Brown Must. Yikes!

[jonereb]

I've crushed enough red muscadines to make 2 gallons of wine. When I poured the sugar water in, the beautiful reddish purple color turned brown. The pots were cleaned. What's going on? I've only been making wine for 3 years. I've never seen my initial fermenter turn brown. I haven't added yeast yet. Will do that in 12 hours.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

Did you add any potassium metabisulfite (Meta)?

 

[jonereb]

Yes, I used crushed campden tabs. After sitting for 2 hours, the wine is back to its original color. Was this a strange chemical reaction? Everything was washed. The muscadines were sprayed in a strainer to remove dirt, etc. Very odd.

 

[stella_tigre]

Was the water distilled or RO, or tap? Our unsoftened water is alkiline enough to change color of grape juice, coffee, other things that apparently change color with pH.

 

[jonereb]

I used distilled water. Heated it enough to dissolve the sugar, then poured it over the must.

 

[jonereb]

6 or 7 hours later, the must is looking good. The color is right. I have no idea what happened when I poured the sugar water. I guess I whined before it was time.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

Browning must is a sure sign of oxidation. The metabisulfite will prevent that from happening.