Spoils of a grape stomp competition

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wanderingnunical
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Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by wanderingnunical »

Hi folks,

I take photos at a local wine festival which includes a grape stomp competition. Since this is for fun, they do not use the stomped grapes for anything other than compost. Of course, they were thrilled when I offered to “dispose“ of the resulting must.

It typically produces about 25 gal of stomped pulp/skins/juice/seed mixture of CONCORD grapes.

What would you do with this? I’ve not found a lot of info on concord wine due to the higher acidity and the resulting “foxy” flavors. Obviously brandy is the end goal, but will that foxy flavor distill out or be concentrated?

My still isn’t finished yet, but I figured this can clarify while I build :)
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NZChris
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by NZChris »

Google "Charentaise distillation method"
wanderingnunical
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by wanderingnunical »

2E0620FC-A70C-4360-9FA7-E58EF4BAEB7A.jpeg
18 gallons of must with very few skins/stems in it. I added 12 lbs of sugar to get the SG up to 1.09

Yeast goes in tonight!

Im still looking to hear from anyone who has done this with concord grapes. Will the brandy be drinkable? Apparently the wine will be crap according to the net.
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Expat
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by Expat »

I would have held off on the sugar so as to maximize the concentration of flavor, and then maybe a sugar, backset and must grappa-esk run as a chaser.

Interested to see your results none the less. :thumbup:
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by Irishgnome »

I have made brandy this way and was not impressed with the flavor. I enjoy some grappa, but not all.
This has an odd flavor and aroma, that’s hard to place. If I ran into free concord grapes again, I would add in sugar and possibly even some frozen concentrate from the grocery store.
Two gallons of 160p. have been untouched for over a year now, should probably add some fruit and see if I can make something out of it.

Best of luck to you!
Hopefully you’ll get something more palatable.

Cheers,
Irish
"There is something about yourself that you don't know. Something that you will deny even exists until it's too late to do anything about it."
wanderingnunical
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by wanderingnunical »

I’ll be sure to post updates along the way.

One thing I did do was to press the skins off asap to reduce the terrible flavor they supposedly produce during fermentation.

I will take this juice all the way to finished wine before distilling. If nothing else, it’s a cheap wash to learn how to still with!
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NZChris
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by NZChris »

wanderingnunical wrote: Thu Sep 19, 2019 7:49 pmOne thing I did do was to press the skins off asap to reduce the terrible flavor they supposedly produce during fermentation.
Is this a Concord trait? I always ferment grapes for brandy on the skins, only removing stalks.
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by wanderingnunical »

Well, Typically you would ferment primary with skins as you say, but concords apparently make terrible wine. The internet says fermentation of the skins produces a foxy flavor that is very undesirable. Unfortunately, there is not a ton of information because nobody wants to drink concord wine.

I was mostly concerned with that flavor concentrating during distillation so I pressed these. Who knows if I did right or wrong... worst case, I build a VM head and make vodka!
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by wanderingnunical »

910F38F1-A52B-4C59-9BF3-1456ECE14897.jpeg
going strong now!
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NZChris
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by NZChris »

I had several tries at making wine from the Black Hamburg table grapes that were on the property when we bought it but never made a decent drop of wine. I tried distilling them and was very happy with the product and have been using them for brandy every year since. Hopefully, the Concord will be the same.
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by wanderingnunical »

She’s been in the secondary for several weeks now. I’ve sampled the young wine and am not impressed. It’s the Welch’s of wine 🤣.

I’ll probably keep 5 gallons as wine and run the rest....
848764B4-1181-4DB8-AF81-2CD0D0867405.jpeg
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NZChris
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by NZChris »

Do your homework before you distil it. There is plenty of advice on the net that will help you turn crap must into crap brandy. If a method sounds easy, it is probably not ideal and a single pass through a Stainless Steel pot still is probably the worst option.

In my experience, wine needs to start nice and improve. I've never had a poor wine grape magically transform into something really nice while aging in the bottle.
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by wanderingnunical »

I don’t think it’s crap must, it’s just very one note. The Welch’s of wine. Certainly not what one expects when drinking a red wine. What I’ve read so far is that I need to let the must clear before running it if I want a quality product. Other than that, I’m making a pot still so I’m not sure what else I can do to make this any better.

Do you have a thread to point me to for some quality reading?
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NZChris
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by NZChris »

Strip, removing a foreshot, then running until the total low wines collection is around 27-32%.

See Kiwistiller's guide to cuts for spirit run advice. viewtopic.php?t=13261

I never bother to clear anything for distilling. Some distillers put their fruit or grain into the pot and you can't get much further divorced from 'clear' than that. If someone is telling you that you should rack or clear before distilling, they are probably giving you other poor advice as well.
wanderingnunical
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by wanderingnunical »

61121891-139D-4FEC-A461-2686B60A786E.jpeg
61121891-139D-4FEC-A461-2686B60A786E.jpeg
Well boys, I suppose one could assume this wine was WELL aged befoRe i finished my still this past week.

Here are the spoils from about 8 gallons if wine tgat had been in carboys for TWO years!
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NZChris
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by NZChris »

Do you like it?
wanderingnunical
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by wanderingnunical »

NZChris wrote: Tue Oct 19, 2021 11:18 pm Do you like it?
I’m back! It’s been two years, but these things take time! My (in your words) crap must, turned crap brandy, is now 2 years old on charred oak, then finished on toasted oak.

Guess what, it’s freaking amazing.

Fruity with Vanilla/caramel/butterscotch/dark chocolate certainly some oak richness, all with undertones of the original spirit. Add ice and it opens with each sip.
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NZChris
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by NZChris »

Good skills. Excellent result. Congratulations.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Spoils of a grape stomp competition

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Nice work, good to see your follow up on this.
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