I am posting before the buzz of my first "wine" wears off. Last
Saturday (1 week ago) , I started my first "wine". Bought approx 2.5
lb of red seedless grapes (from Chile) from my local grocery store.
Crushed each grape with a hand garlic press into a half gallon mason
jar. In 1/2 cup of water, I added a tsp of sugar and 1 packet of
regular yeast (for bread). After it foamed, added it to crushed
grapes, put on the lid loosely and stored it in a cabinet. Approx
twice daily I shook the content. Since the temperature has been about
78 F, fermentation pretty much finished by 4th day. Today (7th day) I
strained the content into an old wine bottle and 1 large glass for
immediate inspection and consumption. It has the color of a
raspberries milk shake, but the consistency is much thinner. And it
does taste like a non-descript wine, diluted by a factor of 2 or 3. It
gave me a light buzz, much like beer. Now I am waiting to see If it
will give me a headache / hangover or a visit to the ER before sharing
it with neighbors

That was the funniest post in a long time. Tell me you are a stand up
comic and not really using grocery store grapes.... tell me. . .

wait for it...


wait for it...


If this is true, you have great promise in local wineries here in this
state. No I am not tell you what state it is. smile.
DAve


jay wrote:
> I am posting before the buzz of my first "wine" wears off. Last
> Saturday (1 week ago) , I started my first "wine". Bought approx 2.5
> lb of red seedless grapes (from Chile) from my local grocery store.
> Crushed each grape with a hand garlic press into a half gallon mason
> jar. In 1/2 cup of water, I added a tsp of sugar and 1 packet of
> regular yeast (for bread). After it foamed, added it to crushed
> grapes, put on the lid loosely and stored it in a cabinet. Approx
> twice daily I shook the content. Since the temperature has been about
> 78 F, fermentation pretty much finished by 4th day. Today (7th day) I
> strained the content into an old wine bottle and 1 large glass for
> immediate inspection and consumption. It has the color of a
> raspberries milk shake, but the consistency is much thinner. And it
> does taste like a non-descript wine, diluted by a factor of 2 or 3. It
> gave me a light buzz, much like beer. Now I am waiting to see If it
> will give me a headache / hangover or a visit to the ER before sharing
> it with neighbors

> > ... Now I am waiting to see If it will give me
> > a headache / hangover or a visit to the ER ...

The buzz lasted an hour or two. Its now the morning after and I am
still alive. I didn't get the headache/hangover that I usually get
from most budget Californian wines.

> > ... 2.5 lb of red seedless grapes from my local grocery store.
> > Crushed each grape with a hand garlic press ...
>
> That was the funniest post in a long time.
> Tell me you are a stand up comic
> and not really using grocery store grapes....

Last night after the wine buzz wore off, I went back to my local
grocery store and bought more grapes (cheapest ones, which were again
from Chile) and blueberries. This time, instead of crushing them, I
put them thru the blender and dumped it into the 1/2 gallon mason jar
with the prior must. This morning, the mixture was starting to a ooze
out like an ice cream popsicle so I transfered the mixture to a larger
tupperware container.

> If this is true, you have great promise in local wineries
> here in this state. No I am not tell you what state it is. smile.

California?

Well, you sort of made a Nouveau wine. If you want to name it you
might consider BowJayLay NewWow... )

Seriously, wine is wine in a week, it can be better than what you had
but it was made that way and drunk that way for thousands of years. I
had an old Italian wine maker give me a well made glass of Thompson
Seedless in a paper cup years ago; it was good wine.

Joe

> Seriously, wine is wine in a week, it can be better than what you
> had but it was made that way and drunk that way for thousands
> of years. I had an old Italian wine maker give me a well made
> glass of Thompson Seedless in a paper cup years ago;
> it was good wine.

I'll have to swipe a few dixie cups during my next dental
appointment

This second batch, which used the prior must instead of a new packet
of yeast, fermented much faster. I started it Saturday night and it
was done by Monday morning. I had to stir the concoction every hour it
seemed on Sunday. Is there a simpler way to jiggle the bubbles to the
top and sink the ever-rising pulp? What is the disadvantage of
pureeing the grapes with a blender versus crushing the grapes? What is
the disadvantage of using the prior must for each new batch? Thx

On Apr 15, 12:35 am, jay > wrote:
> > Seriously, wine is wine in a week, it can be better than what you
> > had but it was made that way and drunk that way for thousands
> > of years. I had an old Italian wine maker give me a well made
> > glass of Thompson Seedless in a paper cup years ago;
> > it was good wine.
>
> I'll have to swipe a few dixie cups during my next dental
> appointment
>
> This second batch, which used the prior must instead of a new packet
> of yeast, fermented much faster. I started it Saturday night and it
> was done by Monday morning. I had to stir the concoction every hour it
> seemed on Sunday. Is there a simpler way to jiggle the bubbles to the
> top and sink the ever-rising pulp? What is the disadvantage of
> pureeing the grapes with a blender versus crushing the grapes? What is
> the disadvantage of using the prior must for each new batch? Thx

It may have been warmer this time, yeast like temps of 70 to 85 F
best.Stirring it feels good but isn't making it ferment faster, you
are just creating nucleation sites that cause bubble formation, it's
fermenting at it's own rate. Yeast evolve so sooner or later you will
get a sluggish ferment, just add new yeast in that case. Grinding
grapes can scar or crack seeds which makes things bitter. Pulp is
always pushed to the top either way. cracking the skin is all that is
necessary to get the yeast to the sugar faster. As long as you keep
the pulp wet you will be ok, the pulp is called a cap. Since these are
small quantities you could just swirl to break it up.

Joe