Muscadine wine

[Sacalait]

I added 5lbs which brought the SG to 1.090. I usually shoot for an alc. content of 11-12%. It seems to take longer to settle down (smooth out) the higher the alc. content is.
Your juice is right on with a 1.060sg., the last time I tested mine it was 1.062.

In a pure juice environment you may have difficulty dissolving the sugar. I'd suggest making a simple syrup solution and adding this to the mix.
Your calculations on raising the SG look about right but I'm not looking at a chart.
If you added camden initially it isn't necessary to add anymore at this point. The next addition should be at the second racking and every other one after that.

With all that juice you may want to reserve 3/4gal to use as a sweetener and flavor enhancer once the wine is finished.

 

[dloftus]

Update

I have added five pounds of sugar, mixed with about a quart of water, to the must and have raised the SG to 1.079, so I'm ready to start making wine. But now the problem is the must is too cold. The temp. of the must was 59 degrees, but it is suppose to warm up for the weekend and I may even put it outside for a while. Now the question is how to keep the must warm while it is brewing? Has anybody made a must heater to keep it at about 70 degrees? I'm thinking about making a string of resisters, kept inside a plastic sleeve, then wrapped around the carboy several times and attached to a power supply. We do something like this to our telescopes to keep the dew off, but I would need a bit more heat to keep the wine warm. Any ideas?

Don Loftus

 

[Sacalait]

I've used a heating pad but it takes a loooong time. In electric blanket would work better I think. Also, you could set it inside an ice chest to insulate it.

 

[dloftus]

Heating the must

Looking through the forum and came up with this solution: https://webtrolley.com/~bader/store/product.php?productid=21821&cat=336&page=1

The electric blanket sounds good too, since I already have one. I'm going to work on it this weekend so I can get the yeast going. Thanks for the input.

Don Loftus

 

[dloftus]

Not good!

I got home today and checked the must to see what the temperature was - 60 degrees, so still too cold. BUT, I also noticed bubbles on the surface and a bit of an oder coming off the must. I think it has started fermentation from the wild yeast. Even though I added one Campden table per gallon, that was last Saturday (6 day ago). On Tuesday I added the sugar, pectic enzyme and yeast nutrient but thought the Campden would protect the must. Opps, guessed wrong. The SG is 1.076, only down .003.

Well, the oder is not like old tennis shoes or anything, so I think it is the yeast that was on the grapes when crushed and survived the first Campden attack. So, I made up another batch of water (6 oz.) with 11 Campden tablets dissolved in it (putting the tablets in a small jar that fits on the blender blades works great) and put 2 oz in each container. It has been stirred well and recovered.

My wife found an electric blanket, which is now around the three primary fermenters. We are monitoring the temperature of the container surface and tomorrow I will put in the yeast. I think everything is OK.

 

[Sacalait]

Well, good luck but the extra addition of camden will not stop what has already started. Add the yeast that you had planned on and it will likely continue fermenting when the wild one has been killed off by the alcohol. Anyway that would be my plan of attack. 60F is not a bad fermentation temp., it just means that it will take longer than you planed and the fruit contact time will be better.

Just out of curiosity, why did you wait 6 days before pitching the yeast?

 

[dloftus]

Sacalait,
I waited because ... I don't know what I'm doing!! This is the first time I'm making wine from fruit. The last time was from a kit and that was 30 years ago. I have been trying to figure out what goes where and when and how much and then the must has been cold. I'm not working from a recipe, just from what I read here, on the internet and what I remember from making beer (and that batch of wine from long ago).

The electric blanket seems to helping with the temp. of the must and tomorrow afternoon I'll put in the yeast. I'm taking notes and the next batch will go smoother. Next year I won't wait for cold weather either ... although, it might be easier to warm the must than to keep it cool. Hmmm, I'll have to think on that for a bit. All in all, this first batch is a learning experience. Who knows, I might be making 10 gal. of vinegar!

I really want to thank you for your input. It is very much appreciated.

Don Loftus

 

[dloftus]

Update

It's Saturday night, over 24 hours since I added the additional Campden tablets, so it is time to add the yeast. When I opened the primary fermenters, the wild yeast was still working, but I did not detect any off oder so I don't think any bacteria is growing. Sacalait was right that the Campden would not kill the wild yeast ... good call.

Temperature was up to 70-72 degrees, thanks to the electric blanket so I sprinkled one each of the yeast packets onto the must. I used Red Star Montrachet (had 2) and one Lalvin Ki-V1116, then used a large stainless spoon to gently push it down into the mist a little to get it wet. I did not do the "yeast starter" approach on the recommendation of the store where I get my supplies. They said they have never had a yeast not start when just sprinkled on top of the must. The containers have been covered with a sheet of plastic and rewrapped with the electric blanket. I'll check it in the morning and stir the cap down.

 

[dloftus]

Another update

I checked the must on Monday night and everything seems to be going well. Temperature of the must is running about 74-75 degrees and is only covered with the electric blanket, power is off. The fermentation is providing all the heat. Specific gravity is at 1.042 and it smells good, no off odors. I try to stir the must three times a day to keep the fruit in contact with the juice. I think everything is going well.

