Lots of Niagara grapes...let's make some wine

C4PNJ4ZZ · 10-02-2009, 02:29 AM

i've been brewing for a couple years and I make some damn good beers. So not being one to leave well enough alone, I'm going to make the wine plunge. Let it be stated that I haven't read much about wine.

My folks have a vine of Niagara grapes that has an over-abundance of fruit right now. It is growing over a pergola on the porch. I got 4lbs of grapes after 10 minutes of picking from one small area. It got me thinking into making some small batches of wine.

Where do I start? Skins? no skins? potato masher? food processor?

What kind of yeast should I use?

If I were to do it my way, I'd smash the grapes into juice, campden tablet them then pitch some ale yeast to try to get a wine cider kind of feel.

Let's make some SWEET BERRY WINE!

phished880 · 10-05-2009, 01:46 AM

I could be wrong but i think if you let the juice sit with its skins you will get "red" wine juice. The redness comes form tannins. hope that is helpful....

dogboysdad · 10-05-2009, 01:56 AM

Crush the fruit and let it ferment on the skins, but only for a couple of days. Then, you can press as you usually would. Niagra is a white grape. You will not end up with a red wine as a result. You will need more than four pounds.

We crushed 1200 pounds of them about ten days ago. We did an equal amount of Concord today. Later I will blend the two about 50/50 and lightly sweeten with HFCS. I don't like it sugary but some sweetness brings out the fruit. I made twelve cases of this last year. It is a great wine for non-wine drinkers.