50 lbs Scuppernong whats the recipe

[pwrose]

50 lbs Scuppernog whats the recipe

I have read a couple of post but there was no real recipe.
How much should I be looking at gallon wise with 50 lbs of grapes?
Should I ferment on the skin or off?
If I have no press what is the best way to press that many grapes?
What yeast should I use or should I go with the wild yeast on the grapes?

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Oh I pick them up Friday so I have a day or so to get all the info on them so post away all the help you can afford, remember its only words so it dont cost much.

 

[AUwiner]

Freeze the muscadines for a couple of weeks. It makes them much easier to crush after they are thawed. Go to the ECKraus website. They have basic mucadine and scuppernong recipes that have worked well for me. It only calls for 30# of fruit in a 5 gallon batch. I just crush them by hand. It takes a while but is not too difficult. You do need a bag for the skins and pulp. Also you may consider not leaving the skins in as long as the recipe states doing.

 

[mxsteve625]

PW

I didn't freeze my grapes. I pressed them right after harvesting.
Here are my notes from a 10 gallon batch I made. After primary I divided up into 2 - 5 gallon batches each with a different amount of backsweeting. Hence the Nobel 1 and 2.

View attachment Muscadine-Noble Number 01.pdf

View attachment Muscadine-Noble Number 02.pdf

 

[Sirs]

On scupps I'd freeze but you don't need to. I'd just crush if you got a small drill you can get a 5 gallon bucket paint stirrer (not a stick)or a drywall mixer either will do and just do them that way works really good. you can crush up about 4 gallon in a few minutes. I myself have always let the wild yeast go they work really good and have never stalled on me. I'd leave skins on for a day or you can go till dry slickly up to you. I've done both seems when I left on for only a day then pressed it seemed to make wine a lot lighter color and not near as much flavor. Muscadines are always full of flavor so even strained early they still got a lot. I'd put in pectic enzyme first thing and let her go either way you won't be sorry. As far as pressing them I always put mine in a 5 gallon paint strainer bag you can get them at lowes or homedepot normally 3 in a pack they work good just mash the fool out of them.

 

[Sirs]

this is what they look like at lowes the thnig on top comes off lol at about $6 you can't beat it oh and it don't bust up the seeds and such

 

[pwrose]

Thanks for the replys, heres a couple questions on the responses.

How many gallons should 50 lbs make?
I will probably freeze them first due to time, when should I add the PE? With fruit I normally add it after I put them in the strainer bag but before I pitch the yeast. If I am not pitching yeast and using the wild yeast when do I use the PE?
If the acid levels are too high should I just add water to bring it down?
If the SG is not at ????? should I add a simple syrup to bring it up or boil some of the must down to concentrate the sugars?

As you can tell I am not used to using grapes, I tried to make a muscadine wine last year and it is way to acidic and the starting SG only gave me about a 7% ABV. Fruits are my thing and I can make some good fruit wine, grapes however are my nightmare. So all help will be appreciated.

 

[Sirs]

what I normally do and it gets acid about right is I add a gallon of water for every 3 gallon of must and add the PE soon as you can it don't hurt. Least get your sg up to 12 to 14 % range and if they came from a good established vineyard I'd go with wild yeast you'll not be disappointed.
If your grapes aren't real ripe they will be more acidy so you'll need to go with abit more water. with muscadines if the skins tight they're not fully ripe, they gotta feel almost mushy if you know what I mean. Either way they'll do good.

 

[Sirs]

I tried to get you to come get some of these down here last year lol

 

[AUwiner]

I certainly don't have the experience of many here, but why would you want to take a chance with yet another variable such as wild yeast? With a purchased product you know exactly what you are getting for a relatively insignificant cost.

 

[GTS]

I too lack the experience of the regulars on this forum, but that never stops me from adding my 2 cents worth.
I usually use one of several commercially available yeasts, but have gone with the natural yeasts on occasion, and with good results.
I have a friend that works for one of the larger wineries here in Arkansas, and found out last year that they been using a fairly robust naturally occuring yeast to ferment their muscadine wine for several years. They found that the natural yeast was far superior to commercial yeast, and produced a more flavorful product, at least it did with regard to their red muscadine wine, not sure about the white. To me, that certainly speaks well of some natural yeasts.

 

[Sirs]

I certainly don't have the experience of many here, but why would you want to take a chance with yet another variable such as wild yeast? With a purchased product you know exactly what you are getting for a relatively insignificant cost.

