If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Discount Home Brew Supplies
Chairman of 5 Towns Wine & Beer Makers Circle!
Convenor of Judges YFAWB Show Committee
National Wine Judge
N.G.W.B.J Member
Discount Home Brew Supplies
Chairman of 5 Towns Wine & Beer Makers Circle!
Convenor of Judges YFAWB Show Committee
National Wine Judge
N.G.W.B.J Member
Joking aside mate, a jolly good day, fresh grapes are a little new to me and as you know, i've picked your brains today. Now I feel like an expert........crusher/de-stemmer handle turner.
Boy does my arm ache...
Discount Home Brew Supplies
Chairman of 5 Towns Wine & Beer Makers Circle!
Convenor of Judges YFAWB Show Committee
National Wine Judge
N.G.W.B.J Member
thank you very much for the pictures! I've never gotten grapes for wines before (usually juice), so the experience is new to me.
I hope it is okay to ask a few questions:
How long do you leave the skins in the primary?
How long did it take to crush/destem the grapes?
When did you start the starter?
What yeast did you use?
Thank you so much, again, for the enlightening photos.
The puppies are nice to see too. Looks like not only you two had fun, but the 4 of you.
Virtual Wine Circle & Competition Co-Founder Twitter: VirtualWineO
Facebook: Virtual Wine Circle
Going to leave the skins in there till the brix is at around 4 or 5, so about 5 days I think
Crush-de-stem juice testing etc took about 2 hours, but that included coffee breaks and messing about
starter made at the start and (in 40 deg C water, with Tronozymol nutrient and some sugar, had planned on pitching the starter after 24 hours, but it kicked in so quickly I pitched it after about 2 hours (i think), it started the must fermenting almost immediately (no sulphite added at crush.....I'm taking chances I know, but want to be certain that MLF will start when I add the culture, and didnt want sulphite levels to get in the way...Karls 5 gall was sulphited)
Lalvin RC-212 yeast was used
hope this answers your questions, if you have more, then feel free to ask
regards
Bob
Last edited by lockwood1956; 02-09-2007, 11:51 AM.
Reason: Extra info added regarding sulphite
N.G.W.B.J.
Member of 5 Towns Wine and Beer Makers Society (Yorkshire's newest)
Wine, mead and beer maker
24 Hours in and here we go, a cap has formed (the CO2 pushing the skins to the surface) this needs to be wetted (punched down) to prevent spoliage and to extract colour and Phenols from the skins, using a 10% sulphite solution (100g of sulphite topped up to 1 litre) I sanitised a long spoon (not the best punch down tool, but the best I have) and got all the skins submerged again, (well I also sanitised my hands and gave the grapes a good squish, as you can tell by the juice on my hands in the final photo) this process will happen a minimum of two times a day (aiming for 4) and as you can see from the final picture, the colour extraction has allready started. More updates later
And here's mine, worked out there's about 6 gal here from 4 crates, measured it this morning, Bob yours will be about 20 gal, real juicy grapes and taste yum.
Pitched the yeast starter about an hour ago (Lalvin RC212) and it's just starting to kick in.
Should be interesting to see if there's a difference in the two batches due to different environments and brewing styles.
It reminds me of my first ever brew, I can't help having a peek every hour.
Discount Home Brew Supplies
Chairman of 5 Towns Wine & Beer Makers Circle!
Convenor of Judges YFAWB Show Committee
National Wine Judge
N.G.W.B.J Member
Very interesting thread. I am reading with fascination. Thank you for answering so many questions of mine. I do have one at this moment, however:
What temperatures are you keeping both at (Duffbeer & Lockwood)?
Thank you again.
The room temp at the moment is 22c 72f and will probably only change by an odd degree or two depending on the weather.
Discount Home Brew Supplies
Chairman of 5 Towns Wine & Beer Makers Circle!
Convenor of Judges YFAWB Show Committee
National Wine Judge
N.G.W.B.J Member
Comment