Fermenting grapes for Brandy

[Richard7]

1.090 sounds like a high place to start much less finish. I watching to see the results

[bertuseng]

Wow, quite a lot going on in this thread of mine. hehe. I guess its time the Original Poster made an update post.

To give an update on the fermentation - It is 10 days later, and the fermentation has been finished for about 5 days now, that it has not been bubbling, so I thought its time to distill it.

I filtered all the grape pips and skins, by just pouring it through a sieve and also putting all the skins in a cheese cloth bag and squashing out all remaining liquid.

I ended up with about 12l of juice and put it in my alembic copper pot still.

I ran it for about 30 minutes after which it started dripping. I disgrarted the first 100ml just to be safe, and kept the next 2l.

Then I had another 500ml of tails.

The first 250ml of the hearts was at 59% ABV, and the hearts ended at about 42% ABV. (or what I believe to be the hearts)

I collected the last 500ml and tested it for 30% ABV.

The taste is quite good, and I am pleased with the over all result. The grape flavor comes through nicely. I will now put it in a small barrel and let it age a bit to see how the flavor will improve.

I am sure that next time, I will not add any sugar, and will also mabye use a slower yeast to try and improve the flavor even more.

Thanks for all the advice everyone! Cheers!

[crazyk78]

I've got an update. I think my batch has finally finished and it's made a nice wine.

It finished at about 0.96 started at 1.12.

So this means a content of about 21% !

Here is the final pic

[crazyk78]

Question

I've siphoned off all the peels and gluggy sediment.

Should I throw that into a fermenter with a sugar mix?

[NZChris]

Question

I've siphoned off all the peels and gluggy sediment.

Should I throw that into a fermenter with a sugar mix?

Yes

See my link earlier in this thread

[crazyk78]

Thanks NZ.

[crazyk78]

Hey guys If I don't have enough wine liquid to charge my pot is it ok to add water to get the volume up?

[NZChris]

I've never had that problem, but if it was the only way to do run without blowing an element, I would do it.

There is a lot of good flavor to be had in the low proof distillate. You might miss out on a bit, but it wouldn't be a disaster.

[crazyk78]

Ok I'll try fill it and see if covers the element

[mAShMaN1]

im trying my hand at this I have 20l of trebbiano. it was pressed right away so its all juice and its fermenting with the wild yeast from the grapes. No sugar added im excited to see how it will turn out

[MDH]

Sounds great Mashman. If it doesn't ferment dry, try adding a little bit of water to let it finish. Allowing a small amount of skins and stems into the still as well as the wine is helpful for character. If you add too much of course it will begin to taste like Grappa instead.

[mAShMaN1]

Thanks MDH, I have always had good luck with the wild yeast from grapes. Do you think a handful of skins would be good or should I use more?