Second run

[knockabout]

Hi everyone,
This is my first time with real grapes. ( like Christmas and vacatoin rolled into one amazing exciting time) I've got 3 lugs of cab, 3 lugs of Syrah and 3 lugs of Zinfandel going. (Colavita grapes) we picked them up in Dallas last weekend and primary is rolling along.
I was thinking about doing a second run....adding sugar & water to the grapes, knowing I would get an inferior wine but wondering if anyone does this thoughts and caveats much appreciated.
Cheers and thank you!
Kim

 

[salcoco]

it is common to make a second run wine. there are three ways, using water and sugar, using grape concentrate in a can, or using and inexpensive wine kit. for water use a volume of water equal to 75% of the original wine. do not press the original skins. in a separate bucket at 2 lbs of sugar per gallon of water and 7 grams of acid per liter. add this mixture to skins. no yeast required as plenty of yeast alive in remaining skins. once complete it will only take a few days, press the skins for you second wine. for concentrate and wine kit follow instructions for adding water to either then add to skins.

 

[meadmaker1]

I dont have grape experience but many have posted about saving pressed skins to use with juice they purchase. Or add to a fruit wine, reducing the use of water

 

[salcoco]

skins added to fruit wine will not reduce water requirement, but it will add tannin to the fruit wine.

 

[Ajmassa]

There was a whole thread dedicated to the typical “second run” style wine — making another batch with just fermented skins by adding acidulated water. Last year I think.
For whatever reason it’s not popping up using the sites search function though.

 

[sour_grapes]

I made a second-run wine last year. I was advised against it on this forum, due to the likelihood of the wine being subpar. I decided to do it anyway, partially just to get one more experience with pressing (as it was my first time with grapes).

My wine is pretty poor (but, to be fair, I did press the skins on the first run). This summer, I served it chilled as a "porch pounder," and other people seem to enjoy it in that capacity.

 

[NorCal]

I made 10 gallons of 2nd run last year; 1-2 hundred pounds of bladder pressed skins, added sugar to 25 brix, tartaric to 3.5 pH. The wine was just not good; thin and lacked flavor. I back sweetened a case of it and that helped, but still not something I would want to drink, nor give to someone else. In the end, I ended up dumping it all out but a few bottles.

I think if you take @salcoco suggestions that you could make something that would be enjoyable. If you did what I did and just try to take the leftovers, add some sugar, acid and water and expect a decent wine, I think you'll be disappointed.

 

[Jbu60]

I've heard of a second run of sorts that old-timers do to improve their wine from the previous year. They add their pressed skins to last year's wine, together with a pail or two of newly purchased juice, and ferment/re-ferment... What's this procedure called? Not quite a second wine, but sort of...

 

[salcoco]

Jbu50 you are describing how Valpolicella is made kind of a baby Amarone.

the second run wine is best when the first run must is not pressed or pressed very lightly. also keep the additional water lower than the liquid wine removed in the first round.it is useful in drinking early while the first run wine is aging. plus it gives you more bang for the buck.

 

[knockabout]

Thanks everyone! Salcoco, Much appreciation for the advice thanks!

 

[winemaker81]

A friend always made a second run batch -- he purchased 1,500 lbs of grapes (red one year, white the next), and fermented in 50 gallon food grade barrels. When fermentation was done he transferred the free run juice into barrels, but didn't press the pulp at all.

The rule of thumb I was taught (by others) was to add 1 gallon water, 2.5 lbs sugar, 1 tsp grape tannin, and 1 tsp acid blend for each 2 gallons of free run juice. I cannot recall what his measurements were.

Anyway, he fermented the second run batch, and on completion transferred the second run free run juice to other barrels (he had his barrels segregated by red & white, first & second run). Then he pressed the pulp and divided the "squeezins" (as he called it) between the first and second run barrels.

His second run wines were as good or better than many first runs I tasted. I expect this resulted from adding some of the "squeezins" to the second run.

A few years back I did a second run on apple pulp. I ran a case of Red Delicious through a juicer and fermented the juice. I was left with a huge amount of apple pulp, so I used the above metrics to make a second run. The only thing I did different was to add pectic enzyme (I add it to all fruit wines). The second run, for a while, was better than the first run, but it didn't age as well. Which didn't matter -- it was something to drink while the first run had time to age.

 

[Jbu60]

I took the advice above and it worked great!

• 25L of finished cab/zin wine from last year
• 20L pail of fresh Alicante juice
• some sugar (I did a measure to top it up as the Alicante juice was low, forgot the amount)
• 3 cases of pressed grape skins from another batch (cab/zin/Alicante)
• a medium bag of toasted oak chips

No yeast was added because the existing yeast in the grape skins took over quickly enough. Added some nutrient, and everything fermented dry.

Incredibly, the wine is excellent, strong in tannin, and just after 3 months is entirely drinkable, and does not taste young at all! Greatly improved my initial batch of 25L of last year's wine!