Just Couldn’t Stand It

[Waldo]

Went to visit a friend this morning who fell and broke his leg about 3 weeks ago. He had asked me to stop by Wal-Mart and pick him up a few items, grapes being one of them. I grabbed him a bag of red and a bag of black seedless and as I headed towards the coffee I saw.....MUSCADINES...In Wal-Mart !!!!!

The price was ridiculous ( $3.97 for a 21.50z box) but man were they pretty and smelled wonderful. So what did I do? I bought me enough for a good gallon ( 6 boxes)


T ook them home, washed and destemmend them

I smushed them up real good, strained the juice from them

I dissolved one campden tablet and 1 tsp yeast nutrient in my blender, added that to the muscadine juice, sirring it in welland then put the pulp from the muscadines in a strainer bag. I added the juice and pulp bag to my fermenter and then I dissolved 2-1/4 lbs sugar in 3 quarts of hot water & added that to my fermenter, Stirring it well,I put a lid on it and inabout 12 hours ( depending on what time I get up in the morning) I will add 1 tsp Pectic Enzyme to the mustand tomorrow evening if the SG is right ( 1.090 or higher) I will pitch my Montcharet yeast to it.

 

[Bill B]

Very nice Waldo,The recipe looks good too.


Bill

 

[Waldo]

Thanks Bill. I have just got the wine making fever

I can't hardly stand the fact that I have a 5 gallon and a 3 gallon carboy empty right now.

 

[Hippie]

Way to go Waldo!


BTW, those are Scuppernongs, or you can call them bronze colored muscadines if you want.

 

[Waldo]

Added the pectic enzyme to my "Bronze Colored Muscadines"

must this morning and checked PH with the strips. It is at 4.4 or higher. Barely changed the color on the strips.

 

[Hippie]

Do you mean 4.4 or lower? I am not familiar with the ph strips. Did ya taste the juice? It should have been very sweet with a burning acid sensation.Edited by: Hippie

 

[Waldo]

You are correct Hippie..I should have said 4.4 or lower. I will get this ph thingy down one of these days. Did not taste the must but i did pitch the yeast to it this evening at an SG of 1.092 and a temp 0f 71 degrees. Just hope to wake up in the morning to some strong fermenting

 

[Hippie]

I know I have OCD and I am bossy and all that. (disclaimer)


Remember to taste at each and every step. You can learn alot by tasting alone. It don't seem like it at first, but after a while you will understand why.


What strain of yeast did you pitch?

 

[Waldo]

Wait a minute Hippie until I finsish carving the "Taste Each Time" notch on my learning stick....OK..Got that done !! Thanks Hippie. It makes sense to me now that I think of it. Never considered it before. I used Red StarMontcharet yeast. It seems to do a better job of extracting the narural fruit flavors from the country wines and giving them more body Edited by: Waldo

 

[peterCooper]

Looks wonderful. I think I'm about ready to start on a scratch (as opposed
to kit) wine. I just started the Murray River Reserve this evening. It was
almost too easy, this being my fourth after a Chianti, Pinot Grigio, and
Sangiovese.

Didnt 'spill a thing. Even got the hang of getting the cap off the juice. So
now where do I go. I have to keep on learning and there is a limit on
learning from a kit.

So... muscadine? I'm definitely tempted after seeing the beginings of this
one...

 

[geocorn]

It looks good and when you start counting empty carboys, you are definitely an addict.


Hippe is so right, taste the wine at every step. You will be surprised how fast your palette will learn.


It seems like I just shipped that Murray River Reserve and it is in the primary already. Let me know what you think of it.

 

[Waldo]

Thanks George..I am going to have to revise my record keeping form and add "tasting Notes" to it.

 

[rgecaprock]

Waldo,


First of all, like the avatar!! The scuppernongs look great. I'll have to check Walmart here but everytime I go in there I get frustrated and some

times disgusted with the people in there (and Im a very tolerant person) then I have to leave...so I'll head to the fruit sectionfirst next time.


We also have a store called Fiesta here with any fruit you could imagine and some you could never imagine, might check there too. Since the moveI am getting back into the wine making frame of mind.


BTW we didn't use the Forearm Forklift, the guys thought it was too wussy!!


Maybe I could make some Banana Wine.....these are in reach of the balcony here......

RamonaEdited by: rgecaprock

 

[Hippie]

Green as the bananas with envy here!

 

[rgecaprock]

LOL

 

[peterCooper]

George,
Ms. Murray arrived on Wednesday.
She had already started complaining that afternoon that I had left her in
the lurch and was not paying her enough attention. "What's the point of
that empty primary?" she would say, in that special tone of voice reserved
for the intellectually challenged wine maker. Then she would pout and
give me the silent treatment for a while. I took the punishment as a man
for as long as could stand but eventually I relented.

I spent a good deal of time with her Thursday evening. Our relationship
is already blossoming into something special. She responded so well to
just a few strokes and the results of my attention semm to be well worth
it.

Now I have her gurgling quite happily. I intend to leave her alone for a
while, but I am making arrangements to take her out early next week.

Right now it looks as if all the effort is on my side and she is reaping the
benefits. I have high hopes, though, that in time she will spare no efforts
to please me.

Edited by: peterCooper

 

[masta]

Good one Peter!!

 

[geocorn]

Thank you, Peter. You have put a brand new face on this wonderful hobby.

 

[rgecaprock]

Spoken like a Professor........


What do you teach? Literature, English?


Ramona

 

[peterCooper]

Ummm. Computer Science.