question about muscadines

[user 32114]

freeze your apples, pears. crab apples, at least 24 hours then dump them inti a ferment barrel when they thaw they will be mushy, I then take a drill and a joint compound stirrer put drill in high and the drill stirrer will mush every thing to gether, add a couple gallons of water and stir every day till your SGbottoms out, you should have arounrd or near 18ABV bach sweeten with pioneer granule honey back up to your taste I run mine up to 1.020 to 1.030 SG, buy using pears you'll after frmentation put it in a carboy 6 gallon and airlock, I got i8 gallon still in the first carboy it needs to sit without being racked for around a year, don't forget to put pectic enzymes in easch carbot and just let it sit for close to a year, when your gross lees get down to about 2 inches the rack into fresh car boys the above amounts is to fill only 1 6 gallom carboy and 1 one gallon jug, when you finnaly get to rack to a second carboy use some wine frm the gallon jug whats left in the gallon jug pour that off into maller bottled an airlock them agai, each tine you rack use more of your extra topping wing, and each time go to a smaller bottle and airlock every thing again, people around me, love my wines, but ***** and ***** for my apple/pear/crabapple wine. but it takes as much as reds if not longer, I do know they make a pear finning agent. but I,ve neve sed it
but it's the same with any really good wine time is your finest beast ingredient there is, I dread this coming spring, because 16 gallons I will be keeping just for me, the last 6 gallons, I will split amongst them, I always share my wines and resipes but the wine blend goes into my magic closet, it vanishes in there only to reappear when I wish for me, I drink 90% reds for my health, evert doctor tells me a coulpe glasses a day helps my blood pressure, my arthridis. my dieabetes, among other health benefits, elderberry is the most powerful wine to drink wine for your health...
cheers, I hope I can be of help, I can never repay the the kindness and learing that has been given to me on this site time an time again
Dawg

 

[Whitehrs]

wow yawl are in NW Arkansas , too cool i'm in the very top of north east Arkansas, right up iv the MO. boothill ,
i'm going to try 1 or 2 smaller vines, but come spring I plan to buy some new muscadine vines and some wine dines as well I know the name but will not even try to spell the white ones, as for sweet apple wine I much prefer 20 lb. pears. 10 lb. yellow delioues and 10 lb. granny smith apples, to give a tart finish I use a toutch of crabapples, just a couple pounds, run your SG to 1.250, I use ec1118, k-v116 works good to, but if you want really smooth use Q23,,

Seems Scooter68 is in NW Arkansas, I'm in southern Arkansas. Looks like we got the whole state covered. I have learned a bunch from this site as well. I plan to to move on to some 5 gallon batched in the spring. I'm beginning to figure out that at 5 gallons+, I need to decide what 3 or 4 wines I'm good at and stick with them. Dumping a gallon sucks, but dumping a 5+ batch would be blasphemy. I know that my meads have turn out really good, my Blueberry is good. I have not tried an apple wine. I have a little purple book that has 101 recipes for 1 gallon batches. I need to quit using the cheap yeast also. The red star obviously is not as good as the ec1118, K-v116, D47 or some of the others everyone calls on.. Any way I was thinking... I do that too much..That apples would make a good accent to a good red.I'll probably be the dumb kid around here for a while. Thanks for all the good information guys..

 

[Scooter68]

Off the topic of Muscadines but if you like a white wine try your hand at a peach wine. Using anywhere between 5-10 lbs/gallon will give you a very nice wine. Slightly off dry or slightly sweet whichever you prefer. Other than that Blackberries, Blueberries and Black Raspberries are all pretty good wines. Apple takes a bit more work to get the juice out and it also has a lot of pectin which can give pectic haze issues.

 

[Whitehrs]

Off the topic of Muscadines but if you like a white wine try your hand at a peach wine. Using anywhere between 5-10 lbs/gallon will give you a very nice wine. Slightly off dry or slightly sweet whichever you prefer. Other than that Blackberries, Blueberries and Black Raspberries are all pretty good wines. Apple takes a bit more work to get the juice out and it also has a lot of pectin which can give pectic haze issues.

I can buy apple juice at walmart.. lol.. I'd probably try that first then work into fresh..

