Frozen must vs juice/grapes

[justinb]

Ive got the wine making bug bad. I'm very new at this, but want to try something to compliment the kits. I'm debating between frozen must or juice with fresh grapes. Does one way produce a better result for reds? I realize that I can utilize frozen must all year, but am limited to when I can use fresh grapes with the juice.

All I have is kit making equipment. I will have to upgrade if I proceed either way. Thanks

 

[jburtner]

I am figuring this out for myself now too and opting for frozen must with the thought that it's essentially the same as fresh grapes that are already crushed so you don't necessarily need a crusher/destemmer but I already have a small press that I bought for fruit and already want a larger press.... Less operating of the press means less work time when you get into larger runs... I figure 15 gallons of must in a 20 gallon brute x3 should keep me quite busy and I can get an extra brute or three as needed.

I will try to get fresh grapes too next fall if I can coordinate it.

Cheers!
-johann

 

[Johnd]

Due to my locale, I make my wine from frozen must and have been quite pleased with the results. As Johann said, you don't need a crusher/destemmer so it eliminates one piece of equipment. All of my tools / toys are pretty much the same stuff I used for kit winemaking except for the press and testing equipment.

A nice byproduct of using either fresh or frozen must for red wines, is that you can freeze and save the pressed skin/seed cakes after pressing, and add them to a kit wine later, this will improve the mouthfeel, tannins and nose of a kit wine, in my experience and opinion.

 

[ColemanM]

I agree with both above comments. I use my pressed grape skins for wine kits. It's a two for one. I feel the frozen must is much better than any kit, but I am one of the few that can smell kit taste. Skins help remove this but the added tannins and acid of the skins help me age the kits much longer as well.