cheese
Silver Member
Make Wine!!!
I bought a rental property earlier this year and I still haven't gotten it ready to rent out, but when I took the mower over to mow it, I saw grapes all over the back yard. The vines were probably 50 feet up in the trees and all down the fence row. I picked about 5 gallons of sweet muscadine grapes. I've never made wine, but always wanted to try. This was the perfect excuse to get started.
My wife crushed the grapes, then we put them in a nylon bag and into the fermenter along with 10 lbs of sugar and some sulphites to kill any wild bacteria, pectic enzyme to eat the pectin of the fruit (optional), and added yeast nutrient (also optional), then 24 hrs later we added a packet of wine yeast. It fermented there for a week until the hydrometer showed that most of the sugar in the fermenter had been eaten by the yeast. Then we removed the bag of grapes and put the wine into the secondary fermenter (glass 5 gallon jug or "carboy") with the airlock on top. The remainder of the fermentation will take place in this jug for a month or two. The pic of the carboy was just recently, when the fermentation got slow enough that the wine could begin to clear and settle out. The darker part at the top is cleared wine, while the lighter is still cloudy. The dark wine is down to the last rib on the jug as of tonight. Then when the hydrometer says the fermentation is done and the wine has cleared, I get to bottle it. I went to the local glass recycling bin where the local bars dump their beer and wine bottles and grabbed up a bunch, took them home and soaked them in bleach and cleaned the labels off. I got a corker and a bunch of corks...now I just have to wait.
Yeah... I tasted it. When I put it in the glass jug I took a taste. It tasted like wine, but was a bit harsh. It's supposed to taste like that at that stage though... not done fermenting or settled out yet. I'm enjoying this though... can't wait to try other types of wine now. I have a friend with a pear tree that has ripening fruit like crazy all over it, and a mulberry tree on another rental property that bears tons of fruit! I drink very little, but they say a glass of red wine daily is really good for you and I don't mind a sip now and then
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I bought a rental property earlier this year and I still haven't gotten it ready to rent out, but when I took the mower over to mow it, I saw grapes all over the back yard. The vines were probably 50 feet up in the trees and all down the fence row. I picked about 5 gallons of sweet muscadine grapes. I've never made wine, but always wanted to try. This was the perfect excuse to get started.
My wife crushed the grapes, then we put them in a nylon bag and into the fermenter along with 10 lbs of sugar and some sulphites to kill any wild bacteria, pectic enzyme to eat the pectin of the fruit (optional), and added yeast nutrient (also optional), then 24 hrs later we added a packet of wine yeast. It fermented there for a week until the hydrometer showed that most of the sugar in the fermenter had been eaten by the yeast. Then we removed the bag of grapes and put the wine into the secondary fermenter (glass 5 gallon jug or "carboy") with the airlock on top. The remainder of the fermentation will take place in this jug for a month or two. The pic of the carboy was just recently, when the fermentation got slow enough that the wine could begin to clear and settle out. The darker part at the top is cleared wine, while the lighter is still cloudy. The dark wine is down to the last rib on the jug as of tonight. Then when the hydrometer says the fermentation is done and the wine has cleared, I get to bottle it. I went to the local glass recycling bin where the local bars dump their beer and wine bottles and grabbed up a bunch, took them home and soaked them in bleach and cleaned the labels off. I got a corker and a bunch of corks...now I just have to wait.
Yeah... I tasted it. When I put it in the glass jug I took a taste. It tasted like wine, but was a bit harsh. It's supposed to taste like that at that stage though... not done fermenting or settled out yet. I'm enjoying this though... can't wait to try other types of wine now. I have a friend with a pear tree that has ripening fruit like crazy all over it, and a mulberry tree on another rental property that bears tons of fruit! I drink very little, but they say a glass of red wine daily is really good for you and I don't mind a sip now and then
.
These old Italians had a way of making that jug of pure pleasure irresistible..
