# Itchy grapes?



## hayseedjim (Oct 15, 2009)

I've been making fruit, concentrate and kit wines for a year now. A friend called and said he would bring me approx. 150 lbs. of concord grapes. Being that I have not done a wine from fresh grapes before- my wife and I de-stemmed and hand crushed the grapes , then squeezed them as well as we could, and got the primary fermentation started. My question is: we both had very itchy skin from doing this by hand. Is there something in grapes that would cause this?
Thanks.
Jim


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## Wade E (Oct 15, 2009)

Not to my knowledge but since grapes are grown outside they are prone to many kinds of wild irritants. Does he spray them with anything to keep pests and bugs away?


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## St Allie (Oct 15, 2009)

Hello and welcome to you both,

grapes contain acid,

handling a lot of juice and skins , the acid will irritate your skin.

Allie


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## hayseedjim (Oct 15, 2009)

Well now, that makes sense- I didn't know that grapes were that high in acidity. I guess that's why there are de -stemmers and presses for this operation!!!


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## troton (Oct 16, 2009)

I made alot of concord this year. And yes you will itch like crazy. My finger nails and skin around my nails are still recovering. And it has been 3 weeks since I put the last batch in the secondary and did not have to punch the bag down. You could use gloves next time just remember to santize the gloves.


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## 1st Timer (Oct 16, 2009)

I learned this as well, hand crushing 150 lbs. of Scuppernongs this year. Only with the Scuppernongs they burned the skin for a couple of days and then itched like crazy for a week.

Sanitized latex gloves were used in the last batch!


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## ceecee (Oct 7, 2014)

Also natural yeasts on the grapes will cause a reaction!!! I'm itching like crazy just from crushing 8 quarts of scuppernong!!! I used milk on my hands and it helped a lot! Gloves tomorrow"


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