Does anyone here have experience of making wine from home-grown grapes?
--
ßôyþëtë

BoyPete wrote:
Does anyone here have experience of making wine from home-grown grapes?

No. I leave it to the experts. But I made an apple cider/wine with a
few red fruits added to it a couple of years ago. Do you have a
question?

La Puce wrote:
BoyPete wrote:
Does anyone here have experience of making wine from home-grown
grapes?

No. I leave it to the experts. But I made an apple cider/wine with a
few red fruits added to it a couple of years ago. Do you have a
question?

There is a very old vine in my mums garden, laden with masses of grapes.
They are too tart to eat, so I thought 'wine'
Some are ripe to the point of being soft, others are still green. I have all
the equipment to make wine from concentrates, but don't know how to process
the grapes. Can I mix the less ripe with the ripe. That'll do for a start
--
ßôyþëtë

BoyPete wrote:
There is a very old vine in my mums garden, laden with masses of grapes.
They are too tart to eat, so I thought 'wine'
Some are ripe to the point of being soft, others are still green. I have all
the equipment to make wine from concentrates, but don't know how to process
the grapes. Can I mix the less ripe with the ripe. That'll do for a start

Just like with the apples, I suspect, you could freeze what is ripe
until the rest of the grapes have catch up and then crush the lot at
the same time. Frosen fruits are easier to crush into bits ! That's
what I would do. Now if you are impatient to start - I wouldn't mix the
two, ripes and not ripes.

La Puce wrote:
BoyPete wrote:
There is a very old vine in my mums garden, laden with masses of
grapes. They are too tart to eat, so I thought 'wine'
Some are ripe to the point of being soft, others are still green. I
have all the equipment to make wine from concentrates, but don't
know how to process the grapes. Can I mix the less ripe with the
ripe. That'll do for a start

Just like with the apples, I suspect, you could freeze what is ripe
until the rest of the grapes have catch up and then crush the lot at
the same time. Frosen fruits are easier to crush into bits ! That's
what I would do. Now if you are impatient to start - I wouldn't mix
the two, ripes and not ripes.

Good idea.............now, where can I get a commercial size freezer? lol
--
ßôyþëtë

BoyPete wrote:
Good idea.............now, where can I get a commercial size freezer? lol

)) What about liquidising the ripe grapes. Store easier, innit.

La Puce wrote:
BoyPete wrote:
Good idea.............now, where can I get a commercial size
freezer? lol

o)) What about liquidising the ripe grapes. Store easier, innit.

Another good idea!
My freezer is usually 80% full, and we're talking a LOT of grapes.
--
ßôyþëtë

On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 BoyPete wrote:

Does anyone here have experience of making wine from home-grown grapes?

Yes, I do. I've been making grape wine for around thirty years. What do
you want to know?

David

--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Caversham, Reading, UK

On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 BoyPete wrote:

There is a very old vine in my mums garden, laden with masses of grapes.
They are too tart to eat, so I thought 'wine'
Some are ripe to the point of being soft, others are still green. I have all
the equipment to make wine from concentrates, but don't know how to process
the grapes. Can I mix the less ripe with the ripe. That'll do for a start

If they are too tart then they are not good enough for making wine. Your
best bet is to pick them at different times as they ripen. However, be
aware that grapes are seldom as ripe as they look. Leave them all as
long as you possibly can and, to be any good for wine-making, they
should taste fairly sweet.

To be more scientific you need to measure the sugar content. Either a
hydrometer (which you can buy quite cheaply from any shop that sells
wine-making equipment) or a refractometer (much more expensive) will
help you determine the specific gravity.

To use a hydrometer you would need to crush a bunch or two of grapes in
order to extract enough juice to immerse the hydrometer. The reading
should be at least 1.060 to be able to make wine. Any less and you will
have to add sugar, but the resulting wine will be very sharp.

I have a refractometer. This can measure the sugar content in a single
grape. If you lived near to me you could bring a few grapes over and I
could measure them for you.

You don't say whether they are black or green grapes.

Anyway, give a bit more information and I can probably give you more
help. I have about a hundred vines at the moment and will be harvesting
my grapes the week after next. At the moment the specific gravity varies
between 1.055 and 1.070. Hopefully by the end of the month the average
will be around 1.065 to 1.075 and that will give me a pleasant table
wine to last me for most of the year.

