my question is about the finalyield of wine from the starting volume of must.
the total starting volume was 2 gallons. this was composed of the filter bag containing the previously frozen grapes and some of thefluid that leaked out of the grapes as they thawed. after fermentation, i squeezed out the bag and discarded the bag andpulp. the volume of liquid in the primary dropped to 1 1/2 gallons. all of this was transferred to the secondary under airlock. i did not try to transfer the wine only, because the lees were mixed up while squeezing out the bag.the lees quickly began to drop out in the secondary. within hours, about 1/4 of this 1 1/2 gallons was lees. by my calculation, the total wine i will be able to get from the original 2 gallons of must, will be about 1.25 gallons, or less. does this sound about right, or am i making some basic mistake and losing potential wine?
also, i took the discarded pulp in the filter bag and put it back into the nowempty, but uncleaned,primary. i took 1 1/2 gallons of well water and added enough sugar to bring the sg to 1.092. i added enough acid blend to bring the pH to 3.54. 24 hours later there was good hissing fermentation in the primary, and the must was a nicered. my wife says it tastes only like sugar water, but to me, it tastes like aslightly tart and refereshing fruit juice. anyone else had any luck trying this?
the total starting volume was 2 gallons. this was composed of the filter bag containing the previously frozen grapes and some of thefluid that leaked out of the grapes as they thawed. after fermentation, i squeezed out the bag and discarded the bag andpulp. the volume of liquid in the primary dropped to 1 1/2 gallons. all of this was transferred to the secondary under airlock. i did not try to transfer the wine only, because the lees were mixed up while squeezing out the bag.the lees quickly began to drop out in the secondary. within hours, about 1/4 of this 1 1/2 gallons was lees. by my calculation, the total wine i will be able to get from the original 2 gallons of must, will be about 1.25 gallons, or less. does this sound about right, or am i making some basic mistake and losing potential wine?
also, i took the discarded pulp in the filter bag and put it back into the nowempty, but uncleaned,primary. i took 1 1/2 gallons of well water and added enough sugar to bring the sg to 1.092. i added enough acid blend to bring the pH to 3.54. 24 hours later there was good hissing fermentation in the primary, and the must was a nicered. my wife says it tastes only like sugar water, but to me, it tastes like aslightly tart and refereshing fruit juice. anyone else had any luck trying this?
