Yes, I am literally a wine dummy 
I do not drink wine and if I do I get drunk after 2 sips.
I love doing new experiment and here is my story of how I got myself into starting this making wine journey...It been fun up to now. LOL!!!
My neighbor have a some black grapes ( I think ) vines leaning on our fence for the passed 25 years. Every year we treat our self with some fine grapes with the blessing of our neighbor of course We can't eat them all and there is always a lot of left over by winter comes. We just let it be and left it on the vines.
This year in particular it was overly abundance. My husband picked up a big basin full and still have as much left on the wines.
He said it as a joke that I should make wine with it......so I did...LOL!!!
I went online, looked at some recipes and videos. I make 2 different recipes, both without yeast.
The first batch is with sugar and water. I have 4 litters in fermentation. After 1 week they are still bubbly but much less. The recipe require me to stir it once a day for some time ( I don't know what it mean *some time* but I still stirring to this day). It said the first stage of fermentation is 14 days. All seems to be ok till now.
The second batch was just the mashed grapes. I have 5 littler of this recipe. After the first night, the fermentation was so much it got spill all over...(insert rolling eyes)...what a mess! Big clean up! The recipe require I let the first stage of fermentation for 20 days and stir it everyday.
All goes as planned until mid yesterday. I stir the juice yesterday morning and when I check on them later on in the afternoon ( I check on them several time a day since they are in my kitchen cabinet The fermentation of one without water and sugar looked different. It doesn't seem to raising up (not much bubbles) and when I stir the juice this morning it has very little bubble coming up. The fermentation of the one with sugar and water seem to be slowing down too but when I stir it, it still have a fair amount of bubbles.
Here is my questions:
#1 - Is it normal that the fermentation almost stop within less than a week (6 days)?
#2 - Should I still wait for the 20 days before I go for the second fermentation? I still have 13 days to go.
I forgot to mention that I tasted the juice 2 days ago and it tasked nice...like wine with a sweet task in it. Now I just tasted and tasted a little sour...the one with no sugar tasted a little more sour that the one with sugar. Is that normal?
Also a couple days ago it smelled strong wine...but started last night the small of wine has faded a lot. Is that normal?
I am doing this just for the experience and fun. I don't think I want to buy all kind of equipment to make great wine. Hopefully someone can help me
Thank you
I do not drink wine and if I do I get drunk after 2 sips.
I love doing new experiment and here is my story of how I got myself into starting this making wine journey...It been fun up to now. LOL!!!
My neighbor have a some black grapes ( I think ) vines leaning on our fence for the passed 25 years. Every year we treat our self with some fine grapes with the blessing of our neighbor of course We can't eat them all and there is always a lot of left over by winter comes. We just let it be and left it on the vines.
This year in particular it was overly abundance. My husband picked up a big basin full and still have as much left on the wines.
He said it as a joke that I should make wine with it......so I did...LOL!!!
I went online, looked at some recipes and videos. I make 2 different recipes, both without yeast.
The first batch is with sugar and water. I have 4 litters in fermentation. After 1 week they are still bubbly but much less. The recipe require me to stir it once a day for some time ( I don't know what it mean *some time* but I still stirring to this day). It said the first stage of fermentation is 14 days. All seems to be ok till now.
The second batch was just the mashed grapes. I have 5 littler of this recipe. After the first night, the fermentation was so much it got spill all over...(insert rolling eyes)...what a mess! Big clean up! The recipe require I let the first stage of fermentation for 20 days and stir it everyday.
All goes as planned until mid yesterday. I stir the juice yesterday morning and when I check on them later on in the afternoon ( I check on them several time a day since they are in my kitchen cabinet The fermentation of one without water and sugar looked different. It doesn't seem to raising up (not much bubbles) and when I stir the juice this morning it has very little bubble coming up. The fermentation of the one with sugar and water seem to be slowing down too but when I stir it, it still have a fair amount of bubbles.
Here is my questions:
#1 - Is it normal that the fermentation almost stop within less than a week (6 days)?
#2 - Should I still wait for the 20 days before I go for the second fermentation? I still have 13 days to go.
I forgot to mention that I tasted the juice 2 days ago and it tasked nice...like wine with a sweet task in it. Now I just tasted and tasted a little sour...the one with no sugar tasted a little more sour that the one with sugar. Is that normal?
Also a couple days ago it smelled strong wine...but started last night the small of wine has faded a lot. Is that normal?
I am doing this just for the experience and fun. I don't think I want to buy all kind of equipment to make great wine. Hopefully someone can help me
Thank you