David

--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Caversham, Reading, UK

David Rance wrote:
On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 BoyPete wrote:

There is a very old vine in my mums garden, laden with masses of
grapes. They are too tart to eat, so I thought 'wine'
Some are ripe to the point of being soft, others are still green. I
have all the equipment to make wine from concentrates, but don't
know how to process the grapes. Can I mix the less ripe with the
ripe. That'll do for a start

If they are too tart then they are not good enough for making wine.
Your best bet is to pick them at different times as they ripen.
However, be aware that grapes are seldom as ripe as they look. Leave
them all as long as you possibly can and, to be any good for
wine-making, they should taste fairly sweet.

To be more scientific you need to measure the sugar content. Either a
hydrometer (which you can buy quite cheaply from any shop that sells
wine-making equipment) or a refractometer (much more expensive) will
help you determine the specific gravity.

To use a hydrometer you would need to crush a bunch or two of grapes
in order to extract enough juice to immerse the hydrometer. The
reading should be at least 1.060 to be able to make wine. Any less
and you will have to add sugar, but the resulting wine will be very
sharp.
I have a refractometer. This can measure the sugar content in a single
grape. If you lived near to me you could bring a few grapes over and I
could measure them for you.

You don't say whether they are black or green grapes.

Anyway, give a bit more information and I can probably give you more
help. I have about a hundred vines at the moment and will be
harvesting my grapes the week after next. At the moment the specific
gravity varies between 1.055 and 1.070. Hopefully by the end of the
month the average will be around 1.065 to 1.075 and that will give me
a pleasant table wine to last me for most of the year.

David

Thanks for your comments David. I think the ripening problem is due to the
fact that most of the grapes are tucked away under foliage. I remember
tasting the grapes many years ago...........yuk! (the vine has been there at
least 40 years)
--
ßôyþëtë

On 16/9/06 22:05, in article , "David
Rance" wrote:

On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 BoyPete wrote:

Does anyone here have experience of making wine from home-grown grapes?

Yes, I do. I've been making grape wine for around thirty years. What do
you want to know?

David, just out of possible interest to you, have you read Patricia
Atkinson's books The Ripening Sun and its sequel, La Belle Saison?

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

David Rance wrote:
On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 BoyPete wrote:

Does anyone here have experience of making wine from home-grown
grapes?

Yes, I do. I've been making grape wine for around thirty years. What
do you want to know?

David

Is freezing the ripe fruit until the rest ripen viable?
OK, I'll have to add sugar, and the result might be crap, but I'd like to
try, whatever the result. So how do I proceed?
Had a quick look at your website...........yawn.....tired now. Will read
more tomorrow.
--
ßôyþëtë

On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 BoyPete wrote:

Thanks for your comments David. I think the ripening problem is due to the
fact that most of the grapes are tucked away under foliage.

That shouldn't matter. It is the action of the sun on the leaves, not on
the grapes themselves, that increases the sugar. That's why it's
important to leave three to four leaves on each spur above the bunches
of grapes. However, if the leaves don't get any sun then, of course, the
grapes won't ripen.

I remember
tasting the grapes many years ago...........yuk! (the vine has been there at
least 40 years)

As I said earlier, leave the grapes as long as possible. They will
continue to ripen.

David

--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Caversham, Reading, UK

On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 Sacha wrote:

Does anyone here have experience of making wine from home-grown grapes?

Yes, I do. I've been making grape wine for around thirty years. What do
you want to know?

David, just out of possible interest to you, have you read Patricia
Atkinson's books The Ripening Sun and its sequel, La Belle Saison?

No, I haven't. Can you give ISBN numbers?

David

--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Caversham, Reading, UK

On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 BoyPete wrote:

Is freezing the ripe fruit until the rest ripen viable?

Not a good idea really but you could try it. Actually what you need to
do is to crush the grapes and strain them through muslin to extract the
juice as soon after picking as possible.

OK, I'll have to add sugar, and the result might be crap, but I'd like to
try, whatever the result. So how do I proceed?

You say that you have the equipment to ferment wine from concentrates.
Well, once you have the juice proceed the same as for concentrates. Just
add a Campden tablet to every gallon of juice and add a yeast starter.
Actually now I don't even bother with a yeast starter as the wine yeast
is now endemic among my vines.

David

--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Caversham, Reading, UK