GreenEnvy22
Senior Member
Hi all,
This is my 2nd year making wine from the Muscat vines in our backyard. Last years (http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=578580) turned out great! we love it.
This year has been a much hotter and drier summer in our region. I was already expecting less of a harvest because I could see there were less bunches in the spring.
The grapes this year are way sweeter than last year. Last year they were at 16 brix when we harvested, and we sweetened them upto 18.5. I wanted to wait longer but they were falling off the vines so had to pick.
This year they were at 21, so don't need any sweetening.
The downside though is that while we got about 75 L of juice last year, this year we only got around 25 L. I think last year the vines were overloaded and exhausted so this year less of a crop. I'd like to try to stabilize it around 50 L of juice per year.
Anyway, pressed last week, SG at about 1090, added some kmeta, DAP, and fermaid, and K1-1116 yeast. I raided the acidity a bit too, it was reading about 0.4g/L, bumped it up to 6.5. (last year it was over 9) After about 60 hours it took off like crazy. I had put a solid lid on the bucket with an airlock because of the number of fruit flies around, and it totally filled up the airlock and spilled onto the lid. This is the first time I used a crusher as well.
This morning it's all died down, and SG is at about 996. Everything seems good so far.
Now I'm awaiting a few hundred pounds of Dornfelder grapes to be dropped off so I can press those. Most of it we make like a white, pressing immediately, but this year I'll do 1/3 of it like a red (never done a real red).
We also have about 10 Riesling vines that are now 2 years old. They produced some fruit, but not enough to bother making wine. I haven't picked those yet. I may keep the juice for sweetening or making jelly or just juice for the kids.
We also planted 4 different table grape varieties (1 vine each) this summer, so in a couple of years may have some of those (and the kids can stop picking at my Muscat!).
Some pics below. Compare the amount of grapes to last years link above, huge difference.




This is my 2nd year making wine from the Muscat vines in our backyard. Last years (http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=578580) turned out great! we love it.
This year has been a much hotter and drier summer in our region. I was already expecting less of a harvest because I could see there were less bunches in the spring.
The grapes this year are way sweeter than last year. Last year they were at 16 brix when we harvested, and we sweetened them upto 18.5. I wanted to wait longer but they were falling off the vines so had to pick.
This year they were at 21, so don't need any sweetening.
The downside though is that while we got about 75 L of juice last year, this year we only got around 25 L. I think last year the vines were overloaded and exhausted so this year less of a crop. I'd like to try to stabilize it around 50 L of juice per year.
Anyway, pressed last week, SG at about 1090, added some kmeta, DAP, and fermaid, and K1-1116 yeast. I raided the acidity a bit too, it was reading about 0.4g/L, bumped it up to 6.5. (last year it was over 9) After about 60 hours it took off like crazy. I had put a solid lid on the bucket with an airlock because of the number of fruit flies around, and it totally filled up the airlock and spilled onto the lid. This is the first time I used a crusher as well.
This morning it's all died down, and SG is at about 996. Everything seems good so far.
Now I'm awaiting a few hundred pounds of Dornfelder grapes to be dropped off so I can press those. Most of it we make like a white, pressing immediately, but this year I'll do 1/3 of it like a red (never done a real red).
We also have about 10 Riesling vines that are now 2 years old. They produced some fruit, but not enough to bother making wine. I haven't picked those yet. I may keep the juice for sweetening or making jelly or just juice for the kids.
We also planted 4 different table grape varieties (1 vine each) this summer, so in a couple of years may have some of those (and the kids can stop picking at my Muscat!).
Some pics below. Compare the amount of grapes to last years link above, huge difference.



