I havethe grapes - what to do with them

[sargan]

Hi ... new here ... not sure if this Q is OK.

Made fair amount of Wine and Mead in the past ... from fruit, or mixed with wine concentrate.
Not made any for 10+ years

Been offered a crop of wine grapes ... these are as per pics:
Can anybody identify the variety for me ... if I know what they are I can turn them into appropriate wine type.

http://tinyurl.com/cbrzmzt

http://tinyurl.com/cygg6nv

My best tip so far is that they are Vitus Labrusca (concord garpe).


So unless anyone has a better option ... what wine type is going to be best using these grapes ... and any recc recipes ?

What yeast should I get.

 

[grapeman]

They certainly are not Concord with them being oblong- maybe Alden or some similar grape of lambrusca background. Not knowing much about it, I would just get it ripe and make a generic wine out of it. Once you have a feel for the taste and composition of the grapes you could probably fine tune it next year.

 

[kookkal]

Hi there,
We have a vineyard in kookkal, anybody interested in buying vine grapes kindly visit us @ www.kookkal.com

 

[sargan]

28Lb of grapes from one vine picked yesterday ... now turned into a must.
Certainly sharp taste to them.

 

[Turock]

Do you have a PH meter? It would be wise to know what the PH is so you could adjust it. It would make a better wine.

 

[sargan]

I do ... just took the reading
The current pH is 5.5 ... not sure what I should aim for ? ... books I have just say must needs to be acidic but no pH reading given.

Initial S.G. is 1.032 ... only 24 Hrs since adding water (no yeast or sugar yet)

Recipe I am following is :
20Lb grape - removed from stalks and crushed
1 Litre grape juice (not from concentrate)
2 Gall water (UK gall)

Step 1 .. After crushing grapes, add boiling water, when cool add grape juice & 2 crushed Cambden tablets
2 tsp Petcolayze
Step 2.. After 48 Hrs add 2 tsp Citric Acid, measure S.G. and make up to 1.085 with inverted sugar.
Add started yeast + 2 nutrient tablets
Step 3 .. Ferment on pulp for 14 days
Step 4 .. Strain into jars, ferment out to S.G. 1.000


A question - . I have the Initial S.G. of 1.032 ( probably needs temp correcting to 1.041 as room temp is around 23 degrees)

The book I have says leave for 48Hrs before taking S.G reading and then making up to Initial S.G. is 1.085 Does the initial reading and one taken 48 Hrs later differ ? ........ If so I assume 48 Hrs allowed for sugar fully dissolves out of the grapes ?

 

[Turock]

Wow--that's a pretty high PH. They certainly aren't concords because concord comes in with much more acid, even when they are fully ripe.

What I would do, is to set up some testing for PH. If you had several test tubes, this would be good. Start bringing the PH down---you can use tartaric or acid blend. Acid blend lends a nice kick to the acid because it has some citric in it. Anyway, taste the samples as you adjust the PH down. You'll notice that the taste gets better. When you're happy with the flavor, stop there. Right now, the juice probably tastes like dishwater because the PH is so high.

Don't use any water!!! These grapes already have high PH and water increases it further. Don't ever add water to grapes unless you're working with high brix grapes or you have such high acidity that you can't get it under control with calcium carbonate.

A beginning SG of 1.085 is very good.

You can make a bag of the grapes, if you like, by using knee high hosiery. Then you don't have to struggle with a cap.

You should get the meta and pectic enzyme in one the first day. Second day you stir, set your PH, then the brix. Once you have all the testing done, pitch the culture,half of the nutrient,etc. Half way thru the ferment, pitch the rest of the nutrient. Actually we feed the nutrient amount in 3 batches to keep the yeast well fed thru the ferment.

The reason for the pectic on the first day is because your PH will change once fruit is broken down. So waiting to do the PH testing gives more accurate results as the fruit breaks down and incorporates into the juice. And the brix changes too as the pulp breaks down into the must. This why they say to wait, but we only wait 24hrs. to start testing unless the must is cold from using frozen fruit.

 

[sargan]

It is possible my pH meter is not giving correct reading ... it does read 7 on water .... but I don't have any known pH source to test it's calibration.
I tried it on a bottle of white vinegar .. and it reads 6
Thisis stated as 5% acidity ... but don't know waht reading I should get.