Muscadines 2.0! Success.

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muscashine
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Muscadines 2.0! Success.

Post by muscashine »

I tried my muscadines again. What a difference from previous experiments.

Made 5 gallons muscadine wine using 5 gallons of grapes (frozen from last year's harvest, and thawed/crushed) and enough water to get me to about 6.5 gallons in the fermenter
Added enough sugar to have 14% potential alcohol. Added D47 yeast. Fermented a week on the skins, then scooped them off and racked into a carboy for another week.

Racked into the still leaving behind the yeast grunge at the bottom. Brought it up slow and easy, and ran at a fast drip/half stream through my liebig (I'm really starting to like it) on 7 amps with just enough water to keep the distillate cool and not smell any alcohol vapor.

Through out the first 150ml like I usually do, and got right into it. Not a whole lot of "heads" in this run, in fact, the first pint jar came out 150 proof with a nice grape smell to it. I was really surprised. Collected about 6 jars and the last one started having a little tails on it, so I cut it off and stopped the still.

Got 3 Quart jars in the attic at 125 proof. Very small hint of muscadines, but the liquor smells clean and pure. Some of my best-smelling "raw" liquor yet. I'm going to put one in a glass jar with a cork in it and some oak chips and see how it ages. I've got one jar from six months ago up there that's been oaking a while. The liquor didn't smell as good at first but it's smelling smooth and nice right now. It's dropped from 125 to 120 proof in the corked jar, but its really nice looking.

I've got a bucket of crushed apples going, it's taking forever to work off but it smells awesome in the bucket.
Pikey
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Re: Muscadines 2.0! Success.

Post by Pikey »

Sounds Good :thumbup:

Any particular reason for balancing your cooling water at that level, or just economical ?

Not sure what D47 yeast is, I'll look it up, it sounds like a good choice.
muscashine
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Re: Muscadines 2.0! Success.

Post by muscashine »

Pikey wrote:Sounds Good :thumbup:

Any particular reason for balancing your cooling water at that level, or just economical ?

Not sure what D47 yeast is, I'll look it up, it sounds like a good choice.
Economics. I'm just using faucet water. I take it from the tap, and put the outflow into a bucket. I don't have the pumps and recirculating stuff. Water here is really cheap, but I hate to be too wasteful. I dump the water in the yard so it soaks back into the ground.

D47 is made by Lalvin. I can't remember where I read it, but I was told D47 was a good yeast for fruits and wine. I get my yeast and such off of Amazon now for the most part. An ounce of pectic enzyme in the wine store is $3. A pound off Amazon is $10. Amazon has pretty much everything you need now. They even sell stills, which is really weird to me.
muscashine
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Re: Muscadines 2.0! Success.

Post by muscashine »

I'll have to say, putting the muscadines on oak cubes in the attic, in a corked glass bottle really did the trick. That stuff looks awesome. Its smoother now with less bite but still pretty hot. Going to dilute it down a bit soon and sit it aside.
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cranky
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Re: Muscadines 2.0! Success.

Post by cranky »

Good deal muscashine :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: I use D-47 a lot, it can be a bit trickier than 1118 but it adds nice fruity esters to a wine or brandy.
muscashine
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Re: Muscadines 2.0! Success.

Post by muscashine »

cranky wrote:Good deal muscashine :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: I use D-47 a lot, it can be a bit trickier than 1118 but it adds nice fruity esters to a wine or brandy.
It did the trick! Unfortunately Last time I used my air compressor I left the chest freezer in the garage unplugged. I lost about 12 gallons of muscadines frozen in bags. There was a nasty soup of grapes and spoiled food in the bottom of the freezer. So no more muscadines for me until fall.
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