 

[user 32114]

dang straight we got Arkansas cornered , lol
i have always had the problem about going head long on anything I do,,,, my first time i made elderberry, blackberry, strawberry and a apple/pear/crabapple blend, so at my first shot i made 38 finished gallons, since I've never done a kit i use 6 gallon Italian glass carboys, and i keep 1 gal jugs, 1/2 gallon jugs and clear wine bottles, so for a six gallon finish i make 7 to 8 gallon batches, as i rack i use up the smaller jugs to top off, at finish , well i bottled 6 gallons cherry last night i bottled 28 bottles, uh i could of bottled a couple more bottles but my nephew an i did some quality control, and i felt like crap this morning, i run my alcohol up to around 18ABV now i use at least 6 lbs. per gallon, then at back sweetening time i use some pure honey granular. if you want the name I'll look tomorrow and tell you, it's from amazon.com ,, i use pure granular it will completely hide the taste of alcohol, i also like toi use a little crabapple that gives my wines a pop at the end, if i can help you in any way i'd be proud to try my best, this site is like walking the big dogs, lol
Dawg
oop's . i keep a 6 an 1/2 gallon carboy to rack into, wash my six then back to my 6. that way when i bottle i rack back into the 6 an 1/2 which leaves room for your back sweetening, i like sweet fruit an berry wines i run my acid around 3.5 and my sweetness from 1.020 to 1.040 depending on which fruit, or berries i use, i can tell you,, you can drink 1 bottle and your ripped, so i only drink 1 glass at bed time and sleep like a baby,

Seems Scooter68 is in NW Arkansas, I'm in southern Arkansas. Looks like we got the whole state covered. I have learned a bunch from this site as well. I plan to to move on to some 5 gallon batched in the spring. I'm beginning to figure out that at 5 gallons+, I need to decide what 3 or 4 wines I'm good at and stick with them. Dumping a gallon sucks, but dumping a 5+ batch would be blasphemy. I know that my meads have turn out really good, my Blueberry is good. I have not tried an apple wine. I have a little purple book that has 101 recipes for 1 gallon batches. I need to quit using the cheap yeast also. The red star obviously is not as good as the ec1118, K-v116, D47 or some of the others everyone calls on.. Any way I was thinking... I do that too much..That apples would make a good accent to a good red.I'll probably be the dumb kid around here for a while. Thanks for all the good information guys..

 

[user 32114]

i made 10 finished gallons of apple wine from apple juice from Walmart for my nephew age 29, I was surprised, wasn't to bad at all, that was bottled 2 months ago, last night while helping me bottle some cherry wine i was informed he needed another 10 gallons, i told him i wouldn't let him drink that much, that's when i found out every friend he has, has got all his wine, he said he learnt his lesson and wont tell them when he gets more, WINE= 2 MANY FRIENDS LOL
Dawg

I can buy apple juice at walmart.. lol.. I'd probably try that first then work into fresh..

 

[Whitehrs]

i made 10 finished gallons of apple wine from apple juice from Walmart for my nephew age 29, I was surprised, wasn't to bad at all, that was bottled 2 months ago, last night while helping me bottle some cherry wine i was informed he needed another 10 gallons, i told him i wouldn't let him drink that much, that's when i found out every friend he has, has got all his wine, he said he learnt his lesson and wont tell them when he gets more, WINE= 2 MANY FRIENDS LOL
Dawg

true. I mention i am learning to make wine, and "i want some".... they miss the who learning part.. I'm like "are you sure? I mean you were not Dale Jarret the first few months you were driving.."they don't care.... people would drink Ripple if it were free..

I'm talking quality of my wine.. I haven't even been doing this long enough to age a batch properly..

the mead I made for Batch 3, 4, & 5 is 6 7 months now and is smoothing out nicely. Got two 750ml at at the lake with me this weekend. and a sweet young blueberry, And a young Dragon's blood from concentrate.. also, Arkansas Peach shine, and Wisconsin Apple Pie.. yep, of those yankees figured it out..

 

[Mismost]

i made 10 finished gallons of apple wine from apple juice from Walmart for my nephew age 29, I was surprised, wasn't to bad at all, that was bottled 2 months ago, last night while helping me bottle some cherry wine i was informed he needed another 10 gallons, i told him i wouldn't let him drink that much, that's when i found out every friend he has, has got all his wine, he said he learnt his lesson and wont tell them when he gets more, WINE= 2 MANY FRIENDS LOL
Dawg

give that apple wine another 10 months in the bottle and it could turn into a real nice white wine....mine did! It was nasty at bottling, at a year it was very nice...huge difference.

Gave me the motivation to not touch my plum or prickly pear wines...but, they are coming up on a year old now!