 

[Sacalait]

Sounds good.
Today I transferred a 3gal and a 5gal batch of muscadine to the secondary then I combined the pulp and hulls from the two batches and added a half gallon of blackberry puree. The batch size will end up being 3gal as I didn't want to dilute what ever was left in the muscadines. I've never done this before so it will be a learning experience.

 

[dloftus]

A bit of a surprise

We had a very interesting time last night. When I went to stir the must in after getting home from work, I also checked the specific gravity and it was down to 1.002! Dang, didn’t expect it to go so low so fast. I was expecting it to be about 1.025 or so. The 75 degree temperature may have made the fermentation go faster.

So, after getting back from church, my wife and I started transferring to the secondary fermenter. What a job, what a mess … constantly trying to sterilize everything … stainless steel pans, glass carboys and plastic buckets all over the place as we tried to separate the juice from the grapes pulp. Finally we had about 7 gallons of pure grape juice in two carboys. We transferred the must back and forth to mix the two batches and then transferred to make both carboys even.

We put the grape pulp equally in two buckets and added a little over one gallon of water to each one. We let that sit a bit to extract more juice. We drained that juice (two gallons) into a large pot and added enough sugar (about 8 cups) to bring the SG up to 1.080. This was added to the secondary fermenters in equal portions, which bought the level in the carboy to just past where the jug bends over toward the neck. Specific gravity of the carboys is now up to 1.010 and 1.012, about where it should have been when transferring from the primary fermenter to the secondary.

I used a cheesecloth to wring out the rest of the juice from the pulp and put that juice in the refrigerator to keep it from fermenting. We will use this to top up rather than just plain water. SG of this juice is 1.000 so it should not affect the fermentation when added and will help to keep the wine from getting watered down.

By the time we finished and got cleaned up, it was almost 3:00 in the morning. Needless to say, I’m a bit tired at work today, but feel good that the wine is in the secondary and bubbling along nicely. Now I will let it set until SG is about .995 or .990 and then rack it. Should I add Campden at that point and, if so, how much? After all this work, I sure hope I like the way it turns out.

Scalait, sounds like a very interesting wine you are making. I hope it goes well and smoother than my evening.

 

[Sacalait]

Add one crushed camden tablet/gal. of wine after racking.
When working with fruit rather than a kit the amount of work and time involved in the making process increases drastically but nonetheless I continue to do it. For me it's difficult to turn to kits when I've got the ingredients and time to go this route.
If you put the fruit in a paint straining bag from the outset it will decrease the amount of work on the back end.

 

[dloftus]

Sacalait, does the sulfite from the Camden build up in the wine? That’s my only concern on adding so much. Do I need to do it each time I rack or every other time?

I now know what you mean about doing fresh fruit vs. the kit, with as many grapes as I have, I just wouldn’t feel right doing a kit. Besides, you get to experiment more, like you are doing now.

This first time is really a learning experience and I’m looking at what I will add to my inventory to make things easier next time. The net bag for the grape skins and pulp was shown in the video tape, but I did not realize how much pulp I would have. After getting the juice out I would say the ratio is 1 to 2 by volume (1 bucket of pulp, 2 buckets of juice). That is a lot of pulp and the video didn’t show nearly as much, but I think they were using a different recipe where they added less fruit and more water.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Sacalait]

The sulfite dissipates with time and is added every other racking. If you are concerned by the sulfite there are sulfite testers available. Personally, I don't have one and don't feel the necessity for one as it has never presented a problem for me. The main concern is not having enough in the wine as this is what protects it from oxidation.

 

[dloftus]

Sacalait, thanks for the Campden info. I'll add some the next time I rack the wine. I just checked the carboys when I got home and they are doing fine. A nice steady bubbling from the air lock and no wild foaming. I will probably top up the carboy tonight to reduce the surface area exposed to the air. I left it low last night because I was not sure how much action the additional sugar was going to provide and didn't want it foaming up through the air lock.

 

[Wade E]

If it is still fermenting then you dont want to add any campden and dont need to top up until it is done fermenting as C02 is displacing all 02.

 

[dloftus]

Wade, you are probably right about the oxygen contamination being displaced by the CO2, but I already topped up the carboys when I read your message. As of this morning, they are both bubbling well without foam. Temperature of the must is down from when it was in the primary fermenter due to lower activity. It is about 70 degrees and, if it gets too much lower, I'll use the electric blanket again. Thanks for your input.

 

[Wade E]

Muscadine is a good wine to ferment at cooler temps to keep the esters from burning out. Check the yeast strain for temp exceptables though. Lalvin EC 1118 and Red Star Premier Cuvee are good all the way down to 45* but I would not go beyond 60* i like to ferment my whites and fruit wines at cooler temps.

 

[Sacalait]

Do muscadines grow in your local...I would have thought it was too cold there.

 

[Wade E]

No they do not but have read a bit about them and quite a few of people make wine with them on another forum that I moderate.