Adrian Thompson
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- Oct 17, 2007
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Hi everyone, several people seem to be having similar problems here, but mine seems a little different. I'll cover the whole process of what I've done so hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.
This is my first time making wine in over 20 years, yes do the math, I was a teenage kid last time, but that was in the UK where the legal age is purely fictional, heck I used to go to the pub with the local Police when I was 14. But that's another issue.
So jump forward 20 years and change continents. I've been wanting to get into wine making for sometime and final took the plunge this year. I went out last Saturday on the last day for picking at out local Vineyard (Honeyflow farms in Dryden SE Michigan) . I picked 40 lb's of Fuch grapes. I got them de-stemmed there, which crushed them partially. When I got home I dove in with clean hands and carried on crushing them further, this was working but going slow so I grabbed the food blender and zapped small quantities until I had smooched the lot. Reading a book later I panicked because it warned that breaking the seeds could ruin the wine, but having a look the seeds seem to be whole. This gave m ejust under 5 gallons of must which I added four cambden tablets to.
I left the must for 24 hours then checked the specific gravity, it was 1.092 so I didn't add any sugar. At this point the juice tasted very sweet, just like grape juice as you'd expect. I then opened a packet of Pasteur yeast, mixed it in 100 deg F water and left for 10 mins. I was slightly surprised to see there was no foaming of the yeast but I mixed it into the must anyway. That was Sunday night. Monday morning, evening and Tuesday morning I pushed that cap to the bottom but couldn't not see any hint of fermentation. Last night the same thing, so I placed my bucket on a small heating pad (the sort of thing you use for a sore back) thinking the must may not be warm enough to start fermentation. This morning still no sign of fermentation, there is a change in odder to a slightly yeasty smell, a small taste indicates it's still sweet, but with a bitterness I assume to be the yeast. I've got the Must in my basement near the furnace, the house is at 68degrees and I think the basement is at a similar temp, that's why I added the heating pad.
I was slightly concerned that the yeast packet didn't have an expiration date on it, I got it in a 'kit' from the place I picked the grapes and suspect it may be quite old.
What should I do? Warm it up more, add more/different yeast? I was hoping to rack it into demijohns this weekend, should I still do that?
Thanks
Adrian Thompson
This is my first time making wine in over 20 years, yes do the math, I was a teenage kid last time, but that was in the UK where the legal age is purely fictional, heck I used to go to the pub with the local Police when I was 14. But that's another issue.
So jump forward 20 years and change continents. I've been wanting to get into wine making for sometime and final took the plunge this year. I went out last Saturday on the last day for picking at out local Vineyard (Honeyflow farms in Dryden SE Michigan) . I picked 40 lb's of Fuch grapes. I got them de-stemmed there, which crushed them partially. When I got home I dove in with clean hands and carried on crushing them further, this was working but going slow so I grabbed the food blender and zapped small quantities until I had smooched the lot. Reading a book later I panicked because it warned that breaking the seeds could ruin the wine, but having a look the seeds seem to be whole. This gave m ejust under 5 gallons of must which I added four cambden tablets to.
I left the must for 24 hours then checked the specific gravity, it was 1.092 so I didn't add any sugar. At this point the juice tasted very sweet, just like grape juice as you'd expect. I then opened a packet of Pasteur yeast, mixed it in 100 deg F water and left for 10 mins. I was slightly surprised to see there was no foaming of the yeast but I mixed it into the must anyway. That was Sunday night. Monday morning, evening and Tuesday morning I pushed that cap to the bottom but couldn't not see any hint of fermentation. Last night the same thing, so I placed my bucket on a small heating pad (the sort of thing you use for a sore back) thinking the must may not be warm enough to start fermentation. This morning still no sign of fermentation, there is a change in odder to a slightly yeasty smell, a small taste indicates it's still sweet, but with a bitterness I assume to be the yeast. I've got the Must in my basement near the furnace, the house is at 68degrees and I think the basement is at a similar temp, that's why I added the heating pad.
I was slightly concerned that the yeast packet didn't have an expiration date on it, I got it in a 'kit' from the place I picked the grapes and suspect it may be quite old.
What should I do? Warm it up more, add more/different yeast? I was hoping to rack it into demijohns this weekend, should I still do that?
Thanks
Adrian Thompson