To wash or not wash
- Thread starter jterr
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paindragon1
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Do you want the wild yeast?
Don't know this is only my 2nd try at this. 1st try I did everything wrong. so I'm trying again this year, but I've read that even big winery's don't wash theirs, so I'm bit cornfuswed
paindragon1
Member
Depends on if he was planning on using Campden. You wouldn't want to use it if you wanted to use the wild yeast strain for flavor or authenticity.
stpug
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While not necessary to make good wine, rinsing the grapes with water is perfectly fine to remove excess dirt/dust/etc and may even reduce the microbial load/diversity somewhat. Ideally you don't want to carry too much of the rinse water into the must though - so as not to dilute your sugar content. Sulfites are necessary to inhibit wild microbial foothold, and a quick foothold from cultured yeast (particularly a competitive strain) will ensure any wild microbes are not able to meddle with things as it progresses. Speaking from the standpoint of "getting a successful wine under your belt", do not let any wild microbes take hold. As you become more experienced with wine making, then you might choose to revisit wild microbial inclusion as a way of adding character/complexity to the wine, but I would not recommend it now.
jonereb
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I've been making muscadine wine for a few years. My very first year was a complete bust so I don't really count that year. I always wash and then freeze until I have enough to make 2 gallons of wine. Each year I increase the amount of muscadines I crush and back off on the water I add. 2 years ago, I used EC-1118 yeast. Last year I used 71B-1122. I haven't decided which yeast I'll use this year. Now that my 1118 batch has been aging for 2 years, I like the taste but wish I had used more muscadines and less water. I think last year's batch will taste really good this time next year. As you can see, I'm still in the experimental mode with finding the perfect blend of muscadines to water ratio.
BTW, I grow my own muscadines: Southland, Black Jumbo, and Noble. I only have 4 vines total. I just mix them all together to get the amount I need.
BTW, I grow my own muscadines: Southland, Black Jumbo, and Noble. I only have 4 vines total. I just mix them all together to get the amount I need.
I grow mine also. Having trouble with the Black Noble as the deer eat most of them.
You say you mix the reds and bronze together with no probs.???
I usually go to one of the vinyards and get some as I want to make a Sweet Red, not much for the dry
jonereb
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Mine are all reds. No bronze. But they do have different flavors. Southland actually tastes similar to a grape....or as close to a grape as a muscadine can get. I back sweeten to my desired sweetness -- for me it's a semi-sweet. I'm trying to emulate a muscadine wine out of Natchez, MS called Sweet Noble. It's actually my favorite wine, but I will back off on the sugar for my homemade wine.
madscientist451
Well-Known Member
It depends, are they really dirty? Is there some kind of spray on them you're trying to get rid of?
I don't think washing them down is going to hurt anything, but like someone said, let them dry or at least drip off so you're not adding water.
