Bought a house with two grape vines

[aeviaanah]

If the red variety tastes tannic and not sugary its probably a wine variety. If the grapes get very large and they are sugary its probably a table red. Too me, both varieties look ovular which is what makes me think they are both table. Keep after it and let us know.

Oh I see I guess it does have a bit of an oval shape. I tried posting new pictures last night but my Internet wasn't working. Ill try again tonight. I appreciate the help.

 

[Honda88]

post pictures of them when they are ripe, it is easier to identify them at that stage......also the taste test should narrow it down but still you will have to do some research if not lab work to identify them.

 

[aeviaanah]

One vine (the big one) is ripe. Im pretty certain this variety is table grape. The other vine is still a while away from being ripe.

How long can I wait till harvesting the grapes? I think another week most grape clusters will be fully ripe. How long do I have after that?

Any clever ways to harvest and store till I get around to making the wine?

 

[Twerp129]

If a vine is almost ripe mid-July it is most likely not vinifera. As far as reading ripeness, a winery would do a sample of a number of vines across the vineyard and test the Brix, p.h. and taste test the juice. Sacrificing berries is something you can't really do.

Having only one vine, I would do this by taste alone. Unlike beer you are looking for a balance of sugar and acid, too much sugar and the wine is hot and alcoholic, too little acid and the wine is insipid and thin. A good indicator is when the seeds have turned brown. If you have a Brix meter you're looking for between 24-26. In your case I would shoot for high acid, it's easier to add sugar than acid to your wine.

As far as storage you could store them in the fridge for a day or two, preferably away from other foodstuffs. The grapes have yeast on their skins and fermentation is poised to start the minute the skins are broken.

 

[Honda88]

you can either add k meta directly after crush and hope that it doesn't start fermenting or you can pasteurize the juice to kill all the natural yeast before adding the cultured yeast. I will be hopefully making some wine out of the grape vines I started in the rents backyard(I don't have any land too myself). I wish a had a brix meter I will be in the same boat as you this fall, basically I am just going to let them ripen too a dark color and test by taste.. BTW my grapes are Frontenac hybrids vinifera.

 

[WilliamSlayer]

It may not be feasable for you, but I did want to mention crushing, then freezing the must. It can take up quite a bit of space in someones freezer. However, with only one vine, maybe this is an option till you are ready to thaw and ferment!

 

[aeviaanah]

I started 1.25 gal of wine today. Harvested most of the table grape vine. The grapes tasted ripe so I preceded with destemming and crushing. I added 1.25 tablets of campden. I then added table sugar to 1.1 Og. Before adding sugar I was at 1.066. I'm letting sit for 24 hours before I add yeast which will be lalvin 1118 or redstar Pasteur champagne. I like sweeter wines which should I choose? The table grape is a green variety.

 

[texcan2000]

That's a good deal.

 

[Honda88]

use Pasteur champagne, Also if your starting out at say 1.085-1.090 and use that yeast, it is going to ferment to dry so you may want to stabilize and back sweeten it.

 

[aeviaanah]

use Pasteur champagne, Also if your starting out at say 1.085-1.090 and use that yeast, it is going to ferment to dry so you may want to stabilize and back sweeten it.

What do you mean by stabilize? Should I have not added extra sugar to bring to that gravity?

Would you back sweeten with an unfermentable sugar? Or somehow kill off yeast then add regular sugar?

 

[two_one_seven]

Kill the yeast with potassium sorbate and then back sweeten with simple syrup to taste. It is the same process as making a cider.

 

[aeviaanah]

Thankyou

 

[saramc]

You cannot kill the yeast with sorbate, does not work that way, sorbate prevents any remaining yeast from reproducing, but it does not kill them. To kill yeast you pasteurize and to potentially remove viable yeast after serial racking you do a few absolute/sterile filtration cycles and pray to the wine god that you got them all.

With an OG of 1.100 you are looking at a potential ACV just a tad over 13% and Pasteur Champagne, and every other wine yeast, should easily ferment to dry at 1.000 or less. When the wine is clear, degassed and has been racked a few times to the point that it no longer drops sediment for 60 days you have an indication you can either proceed with bulk aging or bottling. I would recommend bulk aging for 9-12 months, being sure to add k-meta/Campden once every 90 days. When ready to bottle, if you plan to sweeten the wine, you stabilize by documenting SG, then add sorbate plus k-meta/Campden, wait three days, document SG, sweeten, document SG, recheck SG in 10-14 days, if SG is the same as prior you can rack one final time if you have any sediment and then bottle. If no sweetening planned you use k-meta only.

Great overview of winemaking basics and advanced skills here, www.winemaking.jackkeller.net