First wine from fresh grapes

[Satisfaction]

Greetings all,

Yesterday, I happened into 8 gallons of fresh Seyval grape juice and was hoping to get some advice before I start diving into this head first. I am a very experienced brewer of beer, but wine is still new to me with only 3 kits under my belt. Being a chemical engineer a lot of the practices used to make wine makes sense. So let's get to the good part!

The juice measures 19.8brix and titrated at 0.7% TA, the 8 gallons sat in my fridge overnight @37f and the pulp has settled out very nice. I assume that the pulp is racked off of and left behind. Is there any thing this could be used for? Should I make any adjustments?

For the fermentation, I had planned on using the red star cotes de blanc and letting it ferment at 55f. What type of nutrient addition schedule should be used?

I have read about leaving the wine on the lees and taking it off, with advantages to both methods. For work I travel a lot, 50-70% of my life is spent in airports so unfortunately this wine will be growing up on it's own with mostly weekend TLC. Should I rack off the lees and not worry?

Anything else I am missing to get this one rolling?

Thanks for all your input in helping this newbie out!

 

[Arne]

Probably a day late answering. Sounds like you are probably sitting waiting on a plane now. I started my first batch with grapes this year, so am kinda guessing on what you should do. If it was me, I would put all the juice in the primary, add a bit of sugar to bring the s.g. up to 1.085 to 1.090. For now I would leave the solids in the juice, they will rack off between primary and secondary. If you like, you can hit it with k-meta, if not, maybe some pectic enzime, wait 12 hours and pitch the yeast. Keep it stirred, if you are gone, maybe try and get somebody to stir it for you. Otherwise, you will just have to leave it go and check on it when you get home. Let it ferment til 1.010 or lower and get it into the secondary. When finished let it sit for a while, rack off the lees and k-meta. Now let it sit some more and sit and sit. Mite have to have a bit of tasting in the middle of this. If you need help after this far along, just yell and somebody here will help. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[whackfol]

I only have limited experience with Seyval Blanc. The ones I see usually have similar Brix, but higher TA. I have added sugars up to 22 Brix. With low sugars and relatively low TA (I've seen Seyval Blanc with TA's over 9 g/L), I would add sugar to get the Brix to at least 21. I might consider adding .5 g/L of tartaric, but depending on the taste of the grape, might postpone this until after the wine ferments. The low alcohol will probably complement the low TA. You can always add some later if need be. What is the wines pH? I would not allow MLF.

Epernay is a good yeast choice. I like to ferment my Seyval at about 60F in a cooler. If this is not possible, try to keep it as low as you can. It lengthens the fermentation and preserves the bright crisp flavor I like in Seyval.

Other answers: You can leave the pulp behind. But it is not necessary. Rack off gross lees as soon as fermentation is complete - clarify and stabilize with K sorbate and SO2. As you have a cooler, I'd cold stabilize. Barring a YAN test, follow a basis nutrient schedule with Fermaid or Fermax. I like to rehydrate with GoFerm, but it is not necessary.

 

[Satisfaction]

Thanks for the feedback, funny enough took a wild guess and did pretty much what both of you recommended!

The Brix was increased to 21.5, and put in some pectic enzyme for almost 12 hours.. maybe 10..

Because this is a perfect opportunity to experiement, I am splitting the batch into 4 gallons and putting one through MLF and leaving the other alone. To be honest, never had Seyval wine before so figured whats there to lose.



Appreciate the help!

 

[grapeman]

I agree with whackfol about not doing an mlf with Seyval. Celebrate Seyval for what it is and don't try to make it a Chardonnay. Seyval is a nice light refreshing fruity wine with subtle aromatics and light flavors. Aciditity is naturally good for this variety and doesn not need a lot of manipulation.

Sorry I did not see this before to comment. Good luck with it, you should be happy with it.