A
Anthony
Guest
Hello everyone,
My name is Anthony and I live in the chilly and sparsely populated state of Wyoming. I have been making wine from kits and juices for about 8 years now but don't have much experience making it from fresh fruit. My Italian roots keep me telling me I should plant a few vines like my grandfather did back in the "old country" but I haven't had the time or courage to try that yet.
However.......
I did get a bunch of "cold weather" grapes last week and decided to try my hand at making something "drinkable" with them. Most likely they are concorde grapes so I have no illusions about the end result. But I would like to make something that won't "gag' me in the end
So here is where I'm at....
I crushed (by mallet and by hand) the grapes today and now have a bucket of crushed "goo" (skins, seeds, pulp, and some juice) that goes up to about the 4 gallon mark on my primary bucket. I managed to get enough juice to get a hydrometer reading which is about 1.085. I mixed in some pectic enzyme and some potassium metabisulphite to kill the wild yeast. And it is currently sitting in my cold garage until I figure out what to do next.
I have some pH strips that indicate that the acid is high (which I figured would be the case since these are cold-weathered, wild grapes) and have thought about adding some water and sugar to "cut" the acid, and get the hydrometer reading up.
So, any suggestions about how much water and sugar I should add without watering down the wine too much? I really would like to make at least a medium body, dry red if possible. Also, since the mixture is a thick "goo" with not a lot of juice, about how much wine can I expect in the final result? I want to do the first fermentation on the skins so the wine has good color and some tannin, but since I am new at this, I cannot make an educated guess as to how much wine I may get in the end.
Sorry this is so long. I really could use the help if anyone can.
Sincerely,
Anthony
My name is Anthony and I live in the chilly and sparsely populated state of Wyoming. I have been making wine from kits and juices for about 8 years now but don't have much experience making it from fresh fruit. My Italian roots keep me telling me I should plant a few vines like my grandfather did back in the "old country" but I haven't had the time or courage to try that yet.
However.......
I did get a bunch of "cold weather" grapes last week and decided to try my hand at making something "drinkable" with them. Most likely they are concorde grapes so I have no illusions about the end result. But I would like to make something that won't "gag' me in the end
So here is where I'm at....
I crushed (by mallet and by hand) the grapes today and now have a bucket of crushed "goo" (skins, seeds, pulp, and some juice) that goes up to about the 4 gallon mark on my primary bucket. I managed to get enough juice to get a hydrometer reading which is about 1.085. I mixed in some pectic enzyme and some potassium metabisulphite to kill the wild yeast. And it is currently sitting in my cold garage until I figure out what to do next.
I have some pH strips that indicate that the acid is high (which I figured would be the case since these are cold-weathered, wild grapes) and have thought about adding some water and sugar to "cut" the acid, and get the hydrometer reading up.
So, any suggestions about how much water and sugar I should add without watering down the wine too much? I really would like to make at least a medium body, dry red if possible. Also, since the mixture is a thick "goo" with not a lot of juice, about how much wine can I expect in the final result? I want to do the first fermentation on the skins so the wine has good color and some tannin, but since I am new at this, I cannot make an educated guess as to how much wine I may get in the end.
Sorry this is so long. I really could use the help if anyone can.
Sincerely,
Anthony
