What is the world coming to? People stealing experimental grapevines from the U of MN? Hit the link to read more:
The Valiant wine is coming along great. I planned to press last night, but ended up doing it today instead. I scooped most of the skins and ’stuff’ out and into a mesh bag. I hand-pressed the bag, set the skins aside and then poured the rest of the wine with a few remaining grape skins through the mesh bag. I squeezed this and then siphoned the wine (about 1.5 gal) into a large carboy. Once the fermentation slows – likely just a few more days, I’ll rack it into a smaller secondary and set it aside.
Here are the numbers:
Current brix: 11
Current SG: 1.003
Current res sugar: 51
Current alcohol: 13.1%
After punching down last night I checked the numbers on the Valiant wine…it continues to progress well. Here’s what I found last night:
Current SG: 1.023
Current Brix: 14
Residual Sugar: 95
Alcohol: 10.9%
It still has a very nice grapey/fruitey nose, but now the alcohol is there along with legs. I plan to move it to a carboy tonight after pressing.
As noted previously, I’m working very closely with a batch of Valiant wine. It’s been punched down 3 times per day (with the exception of today) and is evolving very nicely. I chaptalized the must to get it to 26 brix and the fermentation has been going ever since. Below is a chart of the fermentation progress:
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It’s day three of the Valiant wine experiment and I have to say, I’m impressed. I knew this grape had a lot of flavor based on our experience making jelly with it. But it seems to come out even more as it’s fermenting. It’s got to be the best-smelling must I’ve smelled yet! After the grapes thawed, I took measurements and was surprised that the brix was only 17. I decided I wanted to try for a little more alcohol in this one, so I added two cups of white sugar to the batch (the batch is only a little more than a gallon). This brought the brix up to 26 – slightly higher than I initially planned, but I was totally happy with it. The SG started out at 1.1091. On day three it’s down to 1.0742. Alcohol is at about 4.7%. Check back as I plan to continue taking daily measurements.