brandy from all natural juice

[Scribbler]

Hi all. not sure if this is the right category for this post, or if it should be in novice... here is my question:

My folks will be harvesting their grapes in september, and I have asked them to drain off 10 to 15 gallons of pure juice for me (when you dump from the tractor-bin to the semi-trailor you hold a pail with a screen over it under the flowing grapes & juice). I will not be visiting them until december (I live half a continent away in western canada) and was wondering about a few things:

1) storing the juice; should they freeze it?

2) the juice should be boiled, right? before or after they freeze it?

3) when it comes time for fermentation, should I add water and sugar? I know in the wine industry they just use the straight juice... can I do the same? boil it to kill everything in the juice, then add yeast?

4) what is the max length of time it can ferment for? I am going to fly home and it would be pretty cool if they could get it fermented before I got there, so I can 'condense' it to fit it in a smaller bottle... also, what would be the minimum time it should ferment for just in case I can't convince them to give it a shot?

thanks for the advice!!!

Martenskoop