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.

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.

Thanks for the info.
To your question regarding the cover, I used an old clean towel draped
over the top of the bucket. Porous but dense enough to keep out the
bugs.
I live up top of the KY bump down river from Cincinnati.
I'll take you up on your offer and keep you apprised of the results of
my first batch.

KY,
Your process was sound, I think it was one of the first yeasts kicking
in too.

As to making Rose, I make one from grenache. The idea is to just get
it off the skins as soon as possible and you did that. Even though it
looks dark now it may lighten up. See what it looks like in a small
glass too, it looks darker in large volumes.

I think there is a good winemaking store in Covington of Cinci; there
is definitely a good one in Akron. (Sometimes you need an answer
NOW...)

We have a saying, "Wine makes itself, it will turn out fine no matter
what you do to it." Your sugar is a little high, but that red star my
die out early giving you a sweet wine. Rose is good sweet.


Joe


Kentucky wrote:
> Thanks for the info.
> To your question regarding the cover, I used an old clean towel draped
> over the top of the bucket. Porous but dense enough to keep out the
> bugs.
> I live up top of the KY bump down river from Cincinnati.
> I'll take you up on your offer and keep you apprised of the results of
> my first batch.

Clearly you do not mean that TA was 6.0% right? It was 0.6 %....at
least I am hoping. Assuming actually, I am sure yeast cannot survive
in 6% acid.

Hi Droopy. From a "newbie" perspective what I read as a 6 was actually
the amount of the test liquid required to turn the juice sample black.
I used a TA kit and started with the specified 10cc and had 4 left when
the color change stabilized in the juice sample.
You might get a chuckle in the number of times we did the test to get a
number that occured more than once. Soooo, we called it a six.
I am amazed at the strong reaction in the fermentor.
It is trying to climb out of the bucket !!
The solids from the juice are forming a cap somewhat like the
consistency of a loose ricotta cheese and actually pushing up a dome in
the towel I have draped over the bucket.
I stir it down each morning and wipe down the inside of the exposed
bucket with a clean damp cloth. I am concerned that the sludge residue
might get funky if left exposed to the air with no liquid surrounding
it.
I am going to test the SG tonight as woodwerks suggested in his recent
email.
I am leery though of putting this animal in a glass closed jar until it
calms down a good bit.
Thanks to all of you from a "newbie".