My first try!

[cheesegrits]

Of course with access to the muscadine vines my parents and grandparents planted I had to try them for my first attempt at making wine. I had posted some of these pics on Waldo's how to thread but rather than clutter it up anymore I thought I would start a whole new thread. I have really learned a lot from all you guys already and so far so good!

It was a bumper crop over here in Georgia last fall.

I froze about 50 lbs back at the beginning of September and have just now started the process. I used Waldo's instructions except I forgot and dumped the enzyme, nutrient, crushed and wet campden tablets all at the same time. I know I know, I should have delayed after the campden but oh well! The good thing is I waited 24 hours and spread the yeast. Didn't seem to make a big difference, she is rocking now after three days! Here is a pic right after I threw the yeast.

This is a 6 gallon batch.
I started with:

36 lbs muscdines
12 lbs sugar
6 crushed campden tabs (dissolved)
3 tsp peptic enzyme
6 tsp nutrient
water to top off (not just any water,water from my parents 700 ft deep well into the granite of Rockdale County, Ga).
The Tartaric was right at .65 and the SG was 1.100

I have been carefully mashing the strainer bag everyday and stirring and am looking to pulling the bag out on Saturday. Since this is my first try I didn't realize that the smell would be what it is. Everytime I step in there it just smells so dang good! I think the color is looking good and I am going to secondary at around 1.015.
More to come soon! Wish me luck!

 

[Wade E]

Little high on the starting sg but everything else looks very good.

 

[cheesegrits]

Thanks Wade! I have been reading some more and have realized that transferring SG might be too low. In Waldo's video he recommends 1.040 and someone else 1.030. How do I determine who is right?

 

[xanxer82]

Looks nice!

 

[cheesegrits]

Thanks xanxer! Check this out. It really looks good tonight!

My question now is I just checked the SG and its down to 1.030. I am thinking I really need to get the pulp out tonight or can I wait till morning? Looks like a late night to me but I want to confirm this. Thanks for any help or opinions!

 

[cheesegrits]

Late night and now I have to go to work! Got the strainer out and clipped the lid down on the primary and put the airlock on. Happy to say she is bubbling merrily along.
I lost some volume when I pulled the pulp out, what should I use to top it back up to 6 gallons?
Here's some more pics.

Looks like I got everything out of the hulls and pulp!
The smell when I was squeezing the bag was incredible!

 

[grapeman]

How much less than 6 gallons do you have? If only a little, I would add water since your starting SG was a bit high anyways. If more than a quart, I probably would not add to it. Go through the motions of making it and either rack to a 5 gallon carboy or get some marbles to bring the level up. It is probably good right now that it isn't too full since your SG is 1.030.


Get us a picture of the carboy when racked and we can let you know about that.

 

[cheesegrits]

Thanks for the reply!
Its more than a quart, more like a gallon. I probably didn't squeeze the strainer quite enough. Of course the only carboy I have being such a newbie is a 6 gallon one. My local wine store said I could top off with Welch's, but I really don't want to. I know I have read where everybody on here says that one carboy isn't enough! looks like a 5 gallon one is in my future.

 

[cheesegrits]

Since nobody answered I went with my local stores suggestion and added a gallon of white grape concentrate. This so far seems to be working. It only bumped the SG up to 1.025. This morning its bubbling along. I am figuring to leave it in the fermenter until it calms down and the SG drops to the correct level.

 

[cheesegrits]

Okay so here is where I am. I went on and siphoned it into the carboy. It doesn't have much action going on yet. Do you think this will change? The color looks amazing and you can smell the alcohol. Of course I had to try it! Not bad,actually! It was a 6 gallon batch(or it is now).
Do I need to top it off yet? Should I just let it sit and do its thing?
Anyway here are some pics, please let me know what to do, thanks.

 

[Waldo]

Looking good and appears it is about done fermenting too. What yeast did you use andwhat is the temp currently at? I would recommend getting yourself a 5 gallon carboy or a mighty big bag of marbles to keep your headspace to a minimum once it is done fermenting and the clearing stage begins.

 

[cheesegrits]

Thanks Waldo!
Its got the slow fizz going on this morning.
I used Premier Cuvee.
It is sitting right at 72.1 this morning.

 

[cheesegrits]

My local store finally got some 5 gallon carboys in today so I transfered into it this afternoon. I had enough to mostly fill a 1/2 gal one also. I checked the SG this morning and its down to .0992 and it looks pretty done. Even transferring it didn't get it going very much. Just a bubble every 20 seconds or so. I know the 1/2 gal has way too much headspace but the 5 looks good to me.
My question now is should I drop the campden and sorbate to totally stop it and degas or leave it for a few more days? I am leaning more to leave it till the weekend but what do I know!
The really cool thing is when I checked the SG this morning I drained a little into a glass and took it to my local store. The lady there added a little sugar into the glass and WOW! This stuff is going to be awesome! She was totally blown away and kept going on about the flavor I have created and how with some age it will be a kick butt creation! She pleaded with me to please bring her a bottle when I get to that stage.
Anyhow, here are some pics that you guys requested so please let me know what you think.

 

[Waldo]

Looking good but I would say give it a few more days , checking your SG daily to make sure fermentation has ended. When you are sure, then go ahead and stabalize and began degassing it.

 

[Danny]

Looks really good. I just bottled my first attempt at home grown muscadines yesterday and the taste was absolutely amazing. Your's turned out a little redder than mine as I had to remove some of the fruit from the primary because it was too full. Will be posting some pics of mine in another thread.


I actually planted my muscadines in my side yard almost 4 years ago now after seeing Waldo's video on making muscadine wine on this forum. This past year was the first batch. I also ended up with 5+ gallons after sweetening and got roughly 27 bottles. Hope yours tastes as great as mine.

 

[cheesegrits]

Congrats on your success! I just hope mine is half as good.
Mine is starting to clear and it definitely has a red look. What is cool is the color change from this(fluorescent lights)

To this when backlit with a shoplight!
Kind of like a lava lamp!

 

[cheesegrits]

So I let it clear for 2 months then racked it again. Then let it finish clearing. I got some label paper from George and had a friend who is a whiz on a computer design some labels for me. He used a picture of a small waterfall on the creek just below the vines that I supplied him. I think they turned out really cool. I back sweetened it just a little and having used the Premier Cuvee yeast it tastes like a slighty fruitier Pinot Grigio.

Sweetening

bottles sanitized and ready to fill

everything filled, I ended up with 25 bottles

corking

finished bottles

You can see the color real well in this one

I would like to thank George for having this site and all of you guys for posting info on here so someone like me with no experience can make something I can be proud of!

 

[Bert]

Looks great..very nice labels too...now on to the next wine...

 

[jeepbabe]

I really enjoyed reading your thread. Great job on the wine and on the labels! I agree with Bert- time to make another wine!

 

[Runningwolf]

CheeseGrits the pictures are great and the wine looks fantastic. I wish I could load bottles in my dishwasher like that. The corking process scares the heck out of me but I know it works for many. I can just imagine that bottle kicking out as your corking. How did it go?