I need experienced wine makers to save my wine!!
Long story short - I was pulled into a group of winemakers that make wine from grapes every year. I mentioned to one of them a while back I thought it would be cool (I make beer), but I'm not a huge wine drinker and I never asked them to buy the raw materials for me when they do their annual wine making.
Well I get a call that "their grapes are in and that they have grapes and a barrel for me". Well this is a costly investment as you know but it gets worse....
Still in shell shock from my investment that I didn't want to make....I find out that this group of guys are about as rouge as it gets and I'm way to anal for their liking. Each of the 10 guys had 8 "boxes" of grapes and on day one they/we crush the grapes....stems and all. Well after putting up a fight I refused to crush with the stems so I fought them and spent ~8 hours destemming my grapes. They crush directly into large tubs with a loosely fit lid for a week, stirred daily, and today, one week later, they pressed off the grapes (my grapes included).
I now have all of this juice and not sure what to do next. At this point the group of "wine makers" put the wine into their full barrels w/ an airlock in a drilled rubber stopper and let it ferment NATURALLY. They pull and drink directly from the barrel when its ready (beginning in Jan 1 they said).
I know there are acid and sugar checks...and then there's that whole pitching of the yeast thing but I'm not sure what to do at this point. Can someone please help salvage my wine?!?!!?!
- Would you let the wine ferment naturally???
- Should I add Potassium metabisulfite this late(remember the grapes were crushed on 10/11)?
- Should I pitch a pure yeast strain? If so how much and what kind? I had 8 apple/banana box sized boxes of grapes crushed and they are using that amount to fill a full wooden barrel (59 gallons?)
- Should I check acid and sugar/gravities at this point with crush and initial fermentation beginning on 10/11?
- Should I add additional sugar? These guys add 100lbs of table sugar and don't check gravities, BRIX, acid levels, etc.... If I should is it OK to use table sugar, because we don't in home brewing beer...
- How long should I let the must sit and ferment? After they pressed it today I went to their house and picked up my wine because they put it directly into their barrels at this point. So my wine was crushed on 10/11, sat in a large "trash can" for a week, and was pressed and strained today (10/18). It now rests back in the "trash can" the must was in. Also is the head space, or lack thereof critical as it is in beer making?
- Would you ferment in the barrel?
Please help!!! I've looked for information online and everything I've found is very basic and assumes you are starting from day one with fresh grapes which I am obviously not...
I need to know what I need (and buy) to make the best out of the situation that I'm in....
Long story short - I was pulled into a group of winemakers that make wine from grapes every year. I mentioned to one of them a while back I thought it would be cool (I make beer), but I'm not a huge wine drinker and I never asked them to buy the raw materials for me when they do their annual wine making.
Well I get a call that "their grapes are in and that they have grapes and a barrel for me". Well this is a costly investment as you know but it gets worse....
Still in shell shock from my investment that I didn't want to make....I find out that this group of guys are about as rouge as it gets and I'm way to anal for their liking. Each of the 10 guys had 8 "boxes" of grapes and on day one they/we crush the grapes....stems and all. Well after putting up a fight I refused to crush with the stems so I fought them and spent ~8 hours destemming my grapes. They crush directly into large tubs with a loosely fit lid for a week, stirred daily, and today, one week later, they pressed off the grapes (my grapes included).
I now have all of this juice and not sure what to do next. At this point the group of "wine makers" put the wine into their full barrels w/ an airlock in a drilled rubber stopper and let it ferment NATURALLY. They pull and drink directly from the barrel when its ready (beginning in Jan 1 they said).
I know there are acid and sugar checks...and then there's that whole pitching of the yeast thing but I'm not sure what to do at this point. Can someone please help salvage my wine?!?!!?!
- Would you let the wine ferment naturally???
- Should I add Potassium metabisulfite this late(remember the grapes were crushed on 10/11)?
- Should I pitch a pure yeast strain? If so how much and what kind? I had 8 apple/banana box sized boxes of grapes crushed and they are using that amount to fill a full wooden barrel (59 gallons?)
- Should I check acid and sugar/gravities at this point with crush and initial fermentation beginning on 10/11?
- Should I add additional sugar? These guys add 100lbs of table sugar and don't check gravities, BRIX, acid levels, etc.... If I should is it OK to use table sugar, because we don't in home brewing beer...
- How long should I let the must sit and ferment? After they pressed it today I went to their house and picked up my wine because they put it directly into their barrels at this point. So my wine was crushed on 10/11, sat in a large "trash can" for a week, and was pressed and strained today (10/18). It now rests back in the "trash can" the must was in. Also is the head space, or lack thereof critical as it is in beer making?
- Would you ferment in the barrel?
Please help!!! I've looked for information online and everything I've found is very basic and assumes you are starting from day one with fresh grapes which I am obviously not...
I need to know what I need (and buy) to make the best out of the situation that I'm in....