Recipe help

[Corey73]

I picked about 4 gallons of wild grapes this weekend (muscadine) and also 3 gallons of scuppernongs. I would like to make a 5 gallon batch as that is the only empty carboy that i have. My question is can i add juice (welchs or the like) instead of water to make up the difference? Didn't see a recipe that uses both light and dark grapes. Any help greatly appreciated..
recipe is a work in progress(in my head) plan is to get as much juice from the grapes as possible. Then put skins in straining bag in primary. Add juice and sugar to 1.085-1.090 to make 6 gallons. Pectic enzyme,k-meta and nutrient. Let stand overnight then add yeast (slurry started the night before). Ferment to 1.03 then rack off of skins/lees to secondary.Then let go to .990 or as close as possible.
Shoot holes in recipe where needed. Thanx in advance

 

[Corey73]

i also picked (4) 5 gallon buckets of pears... any ideas?

 

[docanddeb]

Grapes should be fermented as juice only... nothing added. With that said, you "could" add some frozen welch's white grape to make up the difference. Another thing would be to make 1 gallon batches. Those Carlo Rossi jugs are good. I get tons of them from people... I can't give them away fast enough! Also save the magnums... sometimes you have a little more than will fit in a carboy. You'll use these extras for topping up. Get bungs in all sizes.

Pears...

They are best fermented 100% juice as well. It is a delicate flavor that gets lost if water is added. You can core, add some antioxidant (or it will turn very brown) and freeze. Once they are thawed, they will be nice a mushy. You'll need a large fermentor, as you'll take up a lot of space until you squeeze it. I hope to do a batch of pear mead this year.

Debbie

 

[Corey73]

Thank you for the quick response. On the pear batch, i dont have a press thing, so i was going to do it by hand. As for the grapes, should I mix the 2 kinds together?...

On another subject,if i read it right, you asked a while back if anyone had made Sassafras Wine. i have and it was pretty good , if you like sassafras... Wife will not touch it

 

[docanddeb]

I don't remember the sassafrass thing. You can combine the 2 grapes if you'd like. We froze the few we had and added them to other fruits along the way. There are no rules... just fun!

We squeeze all our fruits... no press here either. Grapes are all squeezed by hand. Mashed with a potato masher. Where there's a will, there's a way! Find more grapes!! Ask around. It's amazing what you get when you ask!!

Debbie

 

[Julie]

As far as the muscadines are concern, blend the two, you will have a very pleasant wine and don't add any concentrate. You should have enough grapes to make a 5g batch. Put the grapes in a bucket, break them up, add peptic enzyme, wait 12 hours, run them thru a press, then check the acid level, add water to bring it to .75%(muscadines are high in acid), then take some of the must heat it up and add sugar to that to bring your must up to 1.085 - 1.090, add k-meta, wait 24 hours and add the yeast. If you do not like a dry wine, once dry, stabilize and backsweeten to around 1.005 to 1.010 or where ever you like it. If you don't have a press, put them in a bag and after 3 or 4 days squeeze the bag to get as much juice as you can out of it.

As far as the pears are concern, don't add water, do you know what type of pears they are? If you can get some seckel pears add that, it will give the wine more flavor.

 

[Corey73]

not sure on what kind of pears i have. Old homesteads have them growing around them. I have two different types , one is soft, one is hard. Both have a coarse texture (sandy)ish and yellow/green/brown skin with specks.

 

[docanddeb]

Having more than one kind is great! You'll get a more interesting flavor.

Debbie

 

[Julie]

not sure on what kind of pears i have. Old homesteads have them growing around them. I have two different types , one is soft, one is hard. Both have a coarse texture (sandy)ish and yellow/green/brown skin with specks.

If you have one that is hard, then it is probably a cooking pear, mix them 50/50 and you should have a good tasting wine.