waldo

[dcrnbrd]

Give me a hint on your best muscadine recipe. I have 60 lbs and wanting to make some of this family favorite.

 

[Waldo]

First and foremost dcrnbrd is the quality of the Muscadines you are using. You want them fully ripened and preferbly a variety best suited for wine making such as the Ison. Leave the quarter sizedand larger ones for the jelly makers.Freeze them....for a minimum of two weeks to break down that cell structure and make them turn loose of that juice. I use around 6-7 lbs fruit per gallon for my wine and prefer Montacharet yeast. Add a lot of patience to that as the wine needs about 2 years of aging to reach its peak

 

[gaudet]

On a slight tangent, Waldo if you were going to plant 4 muscadine vines, which would you choose? I am considering the Ison, Black Beauty, & Supreme. Should I go with one specific variety?

 

[Waldo]

I would go with the Ison gaudet. They are the best for wine making and are self fertile too. If you want a mix, I would go with the Ison and Supreme.

 

[gaudet]

Thats what I was leaning towards. I will be going to Mississippi this week to get some more muscadines. I got in touch with the owner of the Vineyard near Meridian yesterday. I will hope to be making a batch in the near future.

 

[Waldo]

Does he sell the plants too?

 

[gaudet]

Not sure if he does. But I'll get some if I can. I do plan on a 4 vine vineyard.... Some of those muscadines are purported to yield 60-80 pounds of fruit per season.

 

[dcrnbrd]

I got all of that handled so far. I just want one of those famous recipes you have been using.
I just planted 18 of those isons last winter and pinched off all of the fruit this year to get the vines stronger. I will be ordering their balackberry canes pretty soon.

 

[Waldo]

Give me a hint on your best muscadine recipe. I have 60 lbs and wanting to make some of this family favorite.

A 6 Gallon batch



42lbs. Muscadines
6 Campden Tablets
5 Tbsp Yeast Nutrient
3lbs Wildflower Honey
Sugar to bring SG to 1.090
1/2 Tsp Liquid Pectic EnzymeEdited by: Waldo

 

[dcrnbrd]

Wow so the honey makes that big of a difference? I cant get any wildflower honey at the moment. I will look around and see what I can find. Thanks waldo you the man

 

[Waldo]

Dissolvethe honey in a pot with about 2 qts water. Let it simmer and scoop the foam off the top as it forms

 

[gaudet]

Waldo,

Are you fermenting just the juice or are you adding water? I recently got a nice supply of carlos muscadines, and I am in the process of freezing them. I will be starting a new batch in a couple weeks and would like to discuss how you might handle this as to maximize juice extraction.

 

[Waldo]

I am adding water too gaudet. It varies, depending on how much juice I extracted from the fruit