 

[user 32114]

I am a long ways from being the sharpest knife in the drawer or brightest light on the tree, but you have in my tiny book learnt two of the hardest learned lessons ,good wine always=time, and the better the quality of your fruits and berries the better the quality of your wine, on here they have drove one thing over all, you only have to please your self of if married then you only have to please your better half,,, lol ,, now from what i'm hearing from you,, you'll end up very good venter indeed, PATIENCE , QUALITY MINDED, the aging part is close to a no brainer, first that dang patience , my wines after fermentation go into a carboy, I personally like the 3 piece airlock , I buy rock gut cheap vodica to fill my airlocks keeps mold away and keeps nats away, I buy peppermint oil and spread it all over my wine room that run the mice away, I buy food grade domesticated earth, I spread it over the floor, cabinets, all over every thing, that ants carry home on their legs then while the prepare their food it gets mixed in killing most all of their colony , as well it gets rid of spiders, bugs and other pest, my dog is for no reason allowed in my wine room but if she got into my food grade domesticated earth it will not harm you pets nor your family, now this is just my way others on here are much smarter then I, but it depends on your fruit or berries, in my primary carboy I let pear sit 9 months to a years before my first racking, pear is a real bugger, most other wines I rack every 3 months, check out (Steve(on this site, he sells a vacuumpumpallinone.com system it's killer every time you rack under vacuum you pull gases from your wine without exposing you wine to oxygen, during fermentation oxygen is your friend that's till you drop your SG to .999 or less from that day forward oxygen is a huge enemy to your wines, vacuumpumpmains name is Steve, a great guy, his web address is vacummpumpalllinone.com I believe,,,, look up vacuumpumpman on this site he will go outta his way to help you even after you have bought your set up, the same system also bottles,
no lifting heavy carboys, racking super fast, bottling very quick,
feel fee on here to ask any an all questions,
but there is one major no no,, you spoke of peach shine, shine as well as distilling is forbidden on this site as well as hard core cursing

good luck
Dawg

true. I mention i am learning to make wine, and "i want some".... they miss the who learning part.. I'm like "are you sure? I mean you were not Dale Jarret the first few months you were driving.."they don't care.... people would drink Ripple if it were free..

I'm talking quality of my wine.. I haven't even been doing this long enough to age a batch properly..

the mead I made for Batch 3, 4, & 5 is 6 7 months now and is smoothing out nicely. Got two 750ml at at the lake with me this weekend. and a sweet young blueberry, And a young Dragon's blood from concentrate.. also, Arkansas Peach shine, and Wisconsin Apple Pie.. yep, of those yankees figured it out..

 

[user 32114]

so your saying unlike grapes that cut all but one vine from the base/stump that I should rig trellises' like the one with 4 vines around 1 1/2 I should trellises all 4 vines but each to it's own trellises, I have wondered that grapes have been cultivated by man for thousands of years, and cross an so on to get what they want, but muscadines at least around here are still as wild as long as they have grown here, with the elements, and only the strong survive, they have only had nature to select which lives and which don't make it, at least that is my weak minds theory, so if I trellis 4 rows and train 1 to each trellis I guess laying like that will cause shoots to spring up down the vines, but do I trim the fresh sprouts one in a while like once a year or maybe once every 2 or 3 years, your thoughts as well as others are greatly needed by my, I mean after all I do find a clutch now and then I always pick then green and sit and eat to my hearts desire, but I don't get enough to turn to wine nor jelly , oh my god biscuits gravy, farm fresh eggs and a couple cutting of pork tenderloin, man you nuts are killing me LOL
thank you
Dawg







QUOTE=DoctorCAD;619141]Not sure about this, but I think the vines need to be separated and run along trellis or fences to grow the best. All the muscidine farms around here do it that way.[/QUOTE]

 

[user 32114]

is your plum a sweet or semi sweet plum wine, all that I have is young trees, but in a year or so they should start to bear,,, I'd love an be honored to swap a bottle for a taste test, I still have 2 to 3 years before my plums even start to bare,,, like I said in another post when I got so sick I sold off every thing but a 19 acre patch, I have elderberries, pears, sergeants yellow crab apples then in young stuff I have apples, plum trees, a young FS muscadine vine, a few peach trees, and still adding every chance I get, this spring I plan on buying a Italian nook and queen, that has taken much thought, before I got so sick wasp and bees never bothered me, now I am allergic , I have some apple/pear blend I wil start to bottle before any to great amount of time,
have a good evening
Dawg

give that apple wine another 10 months in the bottle and it could turn into a real nice white wine....mine did! It was nasty at bottling, at a year it was very nice...huge difference.

