Then added this juice and 1l of apple, plus 750g sugar and water up to 5l in a plastic water bottle 'demijohn'. When cooled I added yeast and nutrient (the same Love Brewing wine yeast and nutrient that I use for WOWs and turbo cider) and this morning it's bubbling away.
I decided on bulking up with apple rather than grape, as this way all the grape flavour will be 'mine'.

I'm expecting a fair amount of lee's, so started it in the 5l bottle, and planning on racking to a gallon demijohn in a few weeks which allows for 1/2l loss.

No tannin or acid added at this point as I can add to taste when it's fermented out if necessary, but can't remove it if I add now.

I'll try to remember to keep this updated, good or bad...

 

[Wrastler]

That's great!
I've got approx 7l in my batch, it's pure grape and I put in around 900g dextrose.
I'm using a spare d47 yeast so it's a low and slow fermentation... I reckon I'll rack it in the new year.

Lets keep in touch in this thread and compare our outcomes

 

[Yellow Car]

7l sounds like a useful amount :)

I was away for a week. It was bubbling away when I left, but no airlock activity when I returned, and it was already pretty clear (down to 0.992) so I racked off, stabilised, and fined.
Now a couple of days later it's pretty clear. From the obligatory sample while racking, it's certainly going to be drinkable, though currently a bit dry/rough. Reminds me of a WineExpert kit with a 'reserve' pack (F-pack I think they used to be called?) before the reserve is added...

I'm now going to stick the demijohn at the back of a cupboard and try to forget about it until March, when I'll bottle it (same time as a batch of blackberry from August).

Keep us posted on progress.

 

[Stevieboy]

What's the demijohn closed with ? Air lock or bung ? If Airlock, keep an eye on it.

 

[Yellow Car]

Good point - yes it's an airlock, but it'll be in the same cupboard as my homebrew supplies, so I'll see if it's drying out. I may swap to solid when I'm convinced it's had time to full de-gass.

 

[Stevieboy]

and also put some cotton wool or use one of those plastic caps on top to stop the wee beasties crawling in

 

[Yellow Car]

Eeew! Never even thought of that...
I may need to switch over to one of the compact ones (which have a cap) to fit under the shelf, if not the one in at the moment has a cap too.
I can just hear Gillian Goolden "I'm getting a hint of earwig coming through"... showing my age.

 

[Wrastler]

You can also get solid Bungs fairly cheaply... They make the djs much easier to store in my shelving unit! Obviously you need to be confident it's finished fermenting though!

 

[Yellow Car]

This was looking pretty stable and clear, and I need a couple of demijohns, so I bottled this last night. Being in a newer Wilko demijohn (I think 5l rather than a gallon) it filled 6 bottles, with a glass left over - so it had to be sampled... It's certainly drinkable already - but the plan is to keep until the summer.

There is a bit of a back story to this. I bought my late father's home to renovate and live in, and the vines were ones that he had planted. So hopefully the renovation should be complete by late summer, we'll be able to raise a toast to him, and to our new home using grapes that he planted.