I've always used wild yeast or as I like to call them the natural yeast for the product, it's the yeast on it naturally. Yes wine makers have used specific yeast for certain wines for years but with fruits and wild grapes they used what they thought would be best for the product they're using. Yes you do know what your getting when you buy a certain store bought yeast but even they go wrong at times otherwise you wouldn't see post of stalled fermentation and such. I've never had a wild yeast stop on the first ferment, give off awful odors, or get stressed. I've also never had to feed them nutrients or energizers. Back before I used a hydrometer
I know I've had to have started out batches where I added 10 pounds of sugar to naturally sweet juice and not even be 2 gallon, but it fermented right on anyway. I don't knock using store bought yeast like I used to but I do think when its a wild grape or fruit other than wine grapes then use of the wild yeast to me is better. That's just my opinion from making homemade wine for over 30 somewhat years.

 

[Sirs]

hey pwrose if you mess up your wine cause of something I've told you let me know I'll get you enough grapes to make you another batch. on the muscadines only lol

 

[PCharles]

Scuppernong Recipe

I will be picking up 6 gallons of scuppernongs Tusday. Sorry the procedure doesn't provide more detail.

Scuppernong 30 lbs.
Sugar 9 lbs.
Yeast Nutrient 5 tsp.
Yeast Energizer N/A
Pectic Enzyme 3/4 tsp.
Acid Blend N/A
Whine Tanin 1 tsp.
Yeast K1V-1116

Here is my reference for the details above.
http://www.eckraus.com/wine-recipes/?gclid=COCwttO4o6sCFYEj7Aodej7Uzg

 

[Julie]

I will be picking up 6 gallons of scuppernongs Tusday. Sorry the procedure doesn't provide more detail.

Scuppernong 30 lbs.
Sugar 9 lbs.
Yeast Nutrient 5 tsp.
Yeast Energizer N/A
Pectic Enzyme 3/4 tsp.
Acid Blend N/A
Whine Tanin 1 tsp.
Yeast K1V-1116

Here is my reference for the details above.
http://www.eckraus.com/wine-recipes/?gclid=COCwttO4o6sCFYEj7Aodej7Uzg

PCharles, don't just add 9 lbs of sugar, add enough sugar to get the reading you are looking for, I would suggest around 1.080 - 1.090. It may be 9#s or it may be more or less. Remember always use your hydrometer thru all stages of your wine.

 

[pwrose]

I dont have but a min. to type out something on this borrowed internet. My internet is down until tuesday evening (hopefully). I will be back to follow up on this, I picked the grapes up Friday afternoon and put them in the freezer until I could get back on here. So as Arnold would say "I'LL BE BACK"

 

[mxsteve625]

PW, IMO I think 50 lbs would give you a good 6.25 gallons depending on the quality of the grapes. I used 80 #'s for ten gallons.

 

[pwrose]

Well I am finally back online.
So here is what I got so far.

1. 50 lbs should make around 6 gallons
2. might need to add some water based on acid readings
3. should not ferment on the skins after the first two days
4. the wild yeast on the grapes is not a bad choice but a wine yeast would be a better option.
5. will probably need to add sugar to get to 1.090 SG
6. should freeze them first then press
7. if I use sirs advise and it screws up he will replace the grapes with black ones. really should have gone out to western nc and pick some last year with ya. maybe next year or this year if i get a break in time.

Here is what has been done
1. frozen
2. nothing
3. plans are to start this saturday

Here is what I plan to do
1. thaw (duh)
2. crush grapes in an 18 gallon tote
3. add PE leave to sit over night
4. take a SG reading and acid reading and add sugar and water if needed to get to 1.090 SG and a correct acid reading. (what would be a good acid reading on scuppernog wine)
5. add yeast nutrient
6. add tannins on the half scale (me and tanins dont get along)
7. give until day three (monday afternoon) to see a start of fermentation, if it doesn't start then I will add a wine yeast. This still might happen at the start not real sure yet.
8. shooting for 6+ gallons and will be using 2x 3 gallon carboys.

If you see something I should do different let me know.

 

[PCharles]

Scuppernong

I picked up 6 gallons of scupernong grapes Monday. The six gallons crushed down to 3.5 gallons. I added about a gallon of water and sugar to bring SG to 1.093. Yeast was added Tuesday AM and strong fermentation was noted on Wednesday eve. SG this AM is 1.057. The yeast I used is 71B-1122.

 

[pwrose]

Started the thawing of the grapes this morning. Tonight they are still thawing out, lol.
You can follow along in this blog. Post your commits here because I disabled all commits in my blog entries.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/blog.php?b=72

 

[Sirs]

ok if your going to go with wild let it go without nutrient
and you won't need to add tannins
this stuff will take off like a bat out of hades
trust me unless you've added k-meta or something to stall fermentation.......


also you can get bronze here also 2 varieties to be exact, plus big reds and nobles really nice ones so what you got to lose its a win win either way, if it screws up you can come get as much as you want not just a bucket or 2 ask julie there's a few here