Making Grappa

[Farside]

I bought got 150lb of Muscat grapes I'll be making wine from. My press is for cider and made from 5 gallon pails. It didn't do a great job at pressing the freshly crushed grapes so I too the pomace and put it into 2 5 gallon pails, added 1.5 gallons of water, and 2.5lb of sugar.

I'll be fermenting with lalvin 1118 because I want a super dry wash.

 

[Farside]

I live in a cold climate so I'm going to do things differently using a technique I stumbled on last year dealing with a problematic apple pulp wash.

Instead of doing a stripping run, I'm going to freeze the fermented wash outside and then slowly thaw it to drain off the concentrate and separate out the pomace.

After a few cycles of freeze and thaw I will have low wines at around 30% abv.

I'll then do one slow spirit run as usual using the jacked wine.

 

[Farside]

Just pressed the skins and unfortunately the wine is too good to make grappa with. I do have some concord grapes I have going so maybe when I press those I can use them for grappa.

 

[Snuffy]

Just pressed the skins and unfortunately the wine is too good to make grappa with. I do have some concord grapes I have going so maybe when I press those I can use them for grappa.

I was under the impression grappa was made from the leftovers after pressing grapes for wine. Pulp, skins, stems - that kinda stuff. Like you make wine, and then somehow ferment all the leftovers and distill. Or can you just make it by distilling wine?

 

[Farside]

I was under the impression grappa was made from the leftovers after pressing grapes for wine. Pulp, skins, stems - that kinda stuff. Like you make wine, and then somehow ferment all the leftovers and distill. Or can you just make it by distilling wine?

I was making white wine and you press the grapes immediately but my press didn't do a good job so the pomace was wet and chunky.

So I added a little water and some sugar to offset the water I added and pitched some yeast. You're correct it isn't how traditional grappa is made but I have no idea what else to call it lol.

 

[Snuffy]

So I added a little water and some sugar to offset the water I added and pitched some yeast. You're correct it isn't how traditional grappa is made but I have no idea what else to call it lol.

I've only had grappa a few times - my brother had an Italian buddy named Luka who used to break it out sometimes. Tasted kinda like fingernail polish remover smells.

 

[monkeymath]

Yup, grappa is made from pomace. And yes, it often tastes like nail polish remover. In Georgia, they have a very similar product "Cha Cha", often even made at home. Again: nail polish remover. But there are good examples as well, in both cultures.

Distilled wine is called "Brandy".