Moldy grapes for brandy

[seabass]

I'm getting grapes from a friend to make brandy. I've made wine in the past from these grapes and they make an ok wine that is a bit too tart. Some of this year's are a bit past their prime. Some bunches have a bit of mold growing on them. I'm hoping to end up with 6 or 7 gallons of juice.

Anyone have experience using grapes with mold starting to grow? The shriveled ones I'll probably toss, but the plump ones with a bit of powdery white mold I'm inclined to throw in there.

[NZChris]

I probably always get a little bit of mold in my brandy ferments and they are always fermented on the skins. Make sure you have a well prepared starter ready to go and pitch it without delay.

If a shriveled grape still contains sugar, it's fine to use.

[seabass]

I probably always get a little bit of mold in my brandy ferments and they are always fermented on the skins. Make sure you have a well prepared starter ready to go and pitch it without delay.

If a shriveled grape still contains sugar, it's fine to use.

Thanks! The plan is to have everything ready to go and pick, crush and ferment the same day.

Do you have a comparison on skins vs off? I can do it either way. Just thinking that if I do it on the skins, I'll absolutely need two runs. Might be able to get away with a single slow run off skins. Either way it'll be steam driven through a lot still.

[NZChris]

That would depend on the grapes. If you want the flavor from the skins, leave them in. I do for my grapes, so I tread them, remove most of the stalks, then pitch.

[seabass]

Anyone have experience with distillation on skins vs off? Mainly what it does to the final product. They're fermenting on skins and taste and smell pretty good. Probably be done fermenting in another few days. Not sure whether I want to press them before distillation or dump the whole thing in a keg.

[The Baker]

A beautiful fortified wine is made with grapes affected by noble rot (botrytis cinerea).
The little holes in the skin allow the grapes to dry.
Lovely apricot flavour.

' Grapes infected with Botrytis bunch rot show grey fungal growth ... Berries may shrivel and become mummified if hot conditions occur after....'

Geoff

[seabass]

A beautiful fortified wine is made with grapes affected by noble rot (botrytis cinerea).
The little holes in the skin allow the grapes to dry.
Lovely apricot flavour.

' Grapes infected with Botrytis bunch rot show grey fungal growth ... Berries may shrivel and become mummified if hot conditions occur after....'

Geoff

Thanks for that. I think I had around 100lbs of grapes and maybe 5lbs of it were past their prime. That sounds like what was going on with them. My main concern was infection since I'm not using any campden this time. They taste and small pretty good at this point. Very tart and flavorful.

[Demy]

If you want to distil the grapes to produce brandy advice undoubtedly fermentation with the skins, generally have an excellent aromatic component ... think of grappa .........

[seabass]

Never had grappa and the only brandy I've had is cognac. I enjoy cognac, but am kinda shooting in the dark with this one.

It's already under 1.0SG. gonna steam strip it on skins Monday. Just gonna treat it like whiskey I think.

[NZChris]

Because I make some of my gins, Absinthe, fruit steeps, etc., using lightly flavored grape spirit, I often put down a sugar wash using the pomace, backset and water to close to the original volume and SG, then strip it with the heads and tails added back to boost the flavor.

[jonnys_spirit]

That's a good way to boost a sugarhead grappa. I'll also set aside some pomace and macerate in the feints I'm going to add to the spirit run and also might use a cheap wine kit in addition to sugars.. I don't have a steam setup or I'd strip on the pomace. I can do some pomace in my small gin still but haven't yet so I need to experiment with that too..

Cheers!
-j