Quantity of Juice from Muscadines Question

[MRM]

Long beginner story, but,

Second year making muscadine wine. The first (3Gal.) turned out great BTW!! Now my vines are producing more and quantity is increasing. I have purchased a used crusher/destemer, although I do not pick the muscadines with stems and a used press.I am dissapoined with the quantity of juice from the crushing/pressing. Maybe? 1 gal for 4 gallon of muscadines. I have found out that if I save the remains of the pressed muscadines the next day there is more juice in the bucket and repressing yeilds a little more juice so I am thinking maybe to crush one day and press the following day?

So I could only manage 5 gallons of juice from the muscadines picked so far. I was hoping for over 6 gal. of juice so I could use 6 gallon carboy that I already have. I adjusted the sg, added campden tabs, sugar, etc. In an effort to increase yeild I also added some fo the remains of the crushed muscadine to the frementer in a mesh bag. I added enough of those to brings the level in the frementer to about 1" above the 6 gal. mark. I think the pectic anzyme and frementation process will yeild a little more liquid from the skins but I have no clue as to how much to expect when I remove and squeeze the mesh bag with skins. Any one have an idea? Should I expect to have just slightly more than the original 5 gl. 5 1/2 gl maybe?

More muscidines are getting ripe. I plnted 4 varieties and they do not ripen at the same time. I am thinking about starting anoter batch that will yeild at least 1 gallon and after I remove the skins from the first batch I plan to add/combine the two batches together. The first batch will have been fermenting for about a week at this point. What would be the issue with adding additional juice to the already partially fermented must. The additional juice will have supplement added just as the frist batch.

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[JohnT]

Sound like you are leaving a lot of juice behind when you press.

Try leaving the grapes under low pressure for a longer period of time. You could also back off the press, give the grape "cake" a stir, then apply pressure again.

 

[dralarms]

Why not just ferment on the skins? Or steam juice them. Ive got 5 five gallon buckets full in the freezer waiting for a free bucket.

 

[Arne]

I have not done many wines from fresh grapes. I have not had a mentor to help either. I have leaned on all the good folks on this site to help. Now the couple of wines I have made with fresh grapes, by hand I destemed them. After a couple of long nights doing that, I envy you the destemer. Anyway, I mashed the grapes some with a potatoe masher. Actually this was fairly easy and didn't take too long. I put the grapes in ferment bags and set them in the primary with the juice. I let them ferment for a few days, mite of been a week or so, took the ferment bags out and put them in the press. When I got done pressing them there was not a lot of juice left. Not the way most of the folks do it, but it did work for me. The one batch I made was small, took the ferment bag out after a few days, put the juice in a small primary and made a second wine off the leftover grapes and skins. Got more wine and it has a pretty decent grape flavor.
I don't think you will have any worries combining the two ferments, you will just have to wait til the ferment stops. Mite make the origional ferment take a bit longer, mite not. Good luck with your project. Arne.

 

[Arne]

John T. posted while I was typing. He knows waaay more about fresh grapes than I ever will. Listen to what he says. Arne.

 

[garymc]

Your grapes are muscadines. You already know they are different from the other grapes. Some winemaking advice is universal, but not all. Most people add water to muscadine must. The amount varies with 5 gallons of wine made from 22 pounds of muscadines to 50 pounds. I usually go with about 30 pounds, but will be trying a higher number next year. If you freeze the grapes first, you will get a little more juice. If you put them in the nylon mesh bag after crushing and ferment on the skins with pectic enzyme, you will get more juice. If you leave them on the skins too long, you will get harsh tasting wine that many people will not drink. I try not to leave mine on the skins for more than 2 or 3 days after fermentation starts. That might be 4 days total if it takes a day or more to get going.

 

[dessertmaker]

Muscadine wine tastes better without water additions IMO. Have you tried freezing your grapes before pressing them?

 

[jswordy]

1. Do not add water. Repeat: Do not add water.

2. Freeze your grapes solid and then allow them to thaw before making wine. Your yield will jump. I put them in gallon freezer bags, then thaw them in a CLEAN cooler with the lid open and/or fermenter buckets. That way, when some fluid leaks from the bags, I can still capture and use it.

3. Use pectic enzyme even though you froze the grapes. Add a teaspoon more per 5 gallons than is directed on the label. It will not harm the wine to use "too much" but boosts the yield in muscadines.

4. Bag your crushed grapes in 5-gallon paint strainer bags from Lowes or HD. Tie off the bags. It takes 3 to 5 bags to do 60 pounds.

5. 60 pounds of muscadines yields about 8 gallons of must (100% juice and grapes), which yields about 5 gallons of wine to go into secondary once it all is siphoned and pressed. There are about 6 pounds of muscadines in a gallon container, so you can guesstimate as you pick.

6. When it is time to press, squeeze as much juice as you can out of the grapes while still in the bags. After that, I pile the bags in 5-gallon buckets, then dump the grapes from the bags into the press. Fluffing will get you a tiny bit more, but if you do everything in this post, there will not be much left to press out in the first place.

7. Do make a second pressing wine with the grapeskins left. You can make another 5 gallons. Add sugar to raise SSG and referment. It will be a weaker muscadine taste but is still excellent. (Heheheheh - commercial wineries sell this as "rose muscadine" for the same price per bottle). This makes the biggest use of your grapes. The second pressing wine is also excellent as a blending wine with blueberry or other flavors.

 

[MRM]

Jim, Thanks for the ideas. I ended up crushing and pressing anothe 2 gallons of muscadines and when added to the frement so hopwfully I will end up iwht 6 gl now. I also removed the skins in the fermenter and combined those with the fresh skins with some aditinal sugar and water. Don;t know what that will turn out to be but your post indicates you have done the same.