muscadine

[taprn]

I am 7 days into my first wine making endeavor. I am making muscadine wine from my backyard muscadines. I have research a few recipes and have compared/used two in my process. last tues I started with sg of 1.15, this is when I pitched my yeast.
I placed the lid (airtight) on primary and stirred must twice a day for the first 3 days. then i saw on another recipe to place cheese cloth or towel over top of primary during fermentation and stir twice a day. So at that point I put towel over top.
The recipes say to rack wine once sg reaches 1.030 (other recipe says 1.04). This was supposed to happen in 5-7 days. For the last two days the sg has remained 1.10. Have I messed up or do I need to do something else now or do I just need to be patient?

 

[robie]

I am 7 days into my first wine making endeavor. I am making muscadine wine from my backyard muscadines. I have research a few recipes and have compared/used two in my process. last tues I started with sg of 1.15, this is when I pitched my yeast.
I placed the lid (airtight) on primary and stirred must twice a day for the first 3 days. then i saw on another recipe to place cheese cloth or towel over top of primary during fermentation and stir twice a day. So at that point I put towel over top.
The recipes say to rack wine once sg reaches 1.030 (other recipe says 1.04). This was supposed to happen in 5-7 days. For the last two days the sg has remained 1.10. Have I messed up or do I need to do something else now or do I just need to be patient?

Using cheese cloth for a heavy red is OK, provided it is tight, so gritters can't get in. I recently mistakenly told someone they could use cheese cloth without realizing the wine was a white wine... that's a no-no.

However, never fully seal a red wine up like you did. That might have killed the yeast. However, stirring twice a day should have stirred in some oxygen. It could be you need to pitch some more yeast. As you are doing now, be sure and don't seal the lid.

I have never done a muscadine wine; several others have and will chime in, I'm sure.

However, an SG of 1.150 seems very high. You are going to end up with a fairly high alcohol level (19.9% plus), even if the yeast can ferment all that sugar, which most strains can't. I think that SG is a problem unless your plan is to ferment until the yeast die, leaving the wine still very sweet. That is sometimes done in special cases..

Which yeast did you use? Did you add yeast nutrient up front and again in the last few days?

Stopping at 1.100 is where many wines actually begin. Did you see a noticeable drop from 1.150 to 1.100? How long did that take? Are you sure you are reading your hydrometer correctly?

What is the temperature of the must? Depending on the used you used, it needs to be in the right temperature range.

I am not much help, until you give info about the yeast, nutrients, and a confirmation on the starting SG.

 

[mr2step]

I am 7 days into my first wine making endeavor. I am making muscadine wine from my backyard muscadines. I have research a few recipes and have compared/used two in my process. last tues I started with sg of 1.15, this is when I pitched my yeast.
I placed the lid (airtight) on primary and stirred must twice a day for the first 3 days. then i saw on another recipe to place cheese cloth or towel over top of primary during fermentation and stir twice a day. So at that point I put towel over top.
The recipes say to rack wine once sg reaches 1.030 (other recipe says 1.04). This was supposed to happen in 5-7 days. For the last two days the sg has remained 1.10. Have I messed up or do I need to do something else now or do I just need to be patient?

So happy someone else has these questions. I too am about to begin my very first muscadine endevour and before i begin, have a few questions that need to be answered. I am following a recipe for my red muscadines and am going to use a montrachet pasteur champagne yeast. I did not obtain a brix level at picking so have no idea of sugar level.I have left them in freezer for a couple weeks until I get my basics answered.
My main question is in regards to sugar or adding i should say. If you need to add sugar to the must, that will raise the SG, yes? When you do this, what is the proper method? Just pour it in and stir vigorously or add it to hot water and dissolve. I would think adding water would lower the SG even lower when you are trying to in fact, RAISE the sg.
On the flip side of the coin, if your SG is too high, how can you lower it down? Adding water I would think would work but make it watery?
Finally, is there a ratio of sugar to water to obtain a certain level?
What do you guys/gals think?

 

[robie]

So happy someone else has these questions. I too am about to begin my very first muscadine endevour and before i begin, have a few questions that need to be answered. I am following a recipe for my red muscadines and am going to use a montrachet pasteur champagne yeast. I did not obtain a brix level at picking so have no idea of sugar level.I have left them in freezer for a couple weeks until I get my basics answered.
My main question is in regards to sugar or adding i should say. If you need to add sugar to the must, that will raise the SG, yes? When you do this, what is the proper method? Just pour it in and stir vigorously or add it to hot water and dissolve. I would think adding water would lower the SG even lower when you are trying to in fact, RAISE the sg.
On the flip side of the coin, if your SG is too high, how can you lower it down? Adding water I would think would work but make it watery?
Finally, is there a ratio of sugar to water to obtain a certain level?
What do you guys/gals think?

Adding sugar will raise the SG and change the balance of the wine. Changing the balance can be a good thing, depending on the variety and the current acid/sugar balance of course.

Always mix the sugar with water and make sure it is completely dissolved. Just use as little water as you can, you can dissolve a lot of sugar in a small amount of water. Once poured into the wine, it will not readily mix well with the wine. Stir it in really, really well.

If SG is too high, you can add acidulated water (Water with tartaric acid or acid blend mixed in to not change the acid balance of the wine). It will water the wine down a little, depending on how much water you add.

You have already chosen a good yeast. Each strain has its own upper alcohol limit. If the SG is too high for that yeast, it will stop working at some point and leave your wine a little sweet and subject to starting a new fermentation once in the bottle.

With the yeast's alcohol limitation in mind, don't go over the amount of sugar that may raise the SG too high.

 

[Ernest T Bass]

To Mr2step: On the home page there is a "Tutorials", click on it and click on the "wine calc" that Tom has given us. Then click on the web site, hi-lite the things that match what you are doing and it will tell you how much sugar to add. I have found this accurate for the must as well as back sweetening, keep a little lite on the sugar (not much, but a little). I don't know if I am doing something wrong or not, but rather than use water, I use must or wine to make my simple syrup.

Semper Fi