Muscadine wine

[Sacalait]

dloftus,
In December I bottled muscadine wine (5 gals.) into Grolsh beer bottles after adding sugar for sweetening and to charge the wine. The wine is fizzy as anticipated and the bottles are holding the pressure well, no leaks. The surprise was that it has taken 3 months to charge, oh well that shows what a little sulfite will do. All in all, it came out so well that the wife says I'm not allowed to share it with anyone but I do sneak some out from time to time.

 

[dloftus]

Sacalait, thanks for the input on charging the wine. I thought it would only take about a month, like for beer. It's good to know that it takes much longer or I would have given up and started drinking it too soon.

 

[dloftus]

I purchased a SO2 test kit and checked the wine. It is off the scale! The first line is 100 ppm and as I added the wine, the blue color disappeared before I reached that line. I would say I have toooooo much sulfite in my wine, considering the target level is about 40 ppm!

I have transfered everything back into the carboy, shaking the bottles as I did so to release some of the SO2, and then shook the carboy after I was done. I was getting a lot of foaming so I'm optimistic I can get the SO2 out. Right now the wine will sit in the carboy for a while, occasionally getting shook. I also took the water is out of the bubbler valve so the SO2 can get out. Does this sound about right?

Also, what is the recommendation of you experienced folks as to when Campden should be added to wine made from grapes? I'm sure other beginners have made my mistake. I seemed to have gotten the impression you are suppose to add it at the start, every other time your rack it and then when it is bottled. I now see that is too much.

 

[Wade E]

Get that airlock filled up again as that will protect your wine, even though you have plenty of S02 in there to protect it. Gas will escape with the airlock filled easily but if not there air will be sucked in during barometric changes and just by temp changes. You should add sulfite to the wine when starting to kill wild yeasts and micro-organisms. Then add some when done fermenting. After that it will be after around 3-4 months but now that you have an S02 tester rely on that as it will better tell you if needed or not.

 

[dloftus]

Well, its been a while since I posted to the forum. I have been busy working in the vineyard during the summer and I did save some muscadines to make some more wine. But I need to update everybody on how I finished off my last batch of 10 gallons.

I followed the advice from the forum and did the aeration procedure. I poured the wined between two buckets about a total of 20 times before putting back in the carboy and did this about three different times. I checked the SO2 level and it never did drop below 100 ppm. Oh well, I tried! The wine is very dry (brewed until all the sugar was used up) and racked during the procedure to leave additional sediment behind.

I finally bottled the stuff, one 5 gal carboy in early Dec. 09 and the other just last week. I have been drinking the first batch and adding sugar to help kill the dryness (I don't like really dry wine) and tone down the chemical taste of the SO2. I transfer the wine from a 3 liter wine jug into Groulsch bottles (probably spelled that wrong) and add 5 to 6 level tablespoons of sugar and let it set in the refridge overnight. All in all, the sugar makes a BIG difference, it helps to bring out the flavor of the muscadine more. Now I really like it, even preferring it to all the store brands we usually buy Without the sugar is is almost undrinkable swill.

I need to make some beer first and then will make another 5 gal batch of muscadine wine, this time without near as much campden and all juice, no water added.

Don Loftus
Gainesville, FL
http://www.pbase.com/dloftus/grapes