What should I do with 300lbs of table grapes and no press?

[missjacki]

I Live on some acreage that had many mature grape vines when we moved in 6 years ago.

These are table grapes, I don't know the varietals but green seedless, red seedless, green with seeds red with seeds and dark purple seedless (concord?)

In years past we have gotten about 300lbs and rented a fruit press. After an entire weekend of picking, de stemming, crushing, pressing and straining we finally get to the "yeast adding part".

We've made 4 batches of wine and while I'm getting better and faster at the process and the wine IS getting slightly better in quality, it is still seriously mediocre wine. I don't generally care for white wines and that is what we've been getting.

I just done feel like bothering with all of that this year. And I'm definitely not spending the money to rent a fruit press.

ANy suggestions what to do with all the grapes. I'd consider making wine with them if there were an easier way to extract the juice and flavor. Or if there were a "blended" recipe that called for fresh grapes plus some other main ingredient such as juice or other fruit (we have a bunch of pears and apples ripening). I also have a co-worker who is willing to give me pino noir since he'll be out of town when they ripen, but that still doesn't solve my problem of what to do with MY grapes...

any thoughts?

 

[arturo7]

Find a big tub and crush them with your feet?

 

[Revvy]

Find a big tub and crush them with your feet?

That's the way it's been done since time immemorial.

As someone who has once one it (as a kid) it IS fun!!!!!

Here's a video to help...

 

[Yooper]

I don't have a press either, but I've never had to deal with 300 pounds! That's a lot of grapes.

I'm no expert, but I have a few suggestions. One is that if you want a red or even blush wine, don't press first. You want to ferment the grapes with the skins (crushed), and press after that, like maybe 7 days into fermentation. I freeze my destemmed grapes, because that helps break them up easier when they thaw. Since I'm dealing with less than 80 pounds at a time, I put them still frozen in big mesh bags and let them thaw in big plastic bins while I prepare the rest of my ingredients. These grapes are not wine grapes, so I have to add sugar and water to get them to a good OG, and to lower the acidity. I bring them to 1.095-1.100 OG and add my sulfite. I use pectic enzyme, to help break up the pectins in the grapes. I add yeast 24 hours after adding the sulfites (campden). I smash up the grapes often with a sanitized mash paddle. You could stomp, too, if you've a mind to!

I stir well a couple of times a day, to break up the "cap" that will form. When the wine reaches 1.010-1.020, it's time to press. Since I don't have a press, that involves lifting out the mesh bags and squeezing as much juice as possible from them. Renting a press sounds like a much better option!

After that, the wine goes into carboys, with an airlock, until it's done fermenting. I rack a couple of times, whenever lees are about 1/4" thick or more after 60 days or so.

Some other things I've found that greatly improve this type of wine are adding the "grape concentrate" made by Winexpert. It's concentrated wine grape juice, and it gets added when mixing up the must at the beginning. It takes the place of some of the sugar.

I made a catawba grape last year, from my friend's grapes. It's a beautiful blush even though the flesh is green because I fermented on the skins for a wine, and added that concentrate. Also, you can add some powdered wine tannin to give a bit of a "bite" to the wine.

Jack keller (jackkeller.net) has a whole page dedicated to wild American grapes. I realize these aren't wild, but I bet that resource would be your best bet. When I get home from my cottage, I can see if I have that page saved in my "favorites" if you have trouble finding it. Shoot me a PM if you need it.

 

[madbare]

This is a better example of grape stomping...LOL

 

[Julohan]

If you have brew store near you, you could rent one if they offer that service.

 

[jgln]

That's the way it's been done since time immemorial.

As someone who has once one it (as a kid) it IS fun!!!!!

Here's a video to help...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB06fO3M_Xw&p=C8021112ECED364B&playnext=1&index=3

Make sure everyone is wearing tight underwear that day too.

 

[Shooter]

Spread them out in the sun and make raisins.

 

[Pick]

If I remember correctly we used to get 2 1/2 (105 gallons) barrels of juice out of a ton of grapes. So 300 Lbs should get you 15-16 gallons of juice, or 3 carboys.

Do you dilute the juice with water? We never did. What yeast? My uncle never added yeast, just let it ferment on it's own with wild yeasts present on the grapes. His wine always turned out awesome. Especially after it was 20 years old.

 

[missjacki]

If I remember correctly we used to get 2 1/2 (105 gallons) barrels of juice out of a ton of grapes. So 300 Lbs should get you 15-16 gallons of juice, or 3 carboys.

Do you dilute the juice with water? We never did. What yeast? My uncle never added yeast, just let it ferment on it's own with wild yeasts present on the grapes. His wine always turned out awesome. Especially after it was 20 years old.

Gosh, maybe we get even more than 300 lbs.... we've been getting three 6.5 gallon carboys full without even picking all the fruit...

We do not dilute the juice, I follow a recipe from our LHBS for "oregon backyard grape wine" and basically I just add sugar about 1lb at a time and keep taking hydrometer readings.

We add "champagne yeast" and leave it in primary for about 10 days, then rack into secondary and then rack usually 3 more times at about 6-8 weeks apart.

And after all that it is mediocre. Not bad. Not good.

I'm kinda diggin the raisins idea...

that's a lot of raisins though...

 

[Shooter]

Gosh, maybe we get even more than 300 lbs.... we've been getting three 6.5 gallon carboys full without even picking all the fruit...

We do not dilute the juice, I follow a recipe from our LHBS for "oregon backyard grape wine" and basically I just add sugar about 1lb at a time and keep taking hydrometer readings.

We add "champagne yeast" and leave it in primary for about 10 days, then rack into secondary and then rack usually 3 more times at about 6-8 weeks apart.

And after all that it is mediocre. Not bad. Not good.

I'm kinda diggin the raisins idea...

that's a lot of raisins though...

Well, maybe you can find a way to press some of them and then make the rest into raisins. You can never have too many raisins!

P.S. I actually detest raisins. So, I don't really know why I'm suggesting this.