Fresh juice instructions

[Omerta]

Hell, I may as well just pick up a couple more kits. So I have to reconstitute the juice in a kit... big whoop. Save me the trouble of buy the supplies individually... I'll wait till actual juice season and try it then. I think theres a few places where I can get just juice come Octoberish.

 

[Tom]

Look at the pricing for juice its at least 1/2 the cost of a good kit. You would be hard to compare Chilean juice to a kit. www.Ginopinto.com will have juice from CA,Italy and now Chile. I not sure where you are in NJ but he has a good selection in juice season.

 

[Omerta]

Thats about two hours away from me... might try them come season. Is their juice balanced and ready to go?

 

[Tom]

Yep
How far are you from Corrado's?
I hear they have a nice setup.

 

[Omerta]

they are closer... they do have a nice setup. they have all the larger equipment you'd need as well...

 

[Skyhawk]

This is the way I do juice (20L buckets): I take my measurements and make my adjustments while the juice is still in the bucket. Keep in mind that many (most?) juice buckets have been preadjusted by the vendor or distributor. Some even contain yeast already.

I keep records on each bucket individually. Then I get a 23L glass carboy, and fit it with a big funnel. I pour and splash some of the juice into the carboy to give me enough stirring room in the bucket for the next part...

Out of habit, for each 20L bucket I also add about 3 teaspoons of yeast nutrient, and half a teaspoon of yeast energizer. Mixed with this is 1/4 teaspoon of k-meta. I then stir this into the wine left in the bucket, aerating it like crazy while still cold. I prepare my yeast starter and put aside.

Then I pour in the juice into the funneled carboy from a good height, using a small pail so that lots of splashing happens in the carboy. Unless this is the lucky rare wine that gets to visit the barrel, I also add my favorite M+ toast french course oak chips to the mixture at this time. I then stir the must inside the carboy vigorously with the small end of the spoon. Then I loosely plug the carboy top, and leave it until morning.

The next morning I stir it some more, then when it settles I just pour the stirred yeast culture in and fit with an airlock. It's rare that I don't see signs of visible fermentation start within a couple hours. I let it ferment completely dry in the carboy (takes 4 to 7 days), and start stirring it every few days once the yeast starts to settle at the bottom. I leave it settle for the entire third week, and finally rack into a 19L (5 gallon) carboy with 1/4 teaspoon of k-meta added to the receiving carboy. There is no "secondary" fermentation. Sometimes, I'll add MLF culture depending on the wine, but I more roughly rack it at the 2 week interval in that case and add no k-meta.

I bulk age, so I don't worry about fining, filtering, degassing, etc.

 

[Omerta]

thanks for the info Skyhawk.

 

[Chateau Joe]

Here is another source of juice if you want. They are not that far from you. I just bottled a Delaware and a Niagara that I bought from them.

http://www.walkersfruitbasket.com/

 

[Omerta]

CJ thanks for the info

 

[Lurker]

If you're using fresh grape juice, it's pretty simple:

Make sure the Brix and TA readings are in the right range and adjust if necessary. Add the appropriate amount of yeast nutrient for the volume you are fermenting. Innoculate with yeast. Either ferment to dryness in primary or transfer to secondary around 1.020 or so. Stabilize after fermentation is complete. Cold stabilize to precipitate tartrate crystals. Fine and/or filter if desired.

The only major difference between using fresh juice and kits is that you need to be able to determine the proper additives to use, when to do so and what quantity is necessary to achieve the results you're after. It's pretty simple, but you do have to have a pretty solid understanding of the winemaking process.

The only thing I would add is to first innocuate with enough K meta or campden to kill all wild yeast and bacteria, then wait 24 hours and do exactly as suggested by Manimal.

Lurker (Rich)