26Kg of Grapes and a halfwit

[modofodo]

That's me

I was lucky enough to be given 26Kg of red grapes today. Picked late this afternoon. I am going to be doing some scouring of this forum for any info about what to do next!

The donor was unable to tell me the variety, though they have seeds. Here are some pictures (attached).

I am sure most of the info I need will be contained within this forum, though I'd appreciate any advice for a newbie to the world of actual grapes!

I guess I need to find a way to crush and press, then sulphite, ascertain sugar content (adjust with addition of syrup or grape concentrate if necessary), then when ready pitch 71B ?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[lockwood1956]

They look like they could be Rondo...hard to tell though

advice here...

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2046

hope that helps


de-stemming can be done either by hand (eek) or by rubbing the bunches across chicken wire over a bucket.

[lockwood1956]

Some great info here too

http://wineserver.ucdavis.edu/pdf/HWM3.pdf

[modofodo]

Thank you for the links Bob!

I think most of this is going to be heath robinson / manual. I will do some reading before I get going.

Would it be wise to destem and crush, then suplhite tonight to buy some time?

[solly]

Good luck m8, I crushed my red grapes by hand - was doing about 12 kgs per hour, that includes destalking the grapes and then crushing them and taking out all the earwigs

Also take an SG reading, mine was standing at 1.050, used the FermCalc to add the correct amount of sugar.
FermCalc

[modofodo]

Thanks Solly!

Yes I noticed a lot of hitch hikers. Shh, don't tell my wife - the buckets and bags are in the house (she hates earwigs). So I am in for a late one tonight! Thanks for the link to FermCalc - that will save me from getting the maths wrong (hopefully).

Just got to finish some client work before I can get started - ho hum!

[modofodo]

After finishing work and an unsheduled trip to hospital (collecting an elderly relative) I only got about halfway through the grapes. I have 2.5 gallon of must.

Measured SG after sieving some juice - 1052. I'll recheck once I've done the rest of the grapes tomorrow.

[lockwood1956]

Thanks for the link to FermCalc - that will save me from getting the maths wrong (hopefully)

I always find it useful to post my calculations on here, if I'm adding things to an important batch....a fresh pair of eyes can sometimes pick up something you didn't...

started doing this after an acid addition disaster in 2006 when doing calculations after a long day of picking up grapes from London, then crushing and destemming, and doing calculations tired.

regards
Bob

[fatbloke]

Good thing that the grapes weren't given to me, as I'd only end up doing something stupid.....

Like eat them ;-D

regards

jtfb

[modofodo]

Thanks Bob, will post any calcs here.

I have obviously read Solly's thread and realise that I really need to test the acidity of the must. Would a standard Ritchies acid test kit suffice? I can order one for delivery tomorrow.

Also, the initial 2.5 gallons has been sulphited (10%) - so I guess I do the acidity test on unadulterated must? (eg. the next batch I process) ?!

Would any adjustments be made with tartaric? Just checking so I make sure I have enough in.

Also K1-v111b over 71b ?

Sorry for all the questions (I am totally green on acidity).

[goldseal]

The acidity will most likely be high, not low. If you do need to adjust upward, tartaric would be your best bet. There are a couple of ways of reducing acidity - that method I used was to add Ritchies Acid Reducing Solution after fermentation was complete. This worked well for me.

71B isn't the best red grape yeast out there, but will metabolise some of the malic acid in the must, thereby reducing acidity a bit. K1V is a Swiss-Army-Knife yeast and should work well with reds and whites.

[modofodo]

Thanks Pete.

I've ordered a test kit and some reducing solution (might as well - save me ordering it later and will probably be useful for other wines).

I have both 71B and K1V, decisions!

[modofodo]

Sorry to go on....

I sulphited the 2.5gallons of must I processed last night. I am part way through the rest of the grapes this evening. I am hoping to test the acidity tomorrow.

My possibly irrelevant question is:

Will sulphiting the must affect the acidity? eg. should I test the acidity of unadulterated must?

[lockwood1956]

Will sulphiting the must affect the acidity? eg. should I test the acidity of unadulterated must?

no it wont....and no you shouldn't


sweat it not!

[lockwood1956]

Acidity can be adjusted afterwards