Red muscadine ques.

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woog11

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Ive made about 5 batches of "Red muscadine wine", or for 5 years. I've always started fermentation in a open primary with the juice, hulls, seeds,etc. For 3 to 5 days till s.g. reaches 1.030 or so, then rack to a 2ndary.
Ive had a few problems with my white wine lately as you probably see my other posting. "please reply"...
I had a person telling me that i shouldnt be fermenting this red wine with the hulls and seeds , for it will make a bitter wine.
All i have ever read is to do this or how would it be possible to punch down the cap or make a full, deep red color? They say only let the grapes and juice sit for a few days then press juice , then ferment.
Have i been doing this wrong all along?
 
I can not tell you right or worng, but i do make good Red muscadine wine, my grandmother made very good muscadine jelly, i used to help her and get my juice the same way,hi heat boil them in water and mash well with a potato masher,bring heat down to "med hi"and stir enough not to burn the mash on the bottom of the pot. a trashey looking scum will form on top while boiling spoon it off, when it stops scumming, cover and let it cool to room temp.i strain and press out the juice with old teeshirts.
1/2 gallon of muscadines cooked down like this will make a very concentrated juice,add 4 cups sugar, top it off with water to make one gallon. repeat as needed to fill fermenter. 1 mounth later rack to a 2ndary, very tasty in a nother mounth.
works for me.
jeff
 
Thanks for the reply jeff. I've never tried boiling, but i have heard of it. Sounds like you have a tried and true method. The method i use is quite different, but im sure not one bit better. I needed a little pick me up from someone telling me i would make a bitter wine this way. he had me thinkin hmmm, would it really be better if i did it that way? Kinda kickin me when i was having a little white wine prob. Everyone that likes wine thinks it is pretty good. My wounds are licked and kickin now. Thank you again for the reply. skip in ar...
 
Thats the method my grandma uses as well. I thought about it though and wont boiling the grapes kill off the tannins and cause issues with clearing?
 
at first we only used a primary "one mounth" and then bottled it, very good stuff, but not very clear.
last years wild grapes, still one mounth in primary, then racked to 2ndary, cleared up nice.
 
Okay both of these methods are great. Just a different way of doing things. The big issue on fermentation with skins and seeds is the tannin content. You won't be having a problem with bitterness at the 1 week period. Seeds are know to have a very strong tannin with a bitter taste that does come out if the seeds are broken open. As with all wines however, Reds or dark fruits, a higher level of tannin is what it is all about. The seeds do have some good tannin but if left in the must for a long period the bitterness will come out.

The question Woog11 is do you like the wine you have made? My friend brews a couple wines that I just cannot deal with, way too much oak for me. He loves it though! Does this mean he is wrong or I am wrong? It just means he uses a different way and has a diferent taste. The University of California is working on trying to figure out which tannins are the good flavored ones from seeds and skin but haven't got it yet.

My point here is to keep an open mind to new or different ways of brewing. Take guidelines from all of us and make what taste right to you. There are those that will not ever break from the traditional processes and that is their short comming not yours.

Shakz the tannins are a chemical compound that don't get effected by normal heat, in fact it will help release some from the skins. It would take a very high heat like over 300 degrees to break the chain and some cannot be broken by any temperature. I would be more worried about the pectin creating a haze but the level of pectin is very low in this fruit.
 
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