Massachusetts group grape buy

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From intro to Mad Max 2
Narrator: "...The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice."

Sounds about right. Of course will will have to weld spikes and stuff the them..

-Will
 
So I guess that a good way to start to organize this is the good old fashioned list.

I'll keep the list up to date as people sign up and give a financial commitment.

Paulthenurse I'm in for $100
BigJohn/Melana $50
CrankyOldLibrarian $50
JustMrWill $50
BearGears $50
Vermiscious $100
Sumo $100
Tony Lopez $100
Bulls Beers $100
RAlovecraft $100
 
I'm in for $50, but I'm going to be away from May 16-24 so if the grapes arrive then, I won't be of much use.

(I can't help with the Mad Max idea since my ratty 1960s Vespa is just not tough enough.)
 
CrankyOldLibrarian said:
I'm in for $50, but I'm going to be away from May 16-24 so if the grapes arrive then, I won't be of much use.
Click to expand...
Geez, I forgot about that, I'll be away the 8th thru the 16th. But the guy at M & M expects them in the end of April given the summer they are having in Chili/Argentina. I'll check in with them.
 
I am in for a $100. Maybe more. I have to check. My family has been asking me to make wine for a while. I will see if I can get them to antie up =)

BTW how is this working Paul?

Are we making one giant press? Are we going to each get our own carboy and take it home?

Or is it a communal brew where we each get so many bottles depending on how much we put in and it ferments in your basement?

Either way works for me.
 
I have to move the wine I have in my 30 gallon barrel out soon, it's been in there for a little over a year, so I'm willing to use that barrel to hold the group's wine for a year or so. Of course, if people don't want to do that they they are certainly welcome to take their own carboy home. Why anyone would opt to age wine in glass when there is an oportunity to age it in wood is a question for another day. Actually, lets talk about it now. There are certain very real benefits to bulk aging in a barrel.

1. Flavor. The oak barrel adds an oak and vanilla component to the wine that you may or may not be able to achieve by using chips, staves or beans.
2. Micro-oxidization. Doesn't happen in glass
3. Concentration. Same thing. As time goes by a barrel will evaporate some of the wine away. That doesn't happen thru glass. It concentrates the flavor. Can you taste it? I think so. If it was a new barrel you would loose a lot more wine because the barrel soaks up alot itself. So far I think I've had to add about 3 gallons back into the barrel to keep it topped up, most of that in the beginning when the barrel was new.

Here's how I see the group process going.
We get teh grapes on a Saturday, stem and crush them and start the fermentation process. (All hands on deck) The grapes need to be punched down 6 times a day or so for a week or more. (one man job) As the grapes ferment they produce CO2 which physically raises the cap of pommace up out of the liquid. You need to punch the grapes back down, I have a gigantic restaurant sized potato masher that I use. (Ever notice that purple grapes doen't have purple flesh? The juice from purple grapes is the color of chardonney until it ferments on the skins. For example, some of the worlds best champagnes are made with pinot noir, a purple grape. The grapes are crushed and pressed the same day, they don't ferment on the skins and so the must is white.) Five or ten minutes of punching down, and churning the must gets the grape skins back under the surface, where they can extract color and flavor. (The other way to do it is by a pump over, where you pump juice from the bottom of the tank back up and over the cap. Same effect.) It needs to be done every few hours and you can't skip a punch down. It also helps to control the temps, ferments can get pretty warm, not necessarily a bad thing in a full bodied red wine.

The wine will go until it is dry and the cap falls. SOmetime after we are about 2/3 of the way thru we'll add a malo-lactc culture and the yeast fermentation and the malolactic fermentation will run together to the finish. Once the cap falls it's time to press. (3-4 man job) We'll siphon out as much of the free run juice as we can then scoop the cap into the press and squeeze it dry. All of the juice (It's actually very raw wine at this point) will go into a vessel to settle out the gross lees overnight (basicly a sheetload of yeast and pulp the needs to stay out of the barrel so it doesnt produce H2S, a strong sulfer stink that you REALLY want to avoid), then it will get pumped off the gross lees into the oak barrel where it will spend the next year or so.

The real work is grape day, press day and of course bottling day. Bodies are always in short supply on grape day and on crush day. Miraculously, no-one has other plans when it's bottling day. It's like a law of nature or something.

Obviously all of these jobs can be done with one or 2 people. But it's a WHOLE lot easier with more hands Not to mention more fun.

PTN
 
Now that sounds like a fun proccess. I vote for letting it age in the oak barrel! I would also like to say, I think its great that you are willing to do this for us Paul.

Lets get some grapes !!
 
Right on, Al! Right on. I say the more the merrier. If we get a sheetload of folks interested in joining in and we have too much wine we can always get another barrel. And I'm not really doing anything that I wouldn't be doing anyway, other than teaching folks how to make wine. This way I get a few sets of extra hands to help. Hmmm, maybe I'll call Duncan and borrow his chainsaw again...

PTN
 
This is Rick from the Boston Wort Processors. I was referred by Albert. Can you put me down for 2 shares? What do you need from me? Need any help?
 
I talked to Christina at M & M yesterday. The Malbes is going for $20.50 /18 lb case . With our current commitment of $700 that gives us 34 cases of grapes or around 50 gallons of wine. I have a 30 gallon and a 15 gallon barrel. We can certainly rack between the two barrels and mix as we go. OR wse can commit a few more bucks and pick up a used 60. We also need to remember the cost of yeast nutrient, MLF and yeast. Not a lot of extra but it's in there and we need to remember it. I'm perfectly willing to up my input another $50. Anyone else.

PTN

Oh the other thing she told me is that this year they are asking for a 20% deposit. I'll put it down but I want have firm commitments from peoplew before I do. She said the first container should be coming the last week in April and continue thru May. I'd prefer to wait for later fuit, the earlier stuff will have a higher acid content and won't be as ripe. As the fruit ripens the acid will drop but I'd rather have riper fruit with higher brix. We can always add the acid to get it where we want it.

PTN
 
Sorry Paul, I am commited to my $100 only. I don't have the budget. I just bought 275lbs of grain in my club grain buy. If I spend anymore money anytime soon I'll living / making beer from the back of my jeep.

The wife was pretty P.O.'d when I dragged in 5 sacks of grain into the condo!
 
beergears said:
I'll pony up another $50 to see some MLFs in action.

Oh wait.. wrong forum!


Yeah, I am in extra 50 (and comitting to some work). I am thirsty already!
Click to expand...

You are a sick and twisted man, JL! I like the way you think.

Tell you what, you are in charge of the MLF department. That way I can act all surprised and confused if you show up with a few hotties in tow.

"Gee Alice , I thought he was bringing bacteria!"

"What do you mean, you think he did?"

PTN
 

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