Question

[Logwerx]

I picked my grapes a couple weeks ago, racked them off the skins and pulp a few days ago. I pressed the grapes then kept the pommace cake in the bag, then soaked it in 3 gallons of water. after 3 days I brought the sg upto 1.700 and re-fermented it.

Will this turn out to be anything, or did I just waste 5lbs of sugar, chem and yeast?

 

[rob]

You are right on target, we have been doing this for a couple of year and it always turns out really good...I called my last batch naked grape. Hang in there and take good care of it!

 

[djrockinsteve]

You will get a second wine. Different taste than the first. I made a smaller batch than the first to keep a decent flavor.

Pull all skins @1.050 ferment must dry and treat like real wine

 

[GreginND]

You can do that and you will probably get a decent wine. It depends on how much flavor is left in the skins. Generally I do not make a second wine from skins that I have used in an active fermentation. I will take skins from a fresh pressing of juice and do a second wine with it. For example, if you are making a rose from red grapes you generally press it off before starting fermentation. The skins are still fresh and loaded with flavor. They make a great lighter second wine.

 

[Rocky]

I don't make it any longer but we made our "second wine" a little different than you describe. When the wine was in the fermenter and through the first phase (SG approximately 1.020 but we did not measure it), we let out the free run wine through an opening at the base of the barrel. After the flow stopped, we replaced the stopper, added sugar and water and re-fermented the mixture. We did not press the skins until the second wine was finished with the first phase of its fermentation. The two wines, of course, were segregated and the "second wine" was only served to certain people whom we might refer to today as the "B list."

 

[djrockinsteve]

I guess I should have clarified my post better.

You can pull your skins a bit early and make a 2nd wine. It becomes more of a blush type wine. Thinner than the original but not too bad if you started out with a 6 gallon batch then made a 3 gallon secondary wine. Good as a skeeter pee too.

Most often though I will press thicker grapes and ferment that juice plus ferment the skins with a little sugar water to keep it moist in the beginning. Muscadine, Brianna and LsCross have thick skins you can't get all the juice out by pressing so I ferment the left over juice in the skins.

A little more tannic but still very nice.

 

[salcoco]

the procedure I followed is to free run juice. the objective is to add acidified, sugar ,dissolved water back equal to free run removed. Sugar and acid must be added off line so to speak because alcohol in must will distort numbers. I usual acidified to 7g/liter and sg=1080. I initially used to true measure sg by just adding water to must but got very hot wine this was since values were distorted even with hydrometer.

 

[Logwerx]

Thanks everyone. I pulled and pressed @1.020 The wife likes the really light sweet wines, was hoping to get something along these lines. I am going to try and backsweeten with some strawberries we have extra. I guess I will just see how it goes.

I "Steeped" the skins for 3 days and got a sg of 1.010 before adding sugar to bring it back up to 1.070. It didn't taste too bad, though markedly weaker than the free run juice was.

 

[Logwerx]

I ended up with 2 gallons of my 2nd run Valiant. I bottled the first gallon today, not too bad. I intend to backsweeten the 2nd gallon with some strawberries. The 2nd run is definitly weaker than the 1st batch, but it may actually be better since it does not have the overpowering grape flavor.

 

[markowil]

Can you explain what you mean by back sweeting? I have 45 lbs of valiant grapes coming out of the freezer next week, and am not sure how to proceed. Traditionally, valiant grapes are very dry, and I have had some success mixing with honey, but I would like to know what you are doing.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

backsweeten - to add sugar or similar in order to bring more of the taste out of the wine.

I just started my 2nd run this morning - I sucked out about 80% of the juice from the must and left the rest to have a really nice 2nd run !!

 

[djrockinsteve]

Commercial wineries will stop fermentation at the desired sweetness level by filtering out the yeast. There is no need for sorbate. We cannot do that. We must ferment dry, clear and age. When ready to bottle you add sugar by inverting it in some wine and adding sorbate then letting it rest a few weeks then bottle.

There is a tutorial on inverting sugar on here I wrote awhile ago.