Hello 👋🏻
- Thread starter oliver
- Start date
Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:
Welcome to WMT!
Willkommen!
Welcome to WMT!
BernardSmith
Senior Member
Welcome aboard, Oliver. What kinds of wine do you prefer making - grape or country wines - or mead?
hey, im currently making a batch of wine from grapes i grew in my garden
however im not sure what variety of grapes they are.. i made a post on this forum because im curious
![[Upgraded] 9Pcs Tree Root Growing Box with Drain Holes, Half Transparent Plant Rooting Propagation Ball & Metal Core Twist Ties, for Fast Propagation Plants (Size M)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/514MWQxtWOL._SL500_.jpg)
Welcome to WMT, Oliver!
Welcome!!
Well, if they are grapes that will make wine. What was your process? Do you have a basic recipe you can share?
Welcome to WMT!
So i harvested them, then took out weird looking grapes + washed it.
Then i put everything in my fermenting bucket and sauashed it.
After that i added some Bordeaux yeast and a little yeast nutrients.
The fermentation was finnsihed pretty fast after 4 days at 20 degrees Celsius.
(maybe due to small batch?)
After that I wanted to have more skin contact so i left it for extended maceration, another 4 days.
Now i racked it and its doing MLF.
Im happy that it works for the first try.. but the wine lacks character. So next year I want to have a slower fermentation.
Also the wine is very sour atm, any tips for this ?
Were they seedless table grapes?So i harvested them, then took out weird looking grapes + washed it.
Then i put everything in my fermenting bucket and sauashed it.
After that i added some Bordeaux yeast and a little yeast nutrients.
The fermentation was finnsihed pretty fast after 4 days at 20 degrees Celsius.
(maybe due to small batch?)
After that I wanted to have more skin contact so i left it for extended maceration, another 4 days.
Now i racked it and its doing MLF.
Im happy that it works for the first try.. but the wine lacks character. So next year I want to have a slower fermentation.
Also the wine is very sour atm, any tips for this ?
Do you have a pH meter? I wonder if the sour is high acidity.
They are not seedless, and they have thick skin.. im not sure what variety they are. I made a post about this:
What kind of grapes are those?
Also since this is my first time doing that I didnt get a pH meter
You can get pH test strips -- they are good for getting a rough reading, but lousy for fine tuning. But they are relatively inexpensive.
If test strips indicate the pH is below 3, you can add potassium or calcium carbonate, or add a small amount of a much less acidic juice, such as apple. Commercial juice is fine as long as it does not contain sorbate. Personally, I'd add juice.
If the wine is sharp after bulk aging 3 months, stabilize with potassium sorbate + K-meta, and backsweeten a bit.
Ok thanks for the tips
I quite sure that my pH isnt below 3.2 ish because the strain of ML bacteria doesnt tolerate any pH lower than that. The MLF is going fine however.
Once it is finnished I will stabalize it and then do the sweetening.
Lets see how it turns out
The first, and most basic tools to get are a hydrometer (measures sugar content) and a pH meter. You can get by with just those for ever if you like.
If you're doing MLF, sorbate to stabilize is a problem, as it interacts with the MLB. I am not well versed in this subject -- search the grape forum as there are threads devoted to MLF & Sorbate.
One option is to bulk age at least 10 months. By this time the yeast should be dead, so you can safely bottle without sorbate.
ok that sounds reasonable. first i want the MLF to finnish anyways. Ill check the forum for the sorbate stuff. Also might this sourness get away with aging??
IF the excess acid is malic acid, MLF will reduce it. If the excess acid is other types of acid, e.g., tartaric acid, it will have no effect. MLF is where MLB consumes malic acid and produces milder lactic acid.
Regardless of type of acid, sugar will balance it.
