Cheap old ba$tard made left-overs into wine

I had about a 1/3 full bottle of grape juice that apparently I cross-contaminated with wine yeast. It was bubbling away, so I tasted it. It tasted like a juice fermenting into wine. I had a get-together the night before and there was left-over wine in different bottles. The stuff I would usually just dump out I added to the bubbling juice. Then every time I racked a different wine or mead I added the leftovers to juice bottle that quickly filled. Moved to a gallon jug and just kept adding leftovers from bottling, or transferring or racking into my spittoon of leftover wine. When fermentation was slowing down I added fresh juice, or honey or corn sugar or dried fruit or fresh fruit or anything that had sugar in it.
In 6 weeks I had enough to have filled the gallon jug of mixed wine, mead , fruits, sugars and whatever. I racked it to gallon jug and it tasted great.
This cheap old ba$tard just made a gallon of wine from stuff I would have dumped down a sink or poured on the ground. Can't wait to drink it.

What are "leftover" wines?

Never have anything left in a bottle.

DoctorCAD said:

What are "leftover" wines?

Never have anything left in a bottle.

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Good one Doc!

Never thought about pouring dregs from carboys into a jug before...

Did you get a ton of lees from that?

WilliamSlayer said:

Never thought about pouring dregs from carboys into a jug before...

Did you get a ton of lees from that?

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I poured over what liquid was left behind, usually about a quarter of a cups worth after racking. So my jug was a combination of different yeasts too. The lees did get higher than most fermentations but the taste does not seemed tainted by the extra lees.
As this batch begins to slow down on fermenting I found I have cross contaminated another quart of grape juice. Get to start again, I see some mixed fruit in the frig about to be tossed - not here! It's going into the new fermenting grape juice.

I love the idea of combining the unrackable portions and leftover fruit to make something new. It would be interesting to see what that yeast did.

I just started using a back to hold my fruit pulp during fermentation. Before that, I would add the lees (about a gallon of pulp and trapped wine) into a milk jug, freeze, and make ice wine. A bottle or 3 of strong wine to sip on while you wait for your wine to secondary!

Beernoulli said:

I love the idea of combining the unrackable portions and leftover fruit to make something new. It would be interesting to see what that yeast did.

I just started using a back to hold my fruit pulp during fermentation. Before that, I would add the lees (about a gallon of pulp and trapped wine) into a milk jug, freeze, and make ice wine. A bottle or 3 of strong wine to sip on while you wait for your wine to secondary!

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That is a cool idea!
I have also read (haven't tried it yet), that some freeze the lees and use it as a yeast starter when needed but heck you are making an ice wine too.

Beernoulli said:

I love the idea of combining the unrackable portions and leftover fruit to make something new. It would be interesting to see what that yeast did.

I just started using a back to hold my fruit pulp during fermentation. Before that, I would add the lees (about a gallon of pulp and trapped wine) into a milk jug, freeze, and make ice wine. A bottle or 3 of strong wine to sip on while you wait for your wine to secondary!

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I just did that with a batch of skeeter pee....but lemme tell ya it's a little too lemony!