Muscidine question

[chris400]

Started this wine on 9-6-14 at a so of 1.085 and today 9-10-14 my so is reading 1.000 my question is do I need to remove and press hulls yet or let it go longer till fermentation stops then remove hulls....I plan on using what I press from hulls as a top up after I rack it the first time I was told I could keep it in fridge and it ed last a while is this true

 

[Thig]

My experience with muscadine is if you press it too hard it will be so full of pulp it will be very hard to clear. If you have it in a mesh bag I would let it drain on its own and get it into a carboy soon.

Nothing to be gained by leaving it on the hulls and seeds any longer and you could begin to pick up some bitter taste from the seeds.

 

[dralarms]

Iagree, get it off the hulls. Now I did hand press mine and I have no bitterness.

 

[chris400]

i was thinking that.....im gonna pull the pulp and hulls tomarrow and press the hulls best i can to get it all out and use what i press to top back up after first racking.......how long will this be ok in the fridge in a sealed container???????

 

[mikewatkins727]

......how long will this be ok in the fridge in a sealed container???????

Sealed container??! The makings of a hand grenade. In the refrigerator. Booby trap.

 

[Thig]

Sealed container??! The makings of a hand grenade. In the refrigerator. Booby trap.

Not so sure about that, wouldn't the refrigerator be cold enough to stop any further fermentation, at least until it is taken out of the refrigerator.

 

[chris400]

LOL i can freeze it if need be... thought about putting it in a cleaned and sanitized coke bottle to be on safe side if it did blow

 

[dralarms]

If you put it in the fridge it might blow. Freeze it would be ok.

 

[chris400]

may just try that dralarms ill try to let you no tomarrow how its going

 

[Julie]

freezing would keep it longer but since fermentation is pretty close to being done, you won't have any bottle bombs by keeping it in the frig.

 

[LoneStarLori]

I did a Muscadine/ Mustang last year that was disasterous. The best tip I can give you is when you put it in the mesh bag to squeeze out the juice after fermentation, don't overdo it. You will end up with a heavy slimy pulp that will never clear. With that in mind, I wouldn't suggest topping up with that after fermentation is done. It will never clear like the juice that has fermented. After you squeeze the pulp, you'll see what I mean. Total slime.

 

[chris400]

Lori I did see what you mean ...my carboy has cleared probably 6 inches in the last hour and I have just racked it ....I did learn you can't strain it through a bag in the carboy because your bag will get stuck lol that took 30 min to get out without spilling........one question though is how much k-meta powder do I need to add to a 5gal carboy of this wine now??

 

[chris400]

Here it is ...got a ways to go now

 

[Thig]

...I did learn you can't strain it through a bag in the carboy because your bag will get stuck lol that took 30 min to get out without spilling..

Wow, that probably squeezed the crap out of it trying to pull the bag back through the small carboy opening.

It might be hard to find but after this settles if you rack off the clear portion and put the rest back into a TALL Slender container it will settle out some more. It seems the gravity of a tall slender container (as opposed to a wide one) will let more of the pulp compact on the bottom.

 

[chris400]

Its settled another 3 inches sence the picture

 

[codeman]

The photo is exactly what mine looks like, it's been like that for 8 days.... is sparkolloid effective in this case?

 

[Julie]

Lori and Codeman, did you add any pectic enzyme?

 

[chris400]

beeing i just racked it to the carboy how much k-meta do i need to add i have the powder type its a 5 gallon carboy

 

[Julie]

1/4 tsp of kmeta

 

[chris400]

ok thank you..........how long would yall let the crud in the pic settle out before racking again