Last year I helped a friend start his wine making career.
Just a little background. I had bought about 50 lb of Foch Grapes for myself and 2 other friends. I stopped in to see this friend, who had lost his wife earlier in the year, and he seemed to need some distraction, so when he seemed interested in what I was doing, I gave him a 5 gallon bucket of these grapes. He had never made wine before and wanted to try it.
We crushed the grapes, we added enough sugar to bring the SG up to 1.110, and added campden tablets. Then the next day we added the yeast and let it ferment on the skins for 3 days.
We then racked it over into a 5 gal carboy.
We then took the skins and added 2 gallon of water and enough sugar to bring the sg up to the 1.110 again. Since there was still active yeast in the must it took off again. My intention was to make a second wine from this batch.
About 4 days later I stopped by to give him a few gallon jars and airlock for the second batch. He had already racked the seconds over into the firsts. So I got a 5 gallon waterbottle for him to put everything in. We then topped it off with concord grape juice.
About every month we would rack it over and top off again with Concord Juice. After stablizing it, he bottled it in June. Of the 4 batches that we all made with Foch Grapes this one is the best.
Just a little background. I had bought about 50 lb of Foch Grapes for myself and 2 other friends. I stopped in to see this friend, who had lost his wife earlier in the year, and he seemed to need some distraction, so when he seemed interested in what I was doing, I gave him a 5 gallon bucket of these grapes. He had never made wine before and wanted to try it.
We crushed the grapes, we added enough sugar to bring the SG up to 1.110, and added campden tablets. Then the next day we added the yeast and let it ferment on the skins for 3 days.
We then racked it over into a 5 gal carboy.
We then took the skins and added 2 gallon of water and enough sugar to bring the sg up to the 1.110 again. Since there was still active yeast in the must it took off again. My intention was to make a second wine from this batch.
About 4 days later I stopped by to give him a few gallon jars and airlock for the second batch. He had already racked the seconds over into the firsts. So I got a 5 gallon waterbottle for him to put everything in. We then topped it off with concord grape juice.
About every month we would rack it over and top off again with Concord Juice. After stablizing it, he bottled it in June. Of the 4 batches that we all made with Foch Grapes this one is the best.
