Jericurl
The Ferminator
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2013
- Messages
- 1,302
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This summer I was able to find mustang grapes at my local fruit stand.
I ended up buying @ 20 lbs of them.
I froze them for about a month then ran them through my steam juicer.
They yielded two gallons of juice. The color was very, very dark when I put them into the freezer, but by the time they thawed it turned much lighter.
According to Jack Keller's website, mustang grape juice should be diluted at either 1:3 parts or 1:2 parts. I suspect this is both because of the concentration as well as the amount of acid in the grapes.
I chose to go with 1:2 parts, which be 2 gallons of juice, with 4 gallons of water. That would leave me with 6 gallons of wine. I was a little concerned because I knew I didn't have enough honey in the house to accommodate a batch that size, but I could always run down to the feed store tomorrow and grab another quart.
I added my honey to the juice, then began adding in my water. By the time I got to 5 gallons I decided to stop. The color is already much lighter than I wanted. A small taste leaves me a little thin on flavor, good but definitely won't be the big robust wine I was after.
SG is at 1.08, which will give me @ 11% ABV once finished. I probably don't want to go higher than this considering the lighter flavor.
I do have a couple of options here, just to fill out the profile a bit.
I'll see if I can find any bananas in the freezer to add to my primary, as well as get some oak powder in there.
eta: No bananas in the freezer. Added 3T American Oak powder
eta 2: SG down to 1.01, so I racked to secondary. Flavor is a little light. Today I added 12 oz of blackberries and 1 T of dried elderberry.
eta 3: 12-15-16....SG .998. I added 1 tsp of pink peppercorns and 1 tsp of ground sumac. The flavor is really meh at this point. I know it's pretty early yet, but I definitely overshot the mark on dilution. Regardless, it will still be mead, so I won't do too much more tinkering with it.
I ended up buying @ 20 lbs of them.
I froze them for about a month then ran them through my steam juicer.
They yielded two gallons of juice. The color was very, very dark when I put them into the freezer, but by the time they thawed it turned much lighter.
According to Jack Keller's website, mustang grape juice should be diluted at either 1:3 parts or 1:2 parts. I suspect this is both because of the concentration as well as the amount of acid in the grapes.
I chose to go with 1:2 parts, which be 2 gallons of juice, with 4 gallons of water. That would leave me with 6 gallons of wine. I was a little concerned because I knew I didn't have enough honey in the house to accommodate a batch that size, but I could always run down to the feed store tomorrow and grab another quart.
I added my honey to the juice, then began adding in my water. By the time I got to 5 gallons I decided to stop. The color is already much lighter than I wanted. A small taste leaves me a little thin on flavor, good but definitely won't be the big robust wine I was after.
SG is at 1.08, which will give me @ 11% ABV once finished. I probably don't want to go higher than this considering the lighter flavor.
I do have a couple of options here, just to fill out the profile a bit.
I'll see if I can find any bananas in the freezer to add to my primary, as well as get some oak powder in there.
eta: No bananas in the freezer. Added 3T American Oak powder
eta 2: SG down to 1.01, so I racked to secondary. Flavor is a little light. Today I added 12 oz of blackberries and 1 T of dried elderberry.
eta 3: 12-15-16....SG .998. I added 1 tsp of pink peppercorns and 1 tsp of ground sumac. The flavor is really meh at this point. I know it's pretty early yet, but I definitely overshot the mark on dilution. Regardless, it will still be mead, so I won't do too much more tinkering with it.
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