Some pointers for someone new to wine making.

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Ian

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Hello this is my first time making wine, I am some what being guided by my grandfather who hasnt make wine in over 20 years and would just like some further assistance.

I picked about 5 bushels of a white michigan grape from a friends house. washed and dried them, crushed them and pressed them and got about 12 gal of juice or musto as my grandfather referred to it. we put 3 gal of juice into 4 glass jugs and then we make a mixture of 1 gal water and 3.5 pounds sugar boiled and added to each jug ending up with 4 jugs with 4 gals of "wine" in each. Grandpa said that it would now sit for about 40 days till ready.

It has been 22 days now it has been bubbling and did clear up a bit, but it is still prety cloudy and has a bitter taste, did we screw up or can i do something to salvage it clear it up some more and possible sweeten it up, or is it a lost cause. Thank you for any imput and sorry for going into too much detail.
 
is there much sediment at the bottom of the jugs? If so, consider syphoning the sort-of clearing wine into new, clean jugs...maybe the yeast passing away is causing the bitterness (we call it, sitting on the lees.) 22 days isn't too long, but long enough to consider re-racking and then airlocking. You never mentioned if the top of the jugs are sealed or not. It may have oxidized. Wine hates oxygen once the ferment starts slowing down. It sounds like you are doing this the "Old world" way...consider investing in a hydrometer to take a reading of where the specific gravity is of your wine. If it's near 1.020, definitely rack it to a new container that is airlocked. If you don't want to invest in one, consider saran wrap with a rubber band. The gas can escape, but bugs/air can't get in as easily...
 
Time is what you need. Let it sit to clear. The bitterness is either the wine is dry or overly acidic. I am guessing you didn't measure the SG when starting or finished? Without SG readings it is kind of tough to let you know where you wine is at or where it is going. There are agents you can use to assist clearing the wine such as Super Klear. You can back sweeten the wine after it is finished and you add sorbate and sulfites to stabilize the wine to bring it to a taste you desire.

Oh and BTW, welcome aboard and I look forward to reading your posts.
 
Thank you to your posts, I find them very helpful. I am going to invest in a hydrometer and going to rack to new container. I will post the SG reading when i take it later today.

Thanks again to all
 
Without knowing what type of grape it was or what the brix of the grape was before or after adding sugar there isnt muh we can help you with. Dont know how you decided it needed more sugar without checking the sugar level in the first place. If its still bubbling then it is not going to clear, it will only clear after it has stopped fermenting for some time.
 

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