How to prepare grapes

[ejiang]

Help. I just got a box of 36 pounds of grapes. I want to destem them and put in zip bag to freeze and then use it to tweak my paklab kit.

Do I wash them? And do I crash them ?

 

[wineutopia]

Anyone else thinking the same thing? Why take a lug of presumably decent grapes and mix them into a wine kit? Use raisins for the wine kit and make something half decent out of the lug.

 

[wineutopia]

If you honestly want to go your route destem, crush and mist with k-meta. Then but in freezer bags.

 

[ejiang]

If you honestly want to go your route destem, crush and mist with k-meta. Then but in freezer bags.

Thanks. I read in the forum that some senior members do this way . I will test this weekend. I plan to add ten pounds of fresh frozen grapes and two used grape packs from cc showcase into the 8 liter Paklab Cabernet sauvignon. It will probably take two primary pails to start.

 

[ejiang]

dde33 Anyone else thinking the same thing? Why take a lug of presumably decent grapes and mix them into a wine kit? Use raisins for the wine kit and make something half decent out of the lug.

The lug costs 9.7 dollars. I plan to use it in 3 kits, so each kit will cost a little more then 3 dollars. Kit costs 29 dollars. It is still around 1.1/bottle

 

[JohnT]

IMHO,

DO NOT WASH THEM!

On tight clustered grapes, washing only adds water to the resulting must, reducing the flavor, acid, and sugar components.

Like others have said, Why add grapes to a kit? If you want to "Beef up" the flavor, then I suppose that there is not real harm. It is just that I would be looking for a better kit (if the flavor needs "beefing up).

johnT.

 

[Rocky]

ejlang, $9.70 for a 36 pound lug of grapes is a tremendous price! Where did you get them and what variety are they?

Also, what do you mean by "two used grape packs from cc showcase?" These are grape packs that you have already used and somehow preserved for later use?

 

[ejiang]

ejlang, $9.70 for a 36 pound lug of grapes is a tremendous price! Where did you get them and what variety are they?

Also, what do you mean by "two used grape packs from cc showcase?" These are grape packs that you have already used and somehow preserved for later use?

I bought from local superstore

 

[ejiang]

IMHO,

DO NOT WASH THEM!

On tight clustered grapes, washing only adds water to the resulting must, reducing the flavor, acid, and sugar components.

Like others have said, Why add grapes to a kit? If you want to "Beef up" the flavor, then I suppose that there is not real harm. It is just that I would be looking for a better kit (if the flavor needs "beefing up).

johnT.

Thanks. I got the Paklab kit at Costco promotion with a price tag of 47 something for two. So 24 dollars a kit is good enough for me to experiment some tweaking

 

[ejiang]

Also, what do you mean by "two used grape packs from cc showcase?" These are grape packs that you have already used and somehow preserved for later use?

I currently have two CC Showcase undergoing, by Sunday, I will transfer them to the secondary. I will start the Paklab on the same day, so to able to reuse the CC grape pack. But I only see one or two members discussed of reusing the grape pcak. Is it even a good idea?

 

[ejiang]

If you honestly want to go your route destem, crush and mist with k-meta. Then but in freezer bags.

Hi Utopia, how do you do mist
?

 

[UBB]

Hi Utopia, how do you do mist
?

Mix up some k-meta solution and keep it in a spray bottle.

 

[ejiang]

Mix up some k-meta solution and keep it in a spray bottle.

Thanks. How Manu squeeze do I spray into a five pound bag?

 

[BigBend]

We just got our Zinfandel grapes on on Saturday. $49.50 per lug we ordered 18 lugs.....OUCH!!!

 

[AKsarben]

Those are just table grapes. Wash them and eat them watching TV. Don't crush them for winemaking. They were never bred for making decent wine, and are generally picked to preserve lasting in a supermarket. Watste of time to monkey with them.

 

[markelickt]

Help. I just got a box of 36 pounds of grapes. I want to destem them and put in zip bag to freeze and then use it to tweak my paklab kit.

Do I wash them? And do I crash them ?

I do not think that there will be any kind of problem from washing grapes. In fact, you should be wash then easily. I also did the same thing before two month.

 

[JohnT]

I do not think that there will be any kind of problem from washing washing grapes. In fact, you should be wash then easily. I also did the same thing before two month.

In my humble opinion (yeah, right, like i'm humble) you do not want to wash grapes... EVER!

This will only add water to your must. Reducing the acid, sugar, and flavor that the vineyard worked so hard to produce. Freeze them, crush them, sanitize them with a appropriate amount to k-meta, but by no means should you wash them!

 

[johnpeck]

We just got our Zinfandel grapes on on Saturday. $49.50 per lug we ordered 18 lugs.....OUCH!!!

Sorry for the irrelevant question. I saw you post on a closed "italian red" thread about using the skins a second time and adding water and sugar. Can you PLEASE tell me what thats called. My grandpa used to do it that way. Thank you!

 

[Hazelemere]

Help. I just got a box of 36 pounds of grapes. I want to destem them and put in zip bag to freeze and then use it to tweak my paklab kit.

Do I wash them? And do I crash them ?

destem and freeze them. Unless they are slightly moldy no sulphite is required until the end of ferment and/or malolactic fermentation.