Wine from homegrown grapes....Beta and Swanson Red

[Jennifer Patterson]

I have both Beta grapes and Swanson Red grapes growing here, both of these are in the same family as concord grapes (I think). I finished picking today, and am not sure how I should proceed. I am not finding much information on either one of these.
I have 21 pounds of Beta grapes cleaned and frozen Plus 21 pounds of Swenson Red grapes again cleaned and frozen.
I guess my questions are, should I make 2 separate wines? Or combine them for a single? I am new to wine making and don't know how these work or taste.
If I decide to make two separate wines, about how many pounds of grapes per gallon should I work on? ( I need to purchase secondary fermentors for these and am not sure what size to go with)

 

[salcoco]

it takes 12-15 lbs of grapes to make one gallon of wine.

 

[Jennifer Patterson]

it takes 12-15 lbs of grapes to make one gallon of wine.

So I could actually make 3 gallons of wine, One of each variety, and a blend, OR all blended. What yeast would I use? I have the Redstar premiere, but will be ordering some other supplies and could pick up a different yeast.

Would I treat this like I did the mixed berry, or chokecherry? Mash, add water, measure SG, add sugar to correct SG, etc? Or are grapes treated differently?

 

[salcoco]

I would not be concerned on wine quantity as it will depend on how much water you add. but it is wise to separately ferment and then blend as characteristic of wine are different.
you are correct in procedure mash,measure acid, add water to correct acid level, measure sg, add sugar to correct sg, add other ie rasins and elderberries if desire. yeast in hand is fine.

 

[Jennifer Patterson]

I would not be concerned on wine quantity as it will depend on how much water you add. but it is wise to separately ferment and then blend as characteristic of wine are different.
you are correct in procedure mash,measure acid, add water to correct acid level, measure sg, add sugar to correct sg, add other ie rasins and elderberries if desire. yeast in hand is fine.

Thank you!
I have seen a few recipes where raisins are added, can I ask what is the purpose of adding raisins? I don't have any elderberries, but I could pick up some raisins if needed.
The second question, I have just started making wine, I purchased a fruit wine kit and started there. None of the recipes for the fruit wine mentions measuring the acid. How do I do this? And is it something only used when making wine with grapes? Or should I be checking acid levels on my fruit wines? I will be making Plum and Apple wine in the near future.

 

[salcoco]

raisins add body and tannin

Wine kits are already acid balanced by the seller. you should be checking for acid in all wines either from grapes or from fruit and making adjustments accordingly. there are two Methodist , one use a acid kit where a chemical is added to the liquid which is most cases is an acid, another chemical a base is added until a color change is noted. then a calculation is made using the amount of liquid added . an alternate is using a ph meter, which starts the same as the other but instead of a color change looks for a ph=8.2.https://morewinemaking.com/content/winemanuals visit this site and read the manuals available for free to give you detailed instructions.

 

[Jennifer Patterson]

raisins add body and tannin

Wine kits are already acid balanced by the seller. you should be checking for acid in all wines either from grapes or from fruit and making adjustments accordingly. there are two Methodist , one use a acid kit where a chemical is added to the liquid which is most cases is an acid, another chemical a base is added until a color change is noted. then a calculation is made using the amount of liquid added . an alternate is using a ph meter, which starts the same as the other but instead of a color change looks for a ph=8.2.https://morewinemaking.com/content/winemanuals visit this site and read the manuals available for free to give you detailed instructions.

Thank you, this kit just had the tools, and some basic supplies, for one-gallon batches, no fruit or juice. I will go read up on the acid thing!
As a beginner, which of the acid measuring methods do you think would be easiest to use and understand?

Since I am running out of freezer space (picked over 100 pounds of various fruits yesterday) I will need to get this ordered so I can get some more brewing. Either that or buy a second freezer!

 

[salcoco]

I would go with the ph meter method, the meter can be used to measure ph value of the wine also and can be very versatile instrument.

not aware of your budget but visit Vinemetrica , sorry don't have there web site, but they have three versions each with multiple measurements. this will give you years of service and will make you a better wine maker.

 

[Johny99]

@salcoco has it right. I’d add, buy the best pH meter you can afford. If you don’t have the three bills for a good one, the simple ones for $50 or so on Amazon will do in a pinch, but promise yourself to get a good one when you can. A good pH meter and sulphite test setup, thus the vinimetrica recommendation, are what you will need long term. http://vinmetrica.com/products.html No affiliation I just have one of their early sulphite testers and can’t do without it.

What wasn’t mentioned is for acid test there is pH which is important but to adjust you also will need a titration setup to know the amount of acid. For your first try, one of the acid test kits will work, comes with reagent, syringe or pipette, and the indicator.

Enjoy!