Frozen Grapes

[whino-wino]

I have a friend who, like me, enjoys fermenting things. Being a farmer by trade, he also likes to grow things. About 5 years ago he put in some grapes. I don't know how many he planted, but he had quite a few left over after last fall.
He called me up a couple of weeks ago and asked if I wanted a 5 gallon bucket ofmust from some Marquette grapesthat he had kept frozen. Of course I accepted it and since it's typically below zero in this area in Jan/Feb I just kept the sealed bucket in the back of my pickup truck. I brought it in 2 days ago to thaw and just opened it about 20 minutes ago. It's not really "must" but rather a 5 gallon bucket packed solid with grapes....whole grapes. It's still frozen in the center so I'm going to let it thaw another day or so but I was wondering...




How much juice can I expect to get from 5 gallons of grapes?


Second, I do not have a grape press or steam juicer. What method of extracting the juice would you reccomend? Since they're frozen I expect them to be soft once they thaw and I think I can put them in a large straining bag and just squeeze the tar out of them by hand.


I'm asking because all of my carboys are full and I'll need to bottle one of the wines in order to free up a carboy to make this one. Should I bottle a 3 gallon, 5 gallon or 6 gallon batch?

 

[whino-wino]

After making my initial post it occurred to me to weigh the bucket. Not sure how accurate this is but it weighed 39.6 lbs on my bathroom scale.

 

[Goodfella]

First..... SWEEEEEEEEET!!!


Second...... I am not the expert you need. But I am sure one will weigh in on here.


Third.... I would plan on emptying the 3 gallon. I think that is the closest to what you will end up with. I think you will be fine squeezing a mesh bag. But if you have a couple 5 gallon buckets and a drill, you can make super simple press. (or rent one)

 

[robie]

Look up "Brehm frozen grapes" on the internet. Look at their container sizes and weights, along with what they say each will produce. That is at least a start.

I haven't done any fresh or frozen grapes, yet, but my understanding is that you don't have to completely pulverize the grapes, just break their skins, mash 'em some, and get their juice flowing a little.

Later on, you should be able to rent a press from a local wine/brew store.

There are a lot of people on this forum who have experience with frozen and/or fresh grapes, they should chime in before long.

 

[grapeman]

You should have around 3 gallons of juice when done. Figure on fermenting on the skins and add pectic enzyme. After fermentation, the bulk of the pulp will be separated from the juice/wine so the strainer bag will work fine.Marquette normally yields about a gallon per 12-14 pounds of grapes when pressed- a bit less when not pressing. You may want to check the pH and TA of the grapes before fermenting in addition to the brix (or SG). Marquette is typically around 12-14g/L TA or 1.2-1.4%. Well ripened it comes in around 1.0-1.2 so you should also do a MLF on it.

 

[whino-wino]

3 gallons it is.


I had actually been planning on cold stabilizing which I've had pretty good luck with in the past (and it's easy to do since I live in one of the coldest areas of the country). I've read a lot about doing MLF but to be honest I've never actually attempted to do it. Do you think that MLF would be the better method of reducing acidity??

 

[grapeman]

I would test the must for acid before making that decision. Both would be best if it is high. If it is just a bit high, I would go with mlf to add complexity. All the cs will do is reduce acid and it isn't needed since this is a red.

 

[whino-wino]

The grapes were completely thawed and I noticed a lot of stems in there. I didn't feel like picking them out so I went ahead and squeezed the juice out through a straining bag. You were right. Almost exactly 3 gallons.
I did pick through enough to fill the straining bag with just crushed grapes and I tied it up. That will go in the bucket during fermentation. I did end up tossing about half of the mushed up grapes though since my straining bag wasn't big enough.


TA tested out at 1.1. Juice is sweet but definitely has a bite on the finish.


I did not check SG yet. I'll do that tomorrow.


Added some metabisulfite and it'll sit until tomorrow evening when I'll toss in all the other ingredients and pitch some yeast, which I haven't done in about 9 months.


Can't wait to see bubbles again.


I'd post pics but I left my digital camera in my car last week when it was -25°. Now the battery is shot. I ordered a new one from Amazon but it hasn't arrived yet.

 

[whino-wino]

I'll move this conversation over to the "fruit wines" forum....