Well a friend has access to grapes… So what do you do to crush them? The first 5 gallon bucket took over 3 hours to de-stem and crush… The other 4 buckets I’m going to put in my apple musher… Then each bucket will get Camden tablets, sit for a day then add the yeast… I’m looking for ideas to make this a fun adventure… Sneezles61
Grapes come with their own yeast if you are adventerous.
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I understand that… But then there are other bugs too… I’m hoping to " tame" them… Make a known type wine… Maybe I shouldn’t try too hard… It’s a mixed pile of grapes. Mainly concord… It looks like Marquette and another I don’t know… In the red family that’ll grow in the up north area of Mn. Sneezles61
I made concord wine and my wife said it tasted like Welches grape juice even though it was fully fermented. Have fun and don’t work too hard at it is my suggestion.
What type of grapes. Use a wine yeast there are different ones depends on how dry or sweet you want. Don’t use natural yeast from the grapes it may taste like crap or won’t dry it out enough.
I buy my grape juice and it has the natural yeast still in it I pitch primeir cuve’ and it out competes the competition
I thought you’re supposed to have buxom lassies holding up their petticoats while scampering around in a big wooden vessel and mashing the grapwes with their nubile and plump young toes…
Maybe that’s why I’ve never made wine…
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Or it will dry out too much. Wine used to be unique everywhere you went then Louis Pasteur changed that. There used to be true terroir but the industrialization of wine production eliminated most of it.
Musta been watching I love Lucy…
Well, I embellished the total amount of grapes… After they where de-stemmed, put through the insinkerator I fashioned into an apple musher… I have 5 gallons of juice with pulp… Camden tablets added too…
Tomorrow is the day I’ll strain to see what my starting volume and check gravity…
So usually wine makers use tritation (?) to check acidity? I wonder if I should check with my pH meter? I know it won’t tell me how much acid is in the solution… But I also have time search the web to see what if any idea as to what the starting pH should be… Sneezles61
Don’t strain. Pitch the yeast and push down the scins for a day or 2 until they settle then rack to your carboy. Don’t forget to add nutrients. Then rack again after 1 month. Then rack again after 3 months. Don’t drink it green red wine at least a year. White wine well whatever
It’s a red wine… Yeast was pitched last night… I couldn’t get a clean enough sample to get an accurate gravity… Really doesn’t matter at this point… Just looked… It’s started… Sneezles61
And we are back here again! 
I picked all the grapes from the yard… A mix of Concord and Marquette…
Nope… I didn’t weigh them… volume wise… a third full (unsquished) in a 3 gallon stock pot… One campden tablet and about a quart of water… I’ll attend to squishing and checking gravity tomorrow… I doubt the amount I have will amount to very much…
BUT… I do have some wine from Marquette grapes that is… well… very powerfully flavored… I’m thinking to dump those bottles into this must… 6 bottles…
Any one else tinkering with their grapes?
Sneezles61
I threw some wild grapes in my cider. Tomorrow i head to my supplier. Got an email all leftover grapes and juice at a discount.
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Another piece of the story… We stopped at a wine making store up nort… needed to wine yeast… right? Well, they had dry beer yeast! Scored!! 
Damn, forgot wine yeast… 
… But, in those bottles of wine… there is some yeast… So I will see ifn I can’t get some fermentation going… If not… I’ll be headed up nort… again…
Sneezles61
About time to tinker with grape must today… I’ll ask this question, but I think I know the answer…
Is adding table sugar to grape must a standard procedure?
I’ll see what my ABV is and go from there…
Sneezles61
I never have to add sugar yo grape must only fruit wine. That said if you pick your grapes before peak the sugar content may be low and you may need to. Do you have a refractometer?
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Yes I’ve a refractometer…
I picked my grapes a little late… They have been through a few frosts… Wild critters got a majority of my grapes…
Sneezles61
We found a whole bunch more grapes from the year before in the freezer… So with out much procrastinating… I put them in a SS 5 gallon pot and dumped one of the jugs of wine that are currently fermenting to it… Gravity? No idea… I did the crushing of the grapes and squeezing to get the must liberated from the pulp and seeds…
Sneezles61
FUDGE!!!
Sneezles61
EDIT: So I had to remove 3 gallons of fermenting wine to extract that bung… Now, how much should I be concerned about O2?
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