Hi - my name is Lori. I have a few successful wine kits under my belt so I understand the basics. I planted cayuga and vidal blanc grapes in my backyard just for fun. I thought maybe I would try my hand at making my own wine but never had enough grapes until this year. The clusters were coming along great and I put mesh bags on them to protect them prior to picking. Unfortunately 2 raccoon bandits made a mess of things, forcing me to pick sooner than I wanted.
I thought it would be helpful to provide a summary of what has occurred so far.
Please keep in mind I am learning as I go, if anything drinkable comes out of this effort I will be shocked.
I picked the grapes
I crushed the grapes - just like Lucy did, with my feet in a bucket
I added pectin enzyme
I pressed through a cheese cloth and got about 1 gallon of juice
I measured SG 1.046
I measured PH - 2.8 (using test strips)
I measured Acid (it took 8ml of solution to turn the juice pink) 8ml*.25 = 2.00 TA (Ummm that doesn't seem right)
I added 1/2 Camden Tab to "innoculate"
I research how much sugar to add based on SG and determined I needed to add 402 grams
I added the sugar
I measured SG again 1.076
I measured Acid again 7ml*.25 = 1.75 (Umm still questioning this)
I researched reducing acid and without having the necessary additives on hand to lower it I decided to just add water. Testing as I went I added 1/2 gallon of water to my gallon of juice but barely noticed a change in Acid or PH.
I decided what the heck this is just all about learning so I added the Yeast.
24 hours later and all is quiet
I thought hmmm could the juice have been so acidic the Yeast just died?
Could the yeast be no good?
I decided to see if I could lower the acid more so I added another 1/2 gallon of water
I measured PH - maybe a 3.0 now (
I measured Acid (5ml*.25) = 1.25
Since there was a change I decided to add another packet of yeast and now I wait.
I am perfectly fine with dumping this all in the woods and chalking it up to an education but I sure would appreciate anyones thoughts.
Thanks In Advance
Lori
I thought it would be helpful to provide a summary of what has occurred so far.
Please keep in mind I am learning as I go, if anything drinkable comes out of this effort I will be shocked.
I picked the grapes
I crushed the grapes - just like Lucy did, with my feet in a bucket
I added pectin enzyme
I pressed through a cheese cloth and got about 1 gallon of juice
I measured SG 1.046
I measured PH - 2.8 (using test strips)
I measured Acid (it took 8ml of solution to turn the juice pink) 8ml*.25 = 2.00 TA (Ummm that doesn't seem right)
I added 1/2 Camden Tab to "innoculate"
I research how much sugar to add based on SG and determined I needed to add 402 grams
I added the sugar
I measured SG again 1.076
I measured Acid again 7ml*.25 = 1.75 (Umm still questioning this)
I researched reducing acid and without having the necessary additives on hand to lower it I decided to just add water. Testing as I went I added 1/2 gallon of water to my gallon of juice but barely noticed a change in Acid or PH.
I decided what the heck this is just all about learning so I added the Yeast.
24 hours later and all is quiet
I thought hmmm could the juice have been so acidic the Yeast just died?
Could the yeast be no good?
I decided to see if I could lower the acid more so I added another 1/2 gallon of water
I measured PH - maybe a 3.0 now (
I measured Acid (5ml*.25) = 1.25
Since there was a change I decided to add another packet of yeast and now I wait.
I am perfectly fine with dumping this all in the woods and chalking it up to an education but I sure would appreciate anyones thoughts.
Thanks In Advance
Lori