Please critique my winemaking method?

[Engineeredgarden]

1. Crush 30 lbs. of Muscadine grapes in a clean, sanitized 5 gallon plastic bucket - add 5 crushed Campden tablets to the mixture, and add sugar syrup until the S.G. of the juice measures 1.158 (potential ABV of 21%)
I do this to hopefully end up with a finished product that has 10.5% alcohol level.
Cover with a towel, and let sit for 24 hours.
2. Sprinkle yeast on top of must, and cover with towel.
Stir once per day - allowing mixture to stay in primary fermentation bucket for 7 days.
3. After 7 days, strain seeds, hulls, pulp from mixture - then pour into clean, sanitized 5 gallon jug/bottle. Add water until 90% full, and attach airlock.
4. Let sit for 6-8 weeks, then rack for the first time. (I understand from an earlier thread that this might be why I sometimes get a finished product that smells like rotten eggs)
5. Rack at least 2 more times before drinking.

*Note - I know that this isn't textbook, but I have ended up with some decent wine on occasion. However, I am truly grateful for any and all suggestions, and hope to learn from everyone.
Thanks in advance for any and all replies..

EG

 

[Stressbaby]

I do not think you are likely to get ABV of 10.5% with this method. In fact, I think your ABV is going to be unpredictable.

 

[Engineeredgarden]

I do not think you are likely to get ABV of 10.5% with this method. In fact, I think your ABV is going to be unpredictable.

Thanks for the reply. My thoughts were that by doing this, half would be CO2, half alcohol... But, again - I suck at making wine

 

[AkTom]

But, again - I suck at making wine[/QUOTE]

Kinda like me... My wife thinks I suck wine way too much. Ha, what does she know??? It's medicinal.

 

[Stressbaby]

Thanks for the reply. My thoughts were that by doing this, half would be CO2, half alcohol... But, again - I suck at making wine

After 7 days you are doubling the volume and halving the ABV. If your wine got to 21% in 7 days then 10.5% is about right. But that's very unlikely. Yeast alcohol tolerance is not generally that high. I think even EC-1118 only goes to 18%. So even if your fermentation was complete, your ABV goes to 9%, and you still have residual sugar. Will the fermentation restart given the lower alcohol? Who knows. To me it seems very unpredictable.

I've never made muscadine wine, so keep that in mind when considering the following comments. Muscadines are apparently known for their acidity. So if you are not taking any precautions to deacidify the must you may be stressing the yeast and possibly contributing to the H2S trouble. Jack Keller has a page with recipes and discussion of deacidification of Muscadine wine. He doesn't give any target pH levels, instead talks about "ppt" and I'm not entirely sure what that is. TA possibly? He has some recipes to follow but it seems to me as if he might even be leaving the wine on the gross lees too long.

So, to summarize,

1. Add the water up front, get the SG for the desired ABV set before you pitch your yeast.
2. Managed the acidity up front by measuring the TA and dial in the TA and pH before you pitch your yeast
3. H2S prevention measures mentioned in the other thread.

That's my 2 cents anyway.

 

[Ajmassa]

There’s a member here, @salcoco , who suggests a nice rule of thumb that is easy to remember. The 3-3-3 method for racking once fermentation is complete and your in glass:
3 days
3 weeks (if sediment is substantial again)
3 months - recurring
It’s easy to remember. Obviously many different ways can be done

you could also take the guessing out it of by picking up a $7 hyrdrometer and not need to count days. You’ll know how much sugar is left or not.

 

[salcoco]

thanks for the plug. I was going to suggest that use of the hydrometer would be better than waiting 7 days.
I would follow this effort
1. crush grapes add suflite wait 24 hour adjust sg=1092 which equals 12%abv,. use EC1118 yeast.
2.stir twice daily check sg when sg=1.000 press grapes and all juice to 5 gallon carboy. make sure carboy is sanitized. donot add any water even if the wine does not fill the carboy if you follow good practices the O2 will not affect the wine.
3. make a mixture of suflite 3grams, and tartaric acid 11 grams in one gallon of water. place in spray bottle. spray anything that touches win with this mixture.
4. rack wine in three days add k-meta 1/4 tsp/5 gallons. I use powder it dissolves better in wine.
5. rack again in three weeks add k-meta again.
6. rack every three months there after until bottling. add k-meta every three months, if less time before bottling add just before bottling.
I have been making wine for about 30 years kits, fruit and grapes and never topped carboys with water or other wines, just follow the practice of using the spray bottle and it works fine.

 

[Engineeredgarden]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. This is a lot of information to process, and it is greatly appreciated.