Gave me the motivation to not touch my plum or prickly pear wines...but, they are coming up on a year old now!

 

[user 32114]

try brewandwinesupply.com
they sell Italian glass carboys, good prices, glass is much thicker then the Chinese ones, you'll be better off in the long run. since I am disabled money is very tight for me now-a days, because of shipping it cheaper to buy 2 to 3 at a time, but I have in tight months have ordered just one at the time, I took all y plastic carboys and put them in the barn, if I ever have to haul drinking waster due to power outages I will be set, got six plastive, but I have built up to 14 Italian lass care boys, 10 1 gallon glass jugs, 4 1/2 gallon glass jugs and a case or two f clear wine bottles, I use the 1 gallon down to the fifth size jugs to top off my 6 gallon carboys, I keep 1 3 gal carboy to experiment with and 1 6 an 1/2 gal carboy I rack into the 6 an 1/2 wash my six then rack back into the six topping off with what's in my gallon jugs down to my fifth size bottles, then when bottling time I again rask with my vacuum pump fro vacuumpumpmam, (STEVE) so every time I rack out clean my 6 gallon then rack back inti it I have degassed both ways with nearly no oxygen , really helps on degassing, then when bottling
time comes around I rack into a 6 an 1/2 gal carboy that allows room for sorbate an back sweetening then I bottle straight from my 6 an 1/2 carboy

just my way od doing it but if your elderly or cut to pieces like me it make veneering enjoyable, lol
Dawg

Seems Scooter68 is in NW Arkansas, I'm in southern Arkansas. Looks like we got the whole state covered. I have learned a bunch from this site as well. I plan to to move on to some 5 gallon batched in the spring. I'm beginning to figure out that at 5 gallons+, I need to decide what 3 or 4 wines I'm good at and stick with them. Dumping a gallon sucks, but dumping a 5+ batch would be blasphemy. I know that my meads have turn out really good, my Blueberry is good. I have not tried an apple wine. I have a little purple book that has 101 recipes for 1 gallon batches. I need to quit using the cheap yeast also. The red star obviously is not as good as the ec1118, K-v116, D47 or some of the others everyone calls on.. Any way I was thinking... I do that too much..That apples would make a good accent to a good red.I'll probably be the dumb kid around here for a while. Thanks for all the good information guys..

 

[user 32114]

I'll give that a try on both a few muscadines and some wild possum grapes as well
Dawg

Dawg, I really don't know anything about muscadines...but we have mustang grapes down here. I have cut miles of those things outta fence lines before I figured out they really didn't bother me as much as I thought they did! It was a never ending battle...well, actually it did end...I quit cutting the dang things! We kinda compromised...I gave them the fence lines...but, I did get them outta the pecan orchard (chemicals).

I have cut vines that were big around as a coke can down to the ground...they came back! To support a vine like that they have a huge root system...they just come back...year after year. I've got one on the garden fence...was here when I got here 20 years ago....the dang thing is STILL there..I've cut it back for years!

My point is, if those muscadines are established, I doubt you can hurt them and I bet they will out live you. Knock em down, bet in two years you'll have fruit.

 

[user 32114]

my nephew is my helper or sometimes maybe vise versa , the store bought was for him, I've been blessed with a neighbor that'd sell his wife I think for farm fresh eggs, I keep all the neighbors in a half mile radius, so I get tons of pears, tons meaning usually 8 to 10- 5 gallon bucket , and around 3- 5 gallon buckets on top of what I grow, but my nephew wanted some made quicker then from fresh fruit, I didn't keep up with time but to me it sure didn't seem any faster, beings I freeze all my fruits an berries, I drank a couple bottles with him, he's wanting more, beings your comment about aging or giving proper time to the wine, so when I start his must I am going to do me 8 gallons with racking and all I'll make about 28 bottles that Ill set back for a year, any extra Ill bottle in 375ml bottles and try a sample every couple months, I do age with my fresh fruits an berries, but I never gave any thought about putting store bought juice wine back like I do my fresh stuff, but you made me realize that it only makes since to age a couple cases of that as well, after doing some bottling lately I just happen to have 6 empty carboys just needing something to keep em busy, thank you
Dawg

give that apple wine another 10 months in the bottle and it could turn into a real nice white wine....mine did! It was nasty at bottling, at a year it was very nice...huge difference.

Gave me the motivation to not touch my plum or prickly pear wines...but, they are coming up on a year old now!