There've been a few homebrew threads on the forums here, mostly, beer but a few wine also. I'm documenting my progress for my own files, figured I may as well share here too in case anyone is interested.
Day 1: I picked up 250 lb of Syrah grape from a local vineyard. It originally came from Lodi, CA, was shipped whole (and refrigerated), and crushed on-site when I went to pick up my order. Starting stats were a little bothersome, but not unexpected given the nature of CA grape lately. Brix was 30 (meaning potential alcohol of 17+%, enough to kill most yeasts before the sugars are gone), pH was 3.5, TA was 0.55 (pretty close to ideal). I sulfited and let sit overnight to warm up a bit (the grapes had been kept nearly frozen).
In this picture the juice coloring is a little grey. It used to be more red, but changed when I added sulfites (to prevent spoiling, wild fermentation, oxidation, etc). Should 'purple up' soon.
Day 2: Today I drew a sample for more acid/brix measurements. The numbers were the same, so I calculated the necessary adjustments, and then cut that in half just to be safe. Ended up being 1.3 gal of water to cut the sugar, and enough acid to maintain the current levels, or increase them slightly. Let it stand for another 4 hrs or so and remeasured the levels. Turns out I mixed the must poorly so I gave it a good stir and the numbers improved. They're closer to ideal than I expected, given that I only added half of what I thought I needed. I'm going to leave it alone for now, may need to adjust slightly in the future. Pitched the yeast (Lalvin RC-212), gave it a good stir, and let it sit for the night.
Note here that the color has already improved. It's not quite staining my hands yet, but it's getting close. Pretty soon I'm going to have to worry about the wife finding purple stains all around the house.
That does it for now. I'll update this thread when something interesting happens
Day 1: I picked up 250 lb of Syrah grape from a local vineyard. It originally came from Lodi, CA, was shipped whole (and refrigerated), and crushed on-site when I went to pick up my order. Starting stats were a little bothersome, but not unexpected given the nature of CA grape lately. Brix was 30 (meaning potential alcohol of 17+%, enough to kill most yeasts before the sugars are gone), pH was 3.5, TA was 0.55 (pretty close to ideal). I sulfited and let sit overnight to warm up a bit (the grapes had been kept nearly frozen).
In this picture the juice coloring is a little grey. It used to be more red, but changed when I added sulfites (to prevent spoiling, wild fermentation, oxidation, etc). Should 'purple up' soon.
Day 2: Today I drew a sample for more acid/brix measurements. The numbers were the same, so I calculated the necessary adjustments, and then cut that in half just to be safe. Ended up being 1.3 gal of water to cut the sugar, and enough acid to maintain the current levels, or increase them slightly. Let it stand for another 4 hrs or so and remeasured the levels. Turns out I mixed the must poorly so I gave it a good stir and the numbers improved. They're closer to ideal than I expected, given that I only added half of what I thought I needed. I'm going to leave it alone for now, may need to adjust slightly in the future. Pitched the yeast (Lalvin RC-212), gave it a good stir, and let it sit for the night.
Note here that the color has already improved. It's not quite staining my hands yet, but it's getting close. Pretty soon I'm going to have to worry about the wife finding purple stains all around the house.
That does it for now. I'll update this thread when something interesting happens