Norton Grapes - Really Low Amount Of Juice In Must

[we5inelgr]

Hey all,

I just finished destemming and crushing (by hand with a large stainless steel potato masher) 100 pounds of Norton grapes purchased from a local vineyard (Clarksburg AVA). The skins seemed a bit wrinkled, but not raisened.

There is an estimated 16 - 17 lbs of must.

The essentials: Brix = 26.6, pH = 3.65, TA = 3.5 g/L.

The juice does not smell like prune or raisen juice. It's got a hint of green grape/vegetable to it....but only slightly.
It tastes slightly jammy, not bitter and not acidic.

However, there is very...very little actual juice at this point. I'm guessing somewhere around 50 - 100 ml maybe and what is there is fairly thick.

This is my first year making wine, and I've already crushed/fermented Petite Sirah (~80 lbs), Cab Sauv (~60 lbs). and Pinot Noir (~60 lbs) and each of them had a whole lot more juice after crushing...using the same method. IIRC, somewhere around 1/2 - 1 gallon of juice right after crushing.

I'm unfamiliar with Norton so I'm wondering if this is normal to have such a very low volume of juice, that's also pretty thick, in the must after crushing them?

Thanks.

 

[FTC Wines]

I had a similar experience about 2 weeks ago. Hand crushed 4 lugs of Cab & 4 of Petite Sirah. The Sirah had almost 1.5 gallons more juice than the Cab. As you had with the Norton, the Cab must was very thick. But after 7 days of fermentation more juice came out. So be patient & I punched the thick cap down at least 3 times a day. Seemed to help. Roy

 

[Johnd]

It would love a little enzyme addition to help it along!

 

[user 36973]

I've been making Norton for the last 6 years and the must is always thick. Even though I use a motorized crusher/destemmer they still jam up in the rollers and don't release a lot of liquid on crushing. I don't bother toadd pectic enzyme to my skin fermented grapes. After a few days the yeast releases most of the juice as it ferments and you are fine. The cap that forms on the Norton is usually thick as well so be sure to punch it down very thoroughly.

 

[we5inelgr]

Thanks for the reply's everyone, and the advice / experiences.

Since I have some pectic enzyme on hand, I'll add a bit and keep it at 50F for a day or two prior to fermentation.

I guess I was a bit shocked to see the thick, low volume juice in the must at first. Not knowing a lot about Norton, I was concerned that perhaps the grapes were too dehydrated or where in some other way damaged.

There is already a doubling/tripling of the juice since crush.

I'm excited to see how this wine ends up!

 

[baron4406]

Here is what I ran into this year. 3 different batches of grapes/juice-Syrah, Grenache and Mixed Black. 72lbs of grapes with 6 gallons of juice. After the crush- Grenache I got around 8 gallons-almost nothing from 72lbs of grapes. Mixed black was better-around 9 1/2 gallons. the Syrah? Around 13 gallons, in fact I used it to top off my other batches.