Juice Bucket Instructions

[dburling]

Any good reference on instructions for juice buckets you can share? I am interested in moving from Kits to Juice but need some direction. Is the process the same as that for grapes except fermentation starts after the press? Any help would be appreciated...

 

[Rocky]

DB, I am not sure if this is what you are looking for or not. This is from a supplier that I use occasionally for juice buckets. http://luvabella.com/wine_making.shtml

 

[Pumpkinman]

Dburling,

Hi! The process is very similar, here is how I approach the process:

• As soon as I get my bucket(s) home, I let them get up to room temp and start by cleaning the lid and sides of the bucket with a cleaner/sanitizer such as Star San to make sure nothing funky gets into my bucket, most likely they've been sitting in a warehouse and need a cleaning.
• I open the buckets and check the SG, PH, Acidity and S02, I adjust if necessary.
• I rack my juice into an 8 gallon fermenter, add my yeast of choice that I've rehydrated with Goferm and put a lid on it with an airlock (there is plenty of oxygen in the bucket).
• At this point I'll add Oak Infusion Spirals if the wine I'm making benefits from it, and if I am making a red wine, an AllGrape Pack, 4 KG of crushed grapes that I put into a nylon or muslin bag and close, this will help to make the racking and clean up much easier, the crushed grapes will help to add body to the wine. I may add tannin if necessary and make small adjustments at this point
• Usually after 12 hrs I can start to see signs of activity in the fermenter, at this point I add a yeast nutrient that has been mixed with a small amount of water, and gently stir it in, I do this the next two days as well, spreading out the yeast nutrient application. (If the recommended amount is for example: 2 tsp, I'll divide that into 3 applications.)
• When I start to see the airlock activity slow down to approx. one or two "bubbles" a minute, I'll check the SG, I like to ferment to dry, I'm in no rush so until it is down to .996, I'll keep it in the fermenting bucket.
• When the wine has fermented dry, I add Malolactic Bacteria if I am making a red wine, and let the MLF go on as long as necessary.
• When MLF is complete, I rack to a new carboy and stabilize with Meta, at this point I let the wine age, racking periodically until it is clear.
• When the wine is clear, if it is a red wine, I transfer it to an oak barrel.
• If the wine is white, I'll stabilize and let age, and cold stabilize.
• If I am going to back sweeten a white wine, I'll stabilize with Meta and Sorbate.

That is it in a nut shell, I'm sure that I forgot something, but that is the general process.

Tom

 

[djrockinsteve]

Here is one tutorial I did on that.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f5/basic-juice-fermentation-wine-18266/