Grappa

[jonnys_spirit]

I do have about 12 carboys of wine from last year and not enough wine rack space for all the bottles so was going to keep the best as wine and distill the rest this year in my grappa runs (less storage space lol)... Looking forward to trying out some of these Travarica variations plus some Sambucca's and a version of Gran Marnier style too.

Cheers!
-jonny

[NZChris]

There's a lot you can do with excess grape spirit. I already have enough brandy aging already, so none of last year's crop was oaked. It makes a great base spirit for Ouzo, Absinthe, some gins, some liqueurs and probably quite a few other spirits as well. It's better than neutral for many spirits that many posts on forums would have you believe should be made from your finest azeo neutral from a column still.

A sugar wash done on the pressings from my annual grape harvest or brandy ferment has been the backbone for many a fine product from my shed for quite a few years now.

[CikCikCikPogodi]

There's a lot you can do with excess grape spirit. I already have enough brandy aging already, so none of last year's crop was oaked. It makes a great base spirit for Ouzo, Absinthe, some gins, some liqueurs and probably quite a few other spirits as well. It's better than neutral for many spirits that many posts on forums would have you believe should be made from your finest azeo neutral from a column still.

A sugar wash done on the pressings from my annual grape harvest or brandy ferment has been the backbone for many a fine product from my shed for quite a few years now.

Walnut liquor for example. Cherry's also, spruce liquor.

[CikCikCikPogodi]

I do have about 12 carboys of wine from last year and not enough wine rack space for all the bottles so was going to keep the best as wine and distill the rest this year in my grappa runs (less storage space lol)... Looking forward to trying out some of these Travarica variations plus some Sambucca's and a version of Gran Marnier style too.

Cheers!
-jonny

That's just one recipe. There are many variations. You can add spruce berry's if you want. Feel free to experiment with herbs.

[zach]

I picked 700 lbs of grapes this year (four varieties) and made 30 gallons of wine. All wines were fermented on the skin, stems removed, even one white variety which made an orange colored wine. This is my first real try at wine and I am happy with the taste so far. I made a grappa last year, but just broke up the grapes with paint mixer and left a lot of stems in the fermenter.

I pressed the grapes very lightly. All of the pomace went through the boiler and made about 5 gallons of grappa (45%) after dilution . Each grappa has retained some of the flavors of the wine it came from. Without stems the taste is much more delicate.

I tossed a small amount of foreshots and heads (50 to 100 ml per 5 gallon boiler). Tails were recycled into the next boiler run. The product I kept averaged 65% before dilution. I was afraid a true 2nd distillation would result in a loss of flavor.

The Zinfandel I picked was in smokey conditions and I had a little scorching in my pot during the run. I did pick up a hint of smoke in the product. I added some oak to one jar for a test.

I've added a sugar to the remains from the boiler for a 2nd ferment. Made a faux grappa last year that taste good now with a little age.

[Farside]

I'm making my first grappa out of lightly pressed Muscat grapes and I see in this thread that it's best to remove the seeds.

How is this most efficiently done? There has to be a gazillion seeds in there!

[Bushman]

Pour it through a paint cloth bag, you can purchase them at most hardware stores.

[NZChris]

I'm making my first grappa out of lightly pressed Muscat grapes and I see in this thread that it's best to remove the seeds.

How is this most efficiently done? There has to be a gazillion seeds in there!

If what you are doing is fermenting a sugar wash on the pressings, the seeds float and can be scooped off the top, leaving the pomace in the wash.

[Farside]

I added enough water to the pomace so it was just covered and then added enough sugar to offset the water dilution.

Right now the cap wants to climb out of the fermenter and I'm plunging it a few times a day.

[HodyMac]

Thanks. I just learned that this pomace will be pressed from fermented grapes. It will be very dry and with very little sugar. They’re good at what they do, I guess. I will have to add water and, likely some sugar. Not exactly authentic, but trying to make something from what I’ve got.

Certainly, you have to adapt to what you have, indeed this stimulates inventiveness. It really depends on the amount you have available. I'll give an example about myself: I have a lot of it, I do a lot of stripping since the alcohol is very low and then I do a final run. If I had a limited amount I would do as you do. Generally it presses hard and is almost dry but with a strong alcoholic odor. once I tried to leave it very wet and it works well, the best would be not to press it at all to ferment juice-skins together but this cannot always be done .... a greeting and good job

I tried adding water and some sugar to referment, but it’s starting to smell & taste sour. I’m afraid I may be making vinegar.

[NZChris]

If it's gone too far, turn it into good quality vinegar. Vinegar can be aged and concentrated too, think about balsamic.

[HodyMac]

If it's gone too far, turn it into good quality vinegar. Vinegar can be aged and concentrated too, think about balsamic.

Sourness faded. I’ve stripped about 20gals and am now part way through a spirit run.
I had 5.5 gals of low wines and about 4 gallons on wine I squeezed off the pomace. Sort of a 1 & ½ spirit run?

[CikCikCikPogodi]

A video on how to make herbal brandy from grappa.