Concord Grapes

[fivebk]

I have a friend that brought me about 20 lbs of concord grapes this evening. I just got done ( with some help from my wife and my favorite sidekick ) hand destemming and crushing them.

Here are some pics

We got them all crushed up and added some K-Meta

BOB

 

[Wade E]

What size batch is this going to be?

 

[fivebk]

Wade, I don't know yet as I don't know how to determine how much juice I will get from that amount of grapes

BOB

 

[grapeman]

I see some less than ripe berries in there so with Concord it might still be high in acid and low in sugar. Check those and if they are about 15-16 brix and high acid TA, I would make a 2-3 gallon batch with them. Add water to bring to about that range and adjust the sugars to 1.090. I might even throw in a bottleof red grape juice concentrate or even a can of frozen Welch's grape juice which is made from Concord.

 

[ibglowin]

Might be more like 1 gallon. My latest fresh grape adventure yielded approx 1 gallon for every 17lbs of grapes. Should work great like Richs says with a can of Welches for some extra sugar and volume.

They look great! How did they taste?

 

[ibglowin]

Forgot to mention your little helper sure is growing up!

 

[Wade E]

Most recipes for these grapes call for 6-8 lbs per gallon as they usually need to be diluted down due to higher TA's.

 

[grapeman]

Most recipes for these grapes call for 6-8 lbs per gallon as they usually need to be diluted down due to higher TA's.

Yep, that's why I stated it like I did. The acids can be too high so are often made with water additions to bring it down. They have plenty of flavor, the alcohol can be boosted with added sugar and the concentrate boosts the body. It pretty much hinges on how ripe they were at harvest.


They do look like they will work nicely and you can't beat the price!

 

[fivebk]

Thanks, guys for the help. Can anyone tell me why it seems like grandkids grow up faster than your own kids did???

How long should I leave them set before starting fermentation??

Will the color get better as it ferments????

Rich, I will check the acid level tomorrow, Can I go ahead and add some pectic enzyme now? Brix was 14 but I will check it again tomorrow to be sure. I have benton ite should I add some before fermentation??

BOB

 

[Wade E]

I use bentonite before fermentation to help drop out the bigger solids and to aid in ridding any possible protein haze. I wait 12 hours after adding sulfite to add enzymes but Rich adds the enzymes at the same time and we both make award winning wines. 14 Brix is pretty low!

 

[grapeman]

I would add the pectic enzyme now to help break them down- that will aid color extraction. 14 brix indicated unripe = higher acids. I would go with the 6-8 pounds per gallon. Figure on a light body wine. Because of that I would add the Welch's grape juice to help. That will also help the color.Bentonite is optional as to when to add. I do it at the beginning.

 

[fivebk]

The same friend that gave me the grapes called me up yesterday and asked if I had started the wine yet. They said that if it wasn't too late that they had some extra frozen juice left over from last year. I quickly agreed to take it off their hands ( Being the good friend that I am )

After mixing everything together, testing the acid, adding 8 cups of sugar and only 2 qts water the final readings were SG 1.080 TA .70 I am guessing when everything is said and done I will probably have between 3-4 gallons of wine.

Pitched the yeast at 8 AM this morning

BOB

 

[ibglowin]

Man those are GOOD friends to have for sure!

 

[grapeman]

Well that beats the heck out of needing to add water!What was the brix of the juice? Maybe they were riper last year. I can smell it from here.

 

[Wade E]

Now those #s are Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better! Good score!

 

[fivebk]

Rich, I didn't check the Brix of the juice. It was frozen so I just threw it in with the rest and let it thaw. Next I checked the sugar level by tasting ( I know not very scientific ) and I knew it needed some sugar . So I added some , checked the SG and then readjusted it.

here's a pic 24hrs after I pitched the yeast

BOB

 

[fivebk]

I checked th SG this morning and to my surprize it was already at 1.005 So I set up my antique 8qt fruit press and pressed all them skins. After everything was said and done I ended up with almost a 5 gallon batch.

Here's a couple of pics

BOB

 

[fivebk]

I racked this wine this morning. Added K-Meta, K-Sorbate,and topped up with some welch's grape juice. I noticed when racking this that it had an funny smell to it. I splash racked it and stirred the crap out of it. The smell was almost completely gone.

Is this something normal when working with fresh grapes , or do tou think maybe I had something starting to go wrong???

The gross lees when I was cleaning out the carboy had the same smell only alot stronger. I added a little more K-Meta than normal to help stop anything from getting going. The wine had no off flavors that I could detect.

Here are a couple of pics

BOB

 

[grapeman]

Depending on the YAN (yeast assimable nitrogen) content of the grapes and juice you may need to add more than normal of yeast nutrient. The stressed ferment using some yeasts can create hydrogen sulfide and give you a stinky smell. You did the right thing to treat it.

 

[Scott]

Bob how did this batch turn out? Should have been aged by now!! Hope all is going well with you.

Also did you leave the grapes in the bag during whole ferm process? This year I ended up with 2 five gallon buckets of grapes after destemming and sorting, they are in the freezer until I have time to get it started.