Grappa help

[samdom70]

Hello,
My name is Sam, I live in Sydney Australia.
Hoping someone can help me.
I'm currently making wine, and I'm going to have a go at making Grappa.
I brought a T500 still with the copper dome top.
I want to use the pressed grape to make the Grappa.
We crushed the grapes into a fermentation tank, they'll stay there for 7 days.
I need to know, when I add the pressed grapes to the still after pressing out the wine, how much water do I add to the pomace in the still?
Will I need to cover the grapes with water or less?
Will I need to add sugar or yeast?
I've read a kilo of sugar per litre of water, that sounds like a lot.
I'm looking to get something that's nice on the palette, it doesn't need to be extremely high in alcoholic %.
Do I need to discard the start and end extraction? I think this referred to as cut.
I've been making wine for years, tradition carried down from my grandfather from Italy.
The wine we make is great, I'm really looking forward to trying Grappa.
Thank you

[Yummyrum]

Welcome to the forum Sam from Sydney .Good to see you keen and following a family tradition by the sound of things .

Best if you ask your questions in the Grappa section

viewforum.php?f=107

as members will not answer here as the info gets lost .
You never know , the answers you seek may well be in the myriad of info there already

[NZChris]

Welcome to the forum.

The questions you are asking now, are the kinds of questions that I ask myself in the weeks and months before I get the fruit/grain/molasses/whatever so that I can have all my ducks in a row when it arrives.

[sadie33]

hello and welcome!! The threads here are very informative!! It was nice Yummyrum gave a link as I found it hard to use the searches when I first got here.

[jonnys_spirit]

Welcome to HD! What I now refer to as "Grappa Geist" is a favorite seasonal spirit. Lotsa good research in the grappa section depending on how traditional you want to go and how much pomace you have to process.

Cheers,
j

[Bradster68]

Welcome and . Thanks yummy. I guess now I have to read a grappa post. Always something to read here.

[samdom70]

Hello,
I've done it
Made it yesterday.
I developed a formula, very easy step by step.
I have a Turbo500 still with a alembic copper dome lid.
After we pressed the grapes to make the wine, we placed the pressed grapes in a plastic 200 litre drum.
We added water and sugar to cover the grapes.
About a kilo of sugar per litre.
The idea is to try and replace the liquid/sugar we pressed out of the grapes.
I reckon better more sugar than less.
The grapes will soak up the water.
You need to ferment this mix, 3 days to a week.
Stir grapes twice a day, add sugar water as required to make sure the grapes are covered and do not go dry.
When you're ready, this is how to still the Grappa.

Fill the still to the Max mark with grape and liquid.
In my opinion, you want this as grapey as possible, not too much liquid. Just enough so the grapes are wet and you can see the liquid.
Place the lid on and switch on the still.
After 35 minutes, the thermometer on the still outlet started to read over 50°c
I turn on the water to start cooling the outlet pipe.
At about 55 minutes the temp reads 92°c
My boiler has 2 elements, I turned one off.
I discarded the first 150ml
I measured the ABV level and continued like this.
At 1 hour the ABV is 60%
1:30 50% ABV
2:30 40% ABV
2:45 30% ABV
3:00 25% ABV
I then started to collect the tail cut. Did this for 30 minutes.
At 3 hours 30 minutes I was done.

I made more batches the same way.
The tail cut can be added to the next cook or kept aside for blending, I did both.

The grappa came out great.
Per cook, I collected about 3.5 litres of Grappa

[Saltbush Bill]

I then started to collect the tail cut. Did this for 30 minutes.
At 3 hours 30 minutes I was done.

You would have been well into tails way before that imo.
You also need to loose that plastic or silicon hose on the end of the condenser, this forum does not condone the use of synthetics in distilling. Please read the forum Rules concerning this point.
Any further photos showing them being used will be removed.

[samdom70]

Thank you
I wasn't aware about the hose, it came with the alembic top.
So being my first time, I'm learning and I want to do better.
When would the tails start?
I read somewhere to keep the still going to 20%
It taste great, for my first go I was really impressed.
Any tips on what I could replace the hose with?
I could probably just raise the bottle to the outlet.

[samdom70]

Welcome to the forum.

The questions you are asking now, are the kinds of questions that I ask myself in the weeks and months before I get the fruit/grain/molasses/whatever so that I can have all my ducks in a row when it arrives.

I only decided to give Grappa a go recently.
Glad I did.
It came out really well, for my first try I'm happy with the end product.
For years we've been binning the pomace thinking we got all the goodness out and there was nothing left.
Now we are making a great product from what was once waste.

[samdom70]

Welcome to HD! What I now refer to as "Grappa Geist" is a favorite seasonal spirit. Lotsa good research in the grappa section depending on how traditional you want to go and how much pomace you have to process.

Cheers,
j

Thank you
I'll keep researching and experimenting.
We had 30 boxes of grapes, about 600 kilos.
I probably cooked about a quarter of the pomace in the still.
Next year we'll be better prepared and make much more.

[samdom70]

Welcome to the forum Sam from Sydney .Good to see you keen and following a family tradition by the sound of things .

Best if you ask your questions in the Grappa section

viewforum.php?f=107

as members will not answer here as the info gets lost .
You never know , the answers you seek may well be in the myriad of info there already

Thank you yummyrum
I'm enjoying the site and helpful information.
The Grappa came out nice, I was surprised how well it all came together.
I'll keep researching and trying to do better.
I've looked through the forums, I'm thinking it'd be great to make brandy.
My grandfather always had a nip before he went to bed, my dad is doing the same, I'd love to make a nice brandy from grapes for dad.

[Wildcats]

Welcome aboard man. Grag ya a compression fitting and a copper tube... To replace the plastic hose. Have fun and stay safe.