RJ Spagnols Grape skin kit

I've got a RJS Old Vine Zin. thats been in the primary for about 10 days now. This is my third grape skin kit, and on this one I decided to throw the skinsin the primary without thehop bag.


I don't think that I will have trouble with my racking tube clogging. I modified this Bazooka kettle screen to slide over my racking tube......It works great for racking beers that are being dry hopped.



My only question is will the skins still soak up a lot of the good stuff. Not being in a bag there is no way that I can squeeze out what has soaked up......


Maybe the skins will have soaked up less being that they are not bunched up in a bag......


Any input from someone who has done this would be great...I read that you get better extraction from the skins this way, thats why I gave it a try....


Thx

I would sanitize a kitchen strainer (1 with a handle) and get most of them out before you rack. Don't understand why you did not use the straining bag that came with it.

Just trying different things that i've read on this site.....

I always scoop them up and squeeze them in a strainer like Tepe wrote.

Could you suspend the racking cane several inches above the skins, then use a smallish strainer to scoop them into some cheese cloth and squeeze the heck out of'em? I've used raisins, they're easy since they float! One of my first kits was WE Crushiendio. Is that the same as skins? It was quite a mess to rack - I was young and dumb then, now I ask you guys first.

It seems that most of them float. I was thinking maybe clean and sanitize a colander and scoop them into it. Then geta potato masher and just mash the liquid out of them....Then rack

I would not recommend using the collander at all Wilduk..you gonna end up with a lotta gunk in your wine I would think. Jut run on down to home depot and get you a paint strainer bag, sanitize it real good, dump them skins off in there and squeeze the snot outa them. Actually, a good steady pressure will suffice

Wild duk:


Go right ahead and give it a try. Even if Waldo is right, and you end up with gunk, it will settle out over the months before you bottle.


I don't use the bags, but I have a couple of fancy stainless steel kitchen gadgets for fishing the skins out and then draining them.


Steve

cpfan,


have you found that mostof the skins float on top, or do some sink?

Wild duk said:

cpfan,


have you found that mostof the skins float on top, or do some sink?

Click to expand...

I think some sink, but I haven't done a skins kit in a while.


Steve

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real grape skins will stay on top then sink ,at least thats what I found,cheese cloth will work just as well from bucket to bucket ,got it,just a different form of strainer,no problem you'll think it through,and by doing this in this manner you will learn from it,thats what its all about..........