Kentucky wrote:
> I picked 2 bushels of Buffalo grapes (home grown by me, color blue
> black)last Tues and my daughter and I hand stemmed and hand crushed the
> lot on Wed.
> My daughter wanted to attempt a fruity sweet pink/blush product so we
> put the crushed grapes in a cheesecloth bag and squeezed the juice
> right into a 7 gallon bucket before any modifications for acid, sugar
> etc.
> So much for pink/blush, juice turned red before we finished squeezing.
> No problem we are just going with it. We bought all the gadgets,
> carboys, fermenting buckets, chemicals etc. from a local vendor. We ran
> the sugar up to SG 1.112(not on purpose) and after the sugar/water add
> the TA came up at 6.0.(again, not on purpose) Don't have a ph gadget so
> we don't know the ph.
> Per the recipe (5 gallon) we then did the 5 Campden tablets, pectin
> stuff, yeast nutrient and let the whole batch sit covered for 12 hours.
> After the 12 hour wait I added 1 packet of yeast (Red Star)to 104
> degree water and let it sit 10 minutes. It foamed a little and turned
> the water cloudy. I then dumped it into the 7 gallon bucket and waited.
> Temp was right at 72 degrees.
> There was no bubbles, no foam, nothing for 48 hours.
> I re-did the yeast thing. Still nothing after 24 hours. In desperation
> I threw in a pack of dry yeast right into the must. Bingo ! Big time
> bubbles and foam. Looks like the stuff is boiling.
> My question(s).
> Have I ruined the wine with all the yeast ?
> Do you treat squeezed juice different in recipes that are written for
> crushed grapes ?
> Thanks in advance for any guidance.
> No matter the outcome we had a lovely day together outside.
>

3 packets of yeast will not harm the batch, if you consider how much
yeast is present at the end of fermentation, it is quite small. I
wouldn't be surprised if one of the original yeasts kicked in just as
you added your third. its not unusual for yeast to take 24 - 36 hours to
really get together and start running.

squeezed juice and crushed grapes are treated the same (basically)only
suspect thing i can see is when you said you let it sit "covered" for 12
hours. when you hit it with campden tablets it creates sulphur dioxide
gas which inhibits the natural yeast and allows the pectinase time to
break down the pectin content. Was the cover a porous one that would
allow the gas to escape or was it such that the gas was contained inside?

by the way what part of kentucky are you in? i'm in cadiz, kentucky --
sort of by paducah (land between the lakes region). i'd be happy to talk
with you about winemaking and grapes anytime.