How much juice and how many pounds of grapes?

[irishwinemaker]

Hello all. Been making wine for a while, started wth kits, moved to California juice and now do California juice in Sept. and Chilean juice in May. Although friends and most importantly my wife like my wines, I have never been super impressed. This May I am going to try crushing grapes into cheesecloth and adding to juice pails(I am too lazy and too cheap to do all grapes). Here is my question to anyone who has done this, what is a good ratio of pounds of grapes to a 6 gallon bucket of juice? Does it make a better wine? I am thinking it does.

 

[sdelli]

There is no comparison of juice over kits.... And then crushed grapes over juice! Here is a copy of one of my other posts on this topic....

Gave M&M my order today for Chilean harvest. Something interesting.... I wanted to purchase grapes but they are unable to ship fresh grapes. Only available for pickup. But what they did for me is offer to de-stem and crush them and freeze in 5 gallon pails to ship. Added about $7 a lug to the price but I think well worth it so I don't have to do it and save on shipping costs.... It takes 3 boxes to make 5 gal of must. I am making a 50/50 mix of Cab and Merlot so I got a pail of each in juice and 3 boxes of each in grapes to create a pail of each in must.


Sam

 

[Boatboy24]

I did the same last year and used 18lbs per six gallon bucket. That netted me a little more than 7 gallons per batch, and I think the wines have solid body and mouthfeel.

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

Norton grapes on the stem takes about 100 lbs to get 6 gallons. Nortons are small, and full of seeds. it will vary from grape to grape.

 

[the_rayway]

(No expert here), but I was told around 12 lbs/gallon.

 

[salcoco]

12-15 lbs of grapes crushed will yield one gallon of wine when pressed at end of fermentation without addition to juice bucket.
Grapes to your juice bucket will add tannins, which actually come from the skins. best bet is visit a winery during crush and obtain his pressed grapes skins. freeze them and use at about 5 lbs /gallon in juice bucket.

Alternative buy some powder fermentation tannin and add to juice bucket to obtain a better product. Can also add later using aging tannin. check out Scott Labs web page for information.

Best bet use crushed grapes to make your wine without juice added. Check with you local store to see if they offer grapes in fall. Visit local wineries and try purchasing grapes form them.

 

[irishwinemaker]

Thanks all. SALCOCO--I did some bench trials with powdered tannins and my impression was that I got more of a sweet sensation then a tannin sensation but I have more going now to try it again.

SDELLI--I am also going to order from M&M, how are they shipping to you? I did not know they will not ship fresh grapes.

I am thinking I will order 4 pails and two lugs of each varietal I am going to make. That will be 9 lbs of grapes per pail. I will probably remove a gallon of juice from each pail first. It is a starting point.

 

[sdelli]

Thanks all. SALCOCO--I did some bench trials with powdered tannins and my impression was that I got more of a sweet sensation then a tannin sensation but I have more going now to try it again.

SDELLI--I am also going to order from M&M, how are they shipping to you? I did not know they will not ship fresh grapes.

I am thinking I will order 4 pails and two lugs of each varietal I am going to make. That will be 9 lbs of grapes per pail. I will probably remove a gallon of juice from each pail first. It is a starting point.

Here is an equation that seems to work pretty close for me everytime....
If you take fresh grapes and de-stem and crush. You net about 10% must from the crush. So.... 100lbs of fresh grapes will get you about 10 gallons of must.
Then if you take the same 100lbs of fresh grapes and de-stem, crush and the also press! You net about 6% to 7% from fresh grapes to final wine juice. So, 100 lbs will give you about 6 to 7 gallons of wine.

 

[irishwinemaker]

Thanks. Unfortunately I don't have a crush or a press, I will be doing it by hand, so I am forced to stay small on the amount of grapes. But I am sure it will be an improvement.