pounds of grapes per gallon of wine?

[bryano]

This will be my first time making wine from grapes and I would like to know what the standard is for how many pounds of grapes to a gallon of wine. I found a local vineyard that I believe sells minimum of 100# of chardonnay. I will be doing 5 gallon batches.

 

[winemaker_3352]

16 - 18 #'s per gallon of wine.

 

[Tom]

Thats about right for 5 gal (100#)

 

[grapeman]

That's right. It will yield about 6 gallons and by the time it is racked, etc, you will have 5 gallons or so.

 

[Wade E]

108 lbs of Chard 2 weeks ago is at 5.5 gallons right now, maybe a little more but lots of sediment and figure just a tad over 5 gallons when racked next week or the week after. Reds will give you more though as you ferment onn them and extract a little more from them.

 

[JamMan824]

It depends on the Grapes

Rule of thumb is from 1 lug of grapes (36 lbs) you can get from 2.5 gallons to 3 gallons depending on the grapes of the particular year. Shipping has a factor as well and how long they have sat in a cooler waiting to be picked up. The longer the grape sits the smaller they will get and or mold on you. There is also a variance on what type of press you use as well if you are using a ratchet press you won’t be able to apply as much pressure as a hydraulic press. I personally have a hydraulic press which will yield a little more juice. The old vine red zinfandel grapes this year where exceptionally well and we obtained about 3 gallons per lug after racking we should end up with about 2.7 to 2.8 gallons per lug