Time between Harvest and Crush

[MJ VBMadison]

Hello - I am painfully new at this.

When I bought my house there was a grape vine in back! The first fall I pruned it back nearly to the "trunk" - the second summer it grew out, this summer it exploded and has given me ~30lb of Frontenac grapes. I plan to make wine from these.

The grapes have started to become sweet and soft and I became worried that I would wait too long and began to harvest them. I got about half way and then got hit with rain so I stopped. I have de-stemmed/sorted the 17lb that I harvested and now have them in a cooler at ~55ºF.

My question, which I can't really seem to find a clear answer for, is how long they can be stored this way before crushing. I am worried that they could spoil before I have a chance to begin fermentation. One option I have considered is to crush what I have, add 50ppm potassium metabisulfite, and begin a cold soak. Then I will crush in the rest of the crop when things dry out in a couple of days and pitch yeast for primary fermentation.

Thoughts?

Thank you! MJ

 

[Bubbles2]

I freeze mine until I have enough to make a batch, and can ferment at a decent temp. I am sure Fresh is for the purist, but freezing fruit is a step called masticating where some do it on purpose for making peach, and other fruits albeit a grape is a bine.