Ok. I have almost positively verified that the wine I started making a month ago from wild grapes where mustang grapes. I found some muscadines which look a little different and they taste....A LOT BETTER. So I am wondering if anyone has had a good experience with mustang grape wine.
I started with 39 lbs of mustang grapes. Added sugar and water to 1.090 and what I thought would leave me with 5 gallons after racking. fermented at 78 degrees. Attempted to adjust the acid with one of those $10 kits. As far as I could tell it was somewhere within the range of .45 to .60??? Removed the grapes at around 1.015 and let it ferment to dry in the bucket. I checked the SG 2 times 4 days apart and it stopped at 1.002 @76 degrees. Maybe normal? It tasted very tart, acidic, and very very thick. It coated the wine glass with a pink tint. Basically legs that wouldn't completely fall. Maybe a good thing? When I racked to a carboy I was 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon short so I topped up with some carlos rossi (another 1 gallon carboy) merlot. Hoping that will help decrease the tart/acidity. Degassed and added kmeta. I plan on letting this clarify naturally over the next year by racking every 3 months or so....and probably topping off with cheap wine.
Anyhow after tasting the muscadine grape, I am questioning my efforts on this wine. And from what I can tell the muscadine had much thicker skins and more of a traditional "grape" flavor. The mustang had thinner skins and more of a "musty" flavor.
Here are some pics
5 gallon carboy not full
thick wine
Make shift job to degas with one of those wine suction thingys.
I started with 39 lbs of mustang grapes. Added sugar and water to 1.090 and what I thought would leave me with 5 gallons after racking. fermented at 78 degrees. Attempted to adjust the acid with one of those $10 kits. As far as I could tell it was somewhere within the range of .45 to .60??? Removed the grapes at around 1.015 and let it ferment to dry in the bucket. I checked the SG 2 times 4 days apart and it stopped at 1.002 @76 degrees. Maybe normal? It tasted very tart, acidic, and very very thick. It coated the wine glass with a pink tint. Basically legs that wouldn't completely fall. Maybe a good thing? When I racked to a carboy I was 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon short so I topped up with some carlos rossi (another 1 gallon carboy) merlot. Hoping that will help decrease the tart/acidity. Degassed and added kmeta. I plan on letting this clarify naturally over the next year by racking every 3 months or so....and probably topping off with cheap wine.
Anyhow after tasting the muscadine grape, I am questioning my efforts on this wine. And from what I can tell the muscadine had much thicker skins and more of a traditional "grape" flavor. The mustang had thinner skins and more of a "musty" flavor.
Here are some pics
5 gallon carboy not full
thick wine
Make shift job to degas with one of those wine suction thingys.