100% muscadine juice wine
 

I have way more grapes than fermenters this year. My question is has anyone done a wine using 100% straight muscadine juice and not diluting it with water? I have about another 100 lbs of grapes on the vines that I need to do something with. Where I live in Louisiana, everyone has muscadines so I can not even give them away.

Varieties include Ison, Darlene, Sweet Jenny, Pam

I am getting around 3.5 gal of juice / 50 lbs of grapes.

Any opinions welcome

Hmmm...

Me thinks the SG will tell you the answer to this question!

Squeeze a cupful of juice and read it's OG, if you've got access to a hydrometer.

I don't see why you couldn't just fill your primary with the pure muscadine juice, even boosted with sugar if the OG reading demands it, and then simply add a token hat-full of skins/pulp, like some kits, for more body, taste, etc.

Pogo

Well, muscadine juice isn't the best tasting juice out there. I think that's why you don't find many 100% muscadine wines.
If you do some acid reduction, though, you may find it will make an outstanding wine. If you don't have an acid test kit (they do have some really cheap ones from LD Carlson), you could taste the juice and see how acidic it is, and how much you'd like to reduce it. I've used calcium carbonate to reduce acid in grape wine, and it works well. I've used it in rhubarb wine, too, with ok results.

Jack Keller's website has two recipes that look really good for muscadines:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques15.asp

Hi toddrod: Depending on what you want for your end product, you might try using the following yeast (maybe in combination with calcium carbonate) on your muscadine juice: Lalvin 71B-1122 (Narbonne) : This yeast metabolizes more of the malic acid during fermentation than most other yeasts and should be considered for wines which are high in malic. It is noted for producing "fruity" reds such as vin nouveau and works well with high-acid native North American grapes, producing rounder, smoother, more aromatic wines that tend to mature quickly. Because it is also known for making blush, rosé and semi-sweet wines with a tropical fruit character, it promotes these styles with Cabernet Franc, Gewürtztraminer and Riesling. For obvious reasons, is often the yeast of choice for a great many malic fruit and berries and for vegetable-grape concentrate blended wines. Alcohol toxicity is predictable at 14% and its temperature range is 60-85°. F. I've never used it on muscadine, but I've had good results with it on other types of juices. Hope you find this info useful, GF.

Thanks for the info so far. I have Jack's page book marked and have read most of his information.

The recipe I am using right now is a traditional South Louisiana one, which means it is a SWEET wine, and is as follows.

5 gal recipe

Crush grapes and add yeast (I used Montrachet) in fermenting bucket
After 4 days, strain juice from pulp (I use a press)
Take 1 gal of juice (I used 1.5 gal) to fermenter and then add 15 lbs sugar and water to make 5 gal.

I have 10 gal of this in the fermenters right now and the SG came out to 1.132. My friend that does 150 gal a year of this recipe tells me that it ferments dry and he resweetens after 10 monthes. He uses sorbate at that time.


Gratus - I have some Narbonne coming in this week that I had planned on using for the next batch (this one will be a white as I have green muscadines as well) once I decide on if I am going to go all juice or this recipe again. I have another friend that uses Narbonne and he likes the results

+1 on the Lalvin 71B-1122 (Narbonne) to reduce the acidity. I used this yeast on a batch of pineapple wine (no water, just fresh pineapple juice) and the difference between when I used cote de blanc on the same juice was very noticeable.

toddrod -

I've got plenty of muscadines here, too.

I've decided to try a batch myself, thanks for the recipe BTW.

I just checked with my LHBS and have acid test kits on their shelves, so I'm on my way there this afternoon.

I have to presume that your SG of 1.132 is after adding the sugar, :D right?

Would you happen to know the SG of just the juice itself?

Since I now understand that acid is the source of the complications, I thinking that by using no water, just pure juice, if it's SG is sufficient, and then use calcium carbonate, etc., to 'Arm and Hammer' :D the acid levels into submission, the creation of a new animal may be just around the corner.

Of course, there's no guarantee that it will be a nice animal, huh?

Pogo

BTW - I read an article in the newspaper the other day about the hazzards of drinking sports drinks, which are high in acid!

They dissolve the enamel on our teeth. I realize that only winos drink wine like most would do sports drinks, and that most wines don't have the acid of muscadines, but reducing the acid level here would still be a 'win - win.'

I hope that you meant you also use the green 'scuppernongs' to make wine with, rather than 'green' brown muscadines.

Pogo - Sorry, I just crushed the grapes and added yeast. My next batch I will do all the correct measurements and documentation.

One thing I noticed is that I sure need some pectic enzyme in this stuff. The top od my fermenters look like they have some sort of a jelly layer on top.

Are the wild grapes Muscadine? I think they are, right?

Could also be Mustang